St. Louis, MO — Feb. 12, 2026 — Avatara, which provides companies with compliant information technology (IT) infrastructure as a service via the Avatara Platform, has brought cybersecurity expert Matt Pushkin on board as vice president of compliance and government solutions. Reinforcing Avatara’s commitment to compliance leadership within government sectors and supply chains, Pushkin has deep experience in Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) and FedRAMP readiness for federal agencies, defense contractors, and regulated enterprises.
“Avatara is dedicated to simplifying the cost, complexity and compliance of IT, and Matt’s depth of experience in CMMC, FedRAMP, and federal cybersecurity operations will be invaluable as we support our customers through the certification process,” said Rob McCormick, founder and CEO of Avatara. “As we protect and enable organizations in regulated industries, Matt’s ability to operationalize compliance and deliver measurable security improvements aligns perfectly with our focus.”
Pushkin brings to Avatara more than 20 years of experience building and scaling security operations and compliance programs across the Defense Industrial Base and federal sectors. A former U.S. Naval Intelligence Officer and CISSP, he is recognized for translating complex regulatory mandates into practical, audit-ready security operations aligned with NIST 800-171, NIST 800-53, CMMC, and FedRAMP frameworks.
Prior to joining Avatara, Pushkin served as Director of Managed Security Services at Trustwave, where he led government-focused cybersecurity services and spearheaded the FedRAMP Moderate and StateRAMP certification of the Trustwave Fusion MDR platform. He also supported CMMC Level 2 compliance initiatives, authored System Security Plans (SSPs), and managed detection and response operations to continuous monitoring and audit requirements.