Westminster, Colorado — July 1, 2025 — FusionAuth, the only developer-first Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) solution with hybrid deployment, today announced that Brian Bell has been appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective immediately. Bell succeeds founder Brian Pontarelli, who will transition to the role of Chief Technology Officer.
Bell brings over two decades of leadership at the intersection of identity security and developer-centric software. He most recently served as CEO of Split Software, where he led the company through rapid growth and a successful acquisition by Harness. With prior leadership roles at Ping Identity and Zuora, Bell is a seasoned technology executive with a proven track record of driving innovation, scaling developer-focused products, and leading high-growth companies through impactful go-to-market execution.
“Building FusionAuth has been the journey of a lifetime. I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished, especially our developer-first roots, which allowed us to grow at double the rate of the competition with minimal outside capital,” said Brian Pontarelli. “Brian Bell brings a rare combination of deep identity and security domain expertise and proven success scaling businesses. Having built secure, enterprise-grade and developer-friendly systems at Split, Ping Identity, and Zuora, he’s exactly the right person to drive our vision forward.”
FusionAuth is the only enterprise-grade customer identity solution with a hybrid deployment model that allows customers to dev, test and deploy anywhere. With dedicated infrastructure, regardless of a cloud or self-hosted deployment model, FusionAuth customers enjoy the best scalability, security and flexibility, defying the status quo in the CIAM market, which forces teams into a multi-tenant SaaS only model of shared infrastructure and limited testing. Customers are located around the globe, including in locations and verticals where data residency, privacy and scale are critical, from BettyBlocks in the Netherlands to Powerful Medical in the States.
“Since taking a strategic investment from Updata Partners 18 months ago, FusionAuth has more than doubled its annual recurring revenue, cementing its position as one of the fastest-growing companies in the CIAM space,” said Dan Moss of Updata Partners, “The opportunity ahead of us is enormous and Brian Bell is the right person to take FusionAuth to the next phase of our growth.”
“I’m excited to be joining FusionAuth at such a high-growth inflection point,” said Brian Bell. “This market is booming as companies race to deliver differentiated, secure digital experiences across web, mobile, and AI-powered platforms. CIAM has become a critical component in handling complex identity needs in human-AI-machine ecosystems, making it essential for modern application architectures. FusionAuth is uniquely positioned to lead this next era – and the market momentum we’re seeing is just the beginning.”
With hundreds of customers, and millions of downloads, FusionAuth’s is more committed than ever to giving developers the tools they need to build secure, scalable identity into their apps without the headaches. With a solid foundation, a thriving community, and new innovations on the way, FusionAuth is well-positioned to keep driving the future of CIAM.
About FusionAuth
FusionAuth is the only downloadable Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) platform with an enterprise-grade, hybrid deployment model for diverse development pipelines. Trusted by over 450 global organizations, FusionAuth provides customers of any size with a single-tenant VIP suite, the option to download and run anywhere, world-class support, and no hidden costs regardless of scale.
Media Contact:
Daniel Delson
Magnitude Inc.
