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RemoteThreat Expands Executive Leadership Team with Appointment of Joe Castellanos as Vice President of Product and Taylor Pettis as Vice President of Marketing

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Veteran product and marketing leaders from Bugcrowd and SOCRadar join after RemoteThreat emerged from stealth with the O/C/O Platform and $7 million in pre-seed funding

FULTON, Md., Oct. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — RemoteThreat, the AI-enabled offensive cyber operations company, today announced the expansion of its executive leadership team with the appointments of Joe Castellanos as Vice President of Product and Taylor Pettis as Vice President of Marketing. The two executives join founders Chris Thompson, Chief Executive Officer, and Shawn Jones, Chief Technology Officer, along with Rob McCall, Chief Operating Officer, as the company accelerates deployment of the O/C/O Platform, the first commercial, fully integrated, end-to-end platform for offensive cyber operations.

The appointments come just weeks after RemoteThreat emerged from stealth with $7 million in pre-seed funding led by Osage University Partners and DataTribe, a strategic advisory partnership with The Nakasone Group, and membership in USSOCOM’s Special Operations Forces Rapid Acquisition Consortium for Emerging Requirements (SOF RACER). Castellanos will lead product vision and roadmap for the O/C/O Platform. Pettis will lead global marketing strategy and growth initiatives to establish RemoteThreat as a globally recognized leader in offensive cybersecurity.

“We are building the most sophisticated offensive cyber operations platform in the market today, and that requires an experienced leadership team that can execute. Joe and Taylor bring the background and skillsets we need to operate in this space,” said Chris Thompson, Co-Founder and CEO of RemoteThreat. “While we launched just a few weeks ago, our team and the market are already moving at a pace that requires relentless execution. Joe has taken products from concept to significant revenue at some of the most demanding companies in security and identity. Taylor has built the brands behind multiple high-growth technology companies. Together they give us the product and go-to-market leadership to turn that momentum into category leadership.”

Joe Castellanos, Vice President of Product

Castellanos is an enterprise product executive with more than 15 years of experience building and scaling cybersecurity products. He spent the first half of his career on the defensive side of security, launching Entra ID Governance at Microsoft, leading Salesforce’s internal identity governance platform, and launching Okta DynamicScale. Along the way, he watched organizations pour huge budgets into security controls with no way of knowing whether they would hold up against a real adversary. That led him to offensive security, first at AppOmni, where he launched AppOmni Discovery, and then at Bugcrowd, where he led the entire product portfolio, including its expansion into AI penetration testing with Pathseeker. He has brought multiple products from concept to significant revenue scale and led high-performing product teams at startups and global technology organizations. He has presented at Microsoft Ignite and Oktane.

At RemoteThreat, Castellanos leads the company’s product strategy and development, shaping solutions that advance offensive cyber operations and deliver measurable value to enterprise red teams, government mission teams, and defense partners.

“Red teams are being asked to emulate adversaries whose capabilities evolve faster than the tools built to model them. RemoteThreat is the first company I have seen answer that with an integrated platform instead of another point tool,” said Castellanos. “The founders have spent their careers running the kinds of operations this platform is built for. My job is to make sure the O/C/O Platform keeps pace with what those operators need next, and that we ship it faster than anyone expects.”

Taylor Pettis, Vice President of Marketing

Pettis is a global marketing executive with more than 20 years of experience helping early-stage and private equity-backed technology companies accelerate growth, build market leadership, and scale for long-term success. Throughout his career, he has guided multiple organizations through critical growth phases, including cybersecurity companies Code42, Intel 471, and SOCRadar. His expertise spans demand generation, product marketing, brand strategy, go-to-market execution, and building high-performing marketing organizations.

As Vice President of Marketing, Pettis leads RemoteThreat’s global marketing strategy and growth initiatives, focused on establishing RemoteThreat as a world-renowned cybersecurity brand while scaling the business for meaningful and sustainable growth.

“RemoteThreat has the three things every marketer wants and almost never gets at once: a category that is being defined in real time, a product that is years ahead of the market, and founders who are the most credible voices in it,” said Pettis. “The company’s launch out of stealth showed how quickly this team moves. My focus is on making sure every red team leader, mission owner, and defense partner knows RemoteThreat is the name in offensive cyber operations.”

A Team Built to Outpace the Adversary

Castellanos and Pettis join a leadership team of offensive security veterans. Thompson and Jones founded RemoteThreat after decades of building and leading adversary simulation teams, developing malware and offensive tooling, and executing red team operations against defense targets, nuclear power plants, critical infrastructure providers, and some of the world’s largest financial institutions. McCall joined after years of venture investing in early-stage cybersecurity and AI startups, he most recently led customer success and support at Randori (acquired by IBM), one of the first Continuous Automated Red Team (CART) vendors.

“The gap between what AI-enabled adversaries can do and what red teams can emulate is widening every month. Closing it is an engineering problem and a product problem,” said Shawn Jones, Co-Founder and CTO of RemoteThreat. “Joe has shipped products operators actually adopt, in environments where the bar is unforgiving. Having that discipline alongside our research and engineering teams means the platform gets better at the speed our customers need.”

“In the weeks since launch, demand from enterprise red teams and mission teams has outpaced even our own projections,” said Rob McCall, Chief Operating Officer of RemoteThreat. “Scaling to meet that demand without losing the precision our customers expect is the job in front of us. Joe and Taylor bring the operating rigor and the growth playbooks to do it. This is the team that takes RemoteThreat from a launch to a category leader.”

Building on Launch Momentum

RemoteThreat emerged from stealth earlier this month with the launch of the O/C/O Platform, which brings eight connected systems into one operational picture to plan, execute, and adapt offensive cyber operations: mission planning, native command-and-control (C2), implants, initial-access frameworks, advanced capabilities, obfuscation pipelines, analysis engines, and AI-assisted operation. AI-enabled and built for expert operators, the platform equips enterprise and critical infrastructure red teams to emulate sophisticated adversaries and outpace frontier model advancements in cyber capabilities, while enabling U.S. government mission teams and vetted defense partners to conduct offensive cyber operations at mission speed.

Since launch, the company has announced $7 million in pre-seed funding led by Osage University Partners and DataTribe, a strategic advisory partnership with The Nakasone Group, founded by retired four-star U.S. Army General Paul M. Nakasone, former director of the National Security Agency and commander of U.S. Cyber Command, membership in USSOCOM’s SOF RACER consortium, and a capability integration partnership with Talon Defense. The company is actively hiring senior operators, researchers, and engineers across its offensive capability, platform, and go-to-market teams.

The O/C/O Platform is available now to qualified enterprise, U.S. government, and vetted defense industry customers. To request access or schedule a briefing, visit remotethreat.com.

About RemoteThreat

RemoteThreat is the offensive cyber operations platform. Built by experienced offensive operators for internal red teams and defense industry partners, it combines deep capability, precise control, and human-machine operation at mission speed. RemoteThreat. The O/C/O Platform. Learn more at remotethreat.com.

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Chelsea FC announces multi-year sleeve partnership with Sokin, the business payments and FX platform

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Chelsea FC name fast-growing fintech platform as Principal Partner

LONDON, Oct. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Chelsea Football Club has today announced a multi-year partnership with Sokin, the embedded finance and payments company used by businesses worldwide. Sokin will be named a Principal Partner and Official Business Payments and FX Partner of Chelsea FC and Chelsea FC Women.

As a Principal Partner, Sokin will be represented on the sleeves of the Chelsea FC men’s, women’s and academy home, away, and third kits from the 2026/27 season.

The partnership brings together two ambitious London-headquartered organisations with worldwide reach – a club with millions of fans across the world and a fintech platform through which businesses move more than $11 billion a year. A club of Chelsea’s scale works in many currencies every day, with partners, competitions and supporters around the world, and needs a financial partner built to handle that.

Sokin gives finance teams business payments, multi-currency accounts, foreign exchange, checkout and treasury in one place, so they spend less time juggling banks and providers and keep more of what they move.

As Official Business Payments and FX Partner, Sokin will simplify how Chelsea FC sends, receives and manages money in the currencies the club operates in.

The Sokin logo will feature on the sleeve of the Chelsea shirt for the first time [when the men’s team host Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge on Saturday 24th October.]

Jason Gannon, President at Chelsea FC said:

“At Chelsea, we seek to partner with organisations that share our ambition and innovative mindset. Sokin’s expertise in business payments, and their focus on making both simpler for the businesses they serve, makes them a natural fit for the Club. We are pleased to welcome Sokin to the Chelsea family and look forward to working together in the years ahead.”

Vroon Modgill, CEO and founder at Sokin said:

“Chelsea plays on the biggest stage in world football, and its business runs in dozens of currencies. Sokin was built for that with regulated, multi-currency payments and foreign exchange for organisations that operate internationally. We’re proud to be the platform behind the business payments and FX of one of the most iconic teams in football. Sokin’s platform serves businesses in more than 170 countries. We’re thrilled to be partners for the season ahead. An organisation as sophisticated as Chelsea doesn’t leave its finances to chance.”

About Sokin

Sokin is the financial layer global business runs on. Businesses can transact, convert and hold money in 70+ currencies across 170+ countries. Some businesses use Sokin to manage global finance in-house. Others build it into their products to power financial experiences for their customers. Businesses move more than $9 billion a year on licenses Sokin holds in 36+ countries and infrastructure Sokin owns. Founded in 2019, Sokin has raised over $100 million from investors including Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital and Prysm Capital.

About Chelsea Football Club

Chelsea Football Club is one of the biggest, most successful football clubs globally and our men’s team are reigning world champions, having won the four-yearly FIFA Club World Cup in 2025. Our women’s team, Chelsea Women, are also multiple trophy winners.

Founded in 1905, Chelsea is London’s most central football club, based at the iconic 40,000-capacity Stamford Bridge stadium. Nicknamed the Blues, the club lifted the Champions League for the first time in 2012 and domestically has won the Premier League five times, the FA Cup eight times, the Football League Cup five times and the Football League Championship once, in 1955.

The Chelsea Women’s team have enjoyed a huge amount of success and in 2025 won the FA Women’s Super League for a sixth consecutive year and the eighth time overall. The Women’s FA Cup has been won on six occasions. We have also captured the FA Women’s League Cup four times as well as reaching the UEFA Women’s Champions League final in 2021. In two seasons, 2020/21 and 2024/25, a domestic treble of trophies was secured.

The Chelsea Foundation boasts one of the most extensive community initiatives in sport, helping to improve the lives of children and young people all over the world.

Media Contacts:

Taina Biggs
taina.biggs@sokin.com 

Nerissa Chesterfield
nerissa.chesterfield@chelseafc.com 

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Amy Johnson Appointed President of GDIT

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RESTON, Va., Oct. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) announced today that Amy Johnson has been appointed as president of GDIT, effective November 3.

Johnson is a 27-year veteran of General Dynamics Mission Systems, where she held increasingly senior roles in engineering, engineering management and business leadership across cybersecurity, defense electronics, space and intelligence systems, most recently as vice president and general manager for Space, Cyber and Intelligence. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science and computer systems engineering. 

“Amy has a proven track record of leading teams to solve complex and highly technical challenges for our customers,” said Phebe Novakovic, CEO of General Dynamics. “I am confident that her dynamic leadership, operational rigor and deep commitment to our values and culture will deliver value to our customers, employees and shareholders.”

GDIT delivers digital modernization, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and software development solutions to the U.S. federal government, defense, intelligence agencies and other customers. It is a business unit of General Dynamics, a global aerospace and defense company that offers a broad portfolio of products and services in business aviation; ship construction and repair; land combat vehicles, weapons systems and munitions; and technology products and services. General Dynamics employs more than 120,000 people worldwide and generated $52.6 billion in revenue in 2025. More information is available at gd.com.

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Yazan Al Homsi Invests US$500,000 in Toronto Drone Maker Arcanus Aerial Systems

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Private investment comes as Arcanus builds out Canadian manufacturing capacity for autonomous aerial systems

DUBAI, UAE, Oct. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Yazan Al Homsi, a UAE-based investor and managing partner of Catalyst Communications DMCC, has invested US$500,000 in Arcanus Aerial Systems Inc., a Toronto-headquartered developer and manufacturer of unmanned aerial systems for defence, public safety and critical infrastructure customers. Al Homsi is an investor only and holds no operational, advisory or board role with the company. Other terms were not disclosed.

Arcanus is a Canadian-controlled company. It currently lists more than 15 platforms across heavy-lift, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), cargo, strike and counter-drone missions. According to the company, its published line-up includes:

AB 516e: a long-endurance vertical take-off fixed-wing aircraft rated for three hours of flight.AE 401: a counter-drone interceptor with a top speed of 300 km/h.AC 5250: a cargo platform with a 250 kg payload and a range of more than 2,300 km.

Alongside defence, Arcanus markets its systems for wildfire detection, search and rescue, Arctic sovereignty, border and maritime patrol, and pipeline and power line monitoring.

The company has spent 2026 assembling its domestic production base. In April, Arcanus signed a binding term sheet with Portugal-based Beyond Vision, granting it rights to manufacture, commercialize and support Beyond Vision’s unmanned aerial systems in Canada.

In June, Arcanus announced a five-year agreement appointing FeralX Systems Inc. as a non-exclusive Canadian contract manufacturer for several of its platforms.

“Canada has the engineering talent to build these systems at home, and recent years have shown how much depends on having that capacity domestically,” said Yazan Al Homsi. “What stood out to me about Arcanus was the manufacturing groundwork already in place: licensing, a production partner, and a range of aircraft that serves wildfire crews and search-and-rescue teams alongside defence customers.”

About Yazan Al Homsi

Yazan Al Homsi is a UAE-based investor and managing partner of Catalyst Communications DMCC, which he founded in Dubai in 2018. He was previously based in Vancouver, where he founded Founders Round Capital in 2017 and built a track record of investments in early-stage and small-cap companies. He earned a finance degree from McGill University in 2004 and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. Before turning to investing, he spent more than a decade with PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Middle East, rising to director and focusing on transaction due diligence and valuation.

Media Contact
Catalyst Communications DMCC
catalyst-wire@protonmail.com

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