Biography
Biography
Introduction
Zachary “Zach” Eikenberry is an American entrepreneur and business executive who grew up in Lafayette, Indiana. He has built and led organizations across federal contracting, SaaS, education, and cybersecurity, with a career spanning more than a decade of startup and operator experience.
Education
Eikenberry studied at Purdue University, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Religious Studies and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Krannert School of Management in 2007. Earlier, he studied Spanish Language and Literature at Tecnológico de Monterrey from 2004 to 2005. He later completed the Newchip Accelerator program in July 2021.
Federal Contracting & Early Entrepreneurship
He began his career in the federal contracting ecosystem, becoming Owner of Ike Enterprises in 2009 and a Senior Partner at FCD INC, a Veteran Owned Small Business focused on helping firms navigate federal channel sales, contract management, and government awards. Building on that experience, he co-founded Ledger Work Inc. in 2010, a contract management tool designed to streamline purchasing and workflow complexity.
Education Leadership
In 2011, Eikenberry became the Founding Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of NEXT High School and also served as Sales Director at CPT Medical. He later expanded his education work as Founder and CEO of The NEXT Schools at age 27, creating schools centered on entrepreneurial learning. Starting with no initial funding, he built an operating system that raised more than $5 million annually, managed over 60 full-time employees, and delivered entrepreneurial programs to more than 900 students across two high schools and a middle school.
Current Work
After years of building products and organizations, Eikenberry returned to entrepreneurship full time, co-founding Ike & Erson in 2018 and remaining active in professional communities including RevGenius, which he joined in 2020. In 2021, he became Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hook Security Co., where he focuses on improving security training effectiveness using applied psychological research, often referred to as psysec. The company also emphasizes distribution through channel partners including MSPs, MSSPs, VARs, agents, and distributors to broaden access for organizations that rely on managed services for security operations.
Community & Recognition
In addition to his executive work, Eikenberry has participated in industry and civic networks, joining InfraGard in 2022, and he co-hosts the Two Stones One Bird podcast. He has also been recognized for his work in innovation and education, including being named among top innovative educators, and he has spoken publicly as a TEDx and conference speaker on innovation, learning, and organizational change.
Also Known As
Education
Birthplace
Organizations Founded
Hook Security provides the complete toolkit for any company to create a healthy security-aware culture.
Professions
Zachary Eikenberry co-founded Hook Security, a cybersecurity company focused on helping organizations reduce human-risk through security awareness training and phishing simulations. In his leadership role, he has been involved in building the company’s product direction, go-to-market strategy, and operational growth as the business expanded its customer base.
Zachary Eikenberry is also the author of Psychological Security: How Human Behavior Shapes Modern Cyber Defense, a book that argues the biggest gaps in cybersecurity are often behavioral rather than technical. Drawing on research from psychology, neuroscience, and education, along with real-world security data, Eikenberry outlines why people still make risky choices even when they know the rules, and how organizations can reduce risk by designing training, environments, and incentives that support better decision-making. The book explores topics including cognitive load, habit formation, leadership and culture, and how decentralization, AI, automation, and remote work are reshaping the human attack surface.