Alumni

Okta’s Integrated Identity Platform for the World’s Largest Organizations

Frederic Kerrest, MBA ’09, co-founder, executive vice chairperson, and COO, Okta

With an enviable client roster including Fox, FedEx, JetBlue, and Nordstrom, Okta is the industry leader in identity. But not long ago, this powerful productivity and security resource—the recipient of $230 million from investors like Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital—was still a dream of co-founder Frederic Kerrest, MBA ’09. Launched in 2009 (during the second semester of his graduating year at MIT Sloan), Okta went public in 2017 and is now valued at approximately $15 billion.

Connecting Workforces and Customers, Safely

As an identity management firm, Okta enables any company to use any technology. With Okta, employees can access a company’s apps via a dashboard relying on a single username and password. Organizations can also leverage Okta to securely connect their customers—helping developers build secure, seamless experiences. Kerrest observes that there’s never been a more critical time for businesses and organizations to invest in the benefits of an identity solution. With an ever-growing list of notorious—and sometimes disastrous—hacks on industry and government, technology companies have to develop solutions that respect both user-side human factors and the indefatigability of hackers around the world. “The world is rapidly changing. As organizations work to manage remote workforces and change their business models to engage with distributed users, they will continue to embrace cloud and mobile,” says Kerrest. “Identity is essential to helping them adopt new technologies while both engaging and protecting their workforces and customers.”

Rethinking The Future Of Work

Okta’s technology enables people to access the tools they need from any device, network, or location. With a global pandemic forcing millions to work from home, it has become indispensable. Leveraging its experience as a technology leader, the company has also created a framework for the future of work called “Dynamic Work.” Kerrest’s vision is to personalize the work experience. “We’ll enable employees to work from wherever makes most sense for them, while enabling them to do their best work and be their most productive,” says Kerrest. “Even before COVID-19, macroeconomic, generational, and technology trends were impacting the workforce in a way that made us rethink work. Dynamic Work has helped us prepare for changing employee preferences and the new reality of work today.”