The Sweet Spot of Security: Why Ivan Denchev Joins Versasec

Date: 2025-12-03
Author: Gabriela Peralta, Global Communications Coordinator

Gabriela: Welcome everyone. In the complex world of cybersecurity, we often focus on the technology, the encryption protocols, platforms. But the real magic happens at the intersection of that technology and the people who use it. It really takes a unique kind of expert to bridge that gap between a complex security requirement and a clear business outcome.

Our guest today, Ivan Denchev, is one of those experts. As the new pre-sales engineer for Versasec, Ivan brings a wealth of experience in PKI, digital signatures, and certificate life cycle management. From his time securing large-scale banking enterprises, his journey is as international as his skill set, taking him from his hometown in Bulgaria to Belgium, Germany, and now back home again. He describes himself as this bridge between business and tech, between cultures, between problems and solutions.

So today, we’re going to dive into his new role, what his presence means for Versasec customers and partners in Europe, and explore the greater trends in the credential management industry. Ivan, it’s a pleasure to have you today.

Ivan: It’s a pleasure for me, too.

Gabriela: Every professional journey has a “why” behind it. Could you tell us about your drive and how it led you to the specific pre-sales engineer role at Versasec?

Ivan: My “why” is pretty simple. I’m the happiest when I’m the bridge. As you mentioned, I love taking something complex like PKI, certificate life cycle, and compliance, and turning it into a clear, usable outcome for real people. Pre-sales is the perfect lane for that. You’re close enough to the tech to be credible, but you’re also close enough to the customers to make it meaningful. Add to that my Europe-wide reach where language, culture, and business nuance matters, and it’s just the fit for how I work.

Gabriela: Joining a new company is always a major decision. When you were evaluating this opportunity, what was it about Versasec’s mission and its culture that made it feel like the right fit?

Ivan: Choosing Versasec was an easy “yes” because of the people and the product. The culture is flat, human, and high trust. Exactly the environment where I learn fast and deliver fast. And vSEC:CMS hits that sweet spot of security and practicality. It’s not security theater. It’s security that ships and scales. That combination made the decision pretty straightforward.

Gabriela: Yes. And you’ve only been with Versasec for how many months now?

Ivan: Five.

Gabriela: Five months. And as we were speaking before the recording, you told me you just arrived from being at the it-sa conference. Can you share what your experience was like? I’m sure everybody is particularly curious about the reaction from partners when they learned that Versasec now has a dedicated German-speaking presence.

Ivan: You’re exactly right. The it-sa was very intense, just how I wanted it, and intense in the best way. I spent two focused days reconnecting with partners and listening. The reaction to having a German-speaking pre-sales contact covering Europe with a strong DACH capability was genuinely enthusiastic. For many, it’s not just language, it’s trust and speed. You resolve ambiguity quicker. You get to the real requirements faster and projects just move faster as well.

Gabriela: Your background is in very high-stakes environments like banking, focusing on things like PKI and compliance automation. How has that experience solving problems for large-scale enterprises shaped your perspective on the credential management challenges you see today?

Ivan: You’re asking great questions. Working in banking hardwires a few principles into you. Reliability beats flash. Auditability is not just optional, and life cycle matters more than day-one issuance. You think in terms of revocation, recovery, rotation, and provable security at scale, under regulation and without breaking user experience. That lens shapes how I approach credential management today as well—reducing manual steps, making the secure path the easy path, and designing for day 200 as carefully as day one.

Gabriela: And you have a great way of describing your work as that sweet spot where credential management meets customer outcomes for those listening who aren’t deep in the industry. Can you walk us through what that actually looks like?

Ivan: When I say the sweet spot where credential management meets customer outcomes, here’s what I mean. In plain language, a customer doesn’t buy PKI or FIDO because they love acronyms. They buy fewer tickets, faster onboarding, safer access, and better audits. So we map the whole journey. New hire shows up. They get the right credential quickly. They can self-service a PIN unblock, certificate renewal—if a device is lost, recovery is simple and provable. So if we can measure time to credential, ticket volume, and audit readiness going up and to the right, we’ve done the right job.

Gabriela: Transitioning a bit to your personal journey. Your career has been truly international, taking you to Belgium and Germany. Can you share a bit more of your story with us?

Ivan: I spent six years as a kid in Belgium and then I was back in Bulgaria for four years. Then my professional journey started where I had 10 years in Germany. That time taught me agility. As a kid, I played a lot of chess and I won a lot of school tournaments, but I had one weakness. Once I learned to stop forcing the perfect plan and adapt to the board in front of me, that’s when everything went well. That mindset—adjust fast, thrive everywhere—became my operating system in work and life.

Gabriela: That’s inspirational. And you know, even for myself having moved to Germany recently, I can definitely relate to that. After years abroad, you made a significant decision to move your family back to your hometown in Bulgaria. This sounds like a place of deep personal decision. Can you tell us what it means to be back there for you and your family?

Ivan: Thank you for that question. Moving back to my hometown in Bulgaria was about roots and the future at the same time. Asenovgrad is in the Rhodope foothills. My childhood was around the rivers, gardens, nature, and long days outside with my grandparents. We had a small villa reachable only by foot and a family ranch with memories of horses and home-canned winter storage. I’m restoring that ranch now, so my kids can grow up close to nature the way we did. The decision was also shaped by the pandemic. We realized how much we valued outdoors, family, and community.

Gabriela: That’s great. Thank you so much for sharing. When you’re not focused on technology, how do you recharge?

Ivan: These days, I recharge by being with my kids, spending all of our free time outside every day, regardless of the weather. As they love to say in Germany, there is no bad weather, there is just bad clothing. A year ago, I recommitted to the gym and I hit goals I postponed for too long. I also shifted from gaming to reading. Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations is a constant companion. I also had it with me at the it-sa, and I journal daily as far as I can. On the practical side, I’m very big on automation and AI in my routines. My view is simple: AI for professionals is like a calculator for scientists. It lets you focus on higher-order thinking.

Gabriela: You’ve set a clear goal for yourself at Versasec to scale your impact and turn complex challenges into clear wins. When you think about the next year, what does this clear win look like for one of your customers or partners?

Ivan: A clear win in the next year? A European customer that goes from multi-day issuance to minutes with measurable drops in access tickets and a clean audit trail. More specifically, unify PKI and FIDO where it makes sense, roll out self-service for common tasks, automate renewals and recovery, and give operators the guardrails and visibility they need. If security gets stronger while the user experience gets simpler, that’s a clear win for everyone.

Gabriela: Yes. And finally, our last question for the IT leaders and CISOs listening: what is the single most important piece of advice you would offer them as they plan their security and credential management strategy for the future?

Ivan: My advice to IT leaders and CISOs: Treat credential management as a product, not a project. Anchor on business outcomes, pick standards-based building blocks, and automate the life cycle—issuance, renewal, revocation, and recovery. Design for failure paths and recovery as first-class citizens. Measure what matters: Time to credential, ticket volume, user satisfaction, and audit readiness. Start small. Prove value, then scale. And remember, the most secure solution is the one your users will actually use.

Gabriela: Indeed. Couldn’t have said it better, Ivan. How can people contact you?

Ivan: Well, I’m very active on LinkedIn, but you can also get my contacts from our blog. I’m excited to help more European customers turn complex credential challenges into clear wins, bringing that bridge that I have between business and tech to life, one rollout at a time.

Gabriela: Thank you so much for spending time with us today and we look forward to hearing more from you at Versasec.