Jake Milstein
Jake Milstein

On air · Seattle, Washington

Jake Milstein

Head of Healthcare Marketing, Zscaler

I used to run newsrooms. Now I run marketing for cybersecurity companies. The deadline pressure is the same; the threat actors are just better funded.

NBC CBS Emmy Winner Murrow Winner

The story so far

Storyteller, then and now

I started my career running newsrooms, where every major technology shift hit in real time — and I embraced each one early, from digital to mobile to streaming. That habit stuck.

In cybersecurity, I lead marketing, comms, and go-to-market strategy with a focus on AI-driven transformation: scaling content output, deepening technical storytelling, and driving category creation. I build teams that move fast, communicate clearly, and stay ahead of the technology curve.

My operating principle hasn't changed in 25 years: see what's coming, use it early, turn it into impact.

Also fluent in: crisis comms at 2 a.m., explaining zero trust to a board, and finding the humor in a ransomware briefing. The last one is harder than it sounds.

The cyber chapter

The AI thing

Everyone has "AI enthusiast" in their bio now. Here's the difference: I actually operationalized it. At Contrast Security I built AI systems that quadrupled content output while holding top SEO rankings, and ran go-to-market on Claude-based workflows — not as an experiment, as the operating system.

I use AI to scale content, deepen technical storytelling, and drive category creation.

At Zscaler, I'm teaching the team the part most AI training skips: when to use it and when not to — how to tell a great AI use case from something you should just sit down and write yourself.

Because here's the truth: Human+AI is the winning combination. The machine brings the volume, the human brings the judgment. But you have to know what's great to get great from AI. Either one alone is fine. Together, they're dangerous.

See what's coming. Use it early. Turn it into impact. It's not just a tagline — it's the whole playbook.

The cyber record

By the numbers

40x revenue growth scaling a Series A cybersecurity startup
300+ customers, from hospitals to cities to government agencies
$6M in opportunity driven by the Healthcare Breach Report
4x content output from AI systems built at Contrast Security

Trusted when it counts: led crisis communications for cyber incidents affecting hospitals, cities, and government agencies.

Covered in Wall Street Journal New York Times Bloomberg CNBC Analyst recognition Gartner Magic Quadrant IDC Leader

From the newsroom to the server room

Experience

  1. Head of Healthcare Marketing

    2026 – Present

    Zscaler · Senior Director

    Leading healthcare marketing — helping healthcare organizations securely connect clinicians, staff, applications, and medical devices while protecting patient data, cutting cost and complexity, and dragging aging infrastructure into the cloud era.

  2. VP, Growth and Corporate Marketing

    2024 – 2026

    Contrast Security

    Moved go-to-market to product-led growth with a launch that beat download forecasts 3x. Built a monthly webinar series that became the #2 pipeline driver in two months. Drove analyst-relations strategy that improved our Gartner Magic Quadrant position and earned a first IDC "Leader" placement. Landed tier-1 press including the Wall Street Journal. Previously VP of Corporate Marketing and Communications: repositioned the company around Application Detection and Response (40% customer adoption in year one) and built AI systems that quadrupled content output.

  3. Chief Marketing Officer & Chief Revenue Officer

    2018 – 2024

    Critical Insight · acquired by Lumifi Cyber

    Scaled a Series A cybersecurity startup to 300+ customers and 40x revenue growth. Created the Healthcare Breach Report, which drove $6M in opportunity. Built partnerships with the AHA and major insurers, rebuilt the channel program (tripling partner-sourced revenue), and led crisis communications for cyber incidents affecting hospitals, cities, and government agencies. National placements in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and CNBC.

  4. News Director

    2014 – 2018

    KIRO 7, Seattle CBS · affiliate

    Ran the newsroom: took the station to #1, launched the first streaming local newscast and one of Roku's most-downloaded local news apps, oversaw P&L and 100+ staff, and collected Emmy and Murrow awards along the way. Also bargained four collective bargaining agreements, which is its own special kind of crisis comms. Earlier: Digital Manager and Managing Editor at KIRO (2008–2014).

  5. Senior Producer

    2006 – 2008

    NBC News, Washington, D.C. (WRC-TV) NBC

    Returned the 11 p.m. newscast to #1 and piloted a newsroom automation platform later adopted across all NBC owned stations.

  6. Producer

    2000 – 2006

    NBC Bay Area NBC

    Led morning and nighttime newscasts to #1 in key demos; led the newscast rebrand when NBC purchased the station. Started here right out of USC, which means my entire career has been one long exercise in hitting deadlines set by other people.

Education: USC Annenberg, B.A. English & Italian, 2000 — co-founded Trojan Vision News and Annenberg TV News, creating the university's first live newscast.

The trophy shelf

Awards

Twenty-five years of storytelling, recognized along the way — from the 11 p.m. newscast to the boardroom.

Emmy

Emmy Award Winner

Television news excellence, earned running newscasts and newsrooms that led their markets.

Murrow

Edward R. Murrow Award Winner

Journalism's honor for outstanding achievement in broadcast and digital news.

Reviews are in

Kind words

"If you looked up 'hardworking' in the dictionary, you'd find a picture of Jake."
— Tom Houpt, colleague
"Each time his role expanded, he just figured out how to be good at the new thing."
— Shay Mowlem, my boss at Contrast Security

Coming up next

Get in touch

The best way to reach me is LinkedIn — I have 9,000+ followers and I still read every message. (Okay, almost every message.)

Connect on LinkedIn