September Sales Engineering Braintrust

Trusted Advisors, as we gear up to convene in Dallas for Special Forces Summit 2026, we’ve got plenty of other items for you to explore and consider. This month, we’re highlighting a webinar with Akamai designed to help with your AI conversations, some exciting news about our teammates Andrew Pryfogle and Rick Mischka, key Pathfinder updates, two unique vendors, and a friendly Q&A spotlight with one of our engineers. Enjoy!

Here’s what’s featured:

• Sales Engineering Announcements

• Pathfinder Updates

• New Vendors
  

• Trusted Advisor Testimonials

• Engineering Spotlight

Sales Engineering Announcements

AVANT + Akamai Webinar – Beyond the Edge: Join AVANT and Akamai for a webinar built for Trusted Advisors looking to strengthen their network, security and AI conversations. We’ll explore how Akamai helps your customers improve digital performance, protect critical applications and APIs, strengthen zero trust strategies, and prepare for AI-driven demand. Walk away with practical talk tracks, client conversation starters, and a clearer view of where Akamai can help you uncover new opportunities and expand customer relationships. Register now – Sept. 22 @ 12 pm CT w/ Rick Mischka & Ari Weil from Akamai.

New Promotions: We’re excited to announce a pair of promotions for Andrew Pryfogle and Rick Mischka.

Andrew has taken on the role of Global Head of Engineering & Education Strategy and will lead our Sales Engineers globally, a well-earned next step for a true driving force on our team. Andrew will remain integral to our education strategy, as his vision and passion are central to how we grow talent and provide value to our TAs through training opportunities.

Rick is bringing his trademark enthusiasm and expertise to his new role as VP of Engineering – Security, Cloud, & AI. Rick has been instrumental in our training growth and invaluable to our Trusted Advisors while previously serving as Sr. Director of Education & Enablement, and we’re so excited to see what he brings to the table as he starts this next chapter.

Pathfinder Updates

New Backup & DR Matrix: The new Backup & DR matrix makes it easier to compare providers and identify the right solution for your customer. Backup as a Service (BaaS) protects the data, and typically allows for recovery of a file or server back to your customer’s on-prem environment. Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) protects the business, and allows for recovery of the entire IT environment (servers, storage, networking, apps, data) in the cloud. 

New Managed Services Matrix: The new Managed Services matrix features providers that can help your customers keep their  IT infrastructure running smoothly. Use this matrix to explore vendors offering 24/7 monitoring, ongoing support, maintenance, and help desk services across a range of IT environments.

New SASE Matrix: Portfolio: The new SASE matrix represents the convergence of SD-WAN and SSE, providing a single, integrated way to compare providers and identify solutions that align with your customer’s networking and security needs.

New Vendors

Supervity

Solution Type: Cloud, Security, CX AI

Geographic Coverage: United States

What does Supervity offer? Supervity provides governed, hyper-specific AI Employees that continuously learn and improve across business workflows. These AI Employees use voice, agentic Optical Character Recognition (OCR), and computer vision to handle domain-specific tasks in areas such as finance, procurement, HR, ITSM, and public sector operations. They support use cases like accounts payable/receivable, vendor onboarding, employee onboarding/offboarding, IT help-desk resolution, permit processing, and more.

Key Differentiators: 

• AI Employees that own outcomes
• Works with any application or data type
• Multi-modal with strong OCR and a Voice AI Employee
• Intelligent context engine that thinks like a business
• Run-time cost optimization engine that keeps AI economical at scale
• Governance built for production, not bolted on
• Self-improving AI Employees that get better over time
• Every auto app makes the next one faster
• ROI guaranteed

What kind of client is best fit for this provider?

• CFO / Controller / Finance operations
• CIO / Enterprise architecture
• Chief Transformation Officer
• Chief Digital Officer
• Head of Automation
• Head of GBS / Shared Services
• Chief Procurement Officer / Procurement operations
• Chief AI Officer / AI Governance leader

 Learn more about Supervity here. 

White Knight Labs

Solution Type: Security

Geographic Coverage: United States

What does White Knight Labs offer? White Knight Labs offers Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS), covering networks, cloud infrastructure, web applications, APIs, physical access, hardware, and firmware. It also provides security assessments such as compromised developer and insider threat assessments, cloud and network segmentation testing, supply chain and AI security reviews, and embedded product security evaluations.

Key Differentiators: 

• Certified senior and principal level cybersecurity experts with advanced certifications in offensive security, penetration testing, red teaming, and cloud security
• Practitioners that teach courses regularly at DEFCON, NorthSec, and Wild West Hackin’ Fest
• Agile, boutique, veteran-owned company delivering faster and more cost-effectively than competition
• Extensive practice supporting compliance requirements of public and private sector clients (ATO, PCI, CMMC, HIPAA, FDA, DORA)

What kind of client is best fit for this provider?

• Companies with routine penetration testing needs driven by compliance (HIPAA, PCI) or cybersecurity insurance requirements
• Engagements scoped by attack surface depth or cybersecurity maturity level
• Mature security programs (regular pentests over several years) are ideal for red team, ransomware, or deepfake-enabled social engineering simulations
• Embedded product vendors needing regulatory approval before market launch (e.g., medical devices, drones)
• Hardware/firmware/software testing to meet FDA benchmarks, ATO prep standards, and other security/compliance frameworks

 Learn more about White Knight Labs here. 

Explore our full vendor portfolio including their offerings and key differentiators by logging into Pathfinder today!

Trusted Advisor Testimonials

What are your peers saying about their experience working with AVANT Sales Engineers? 

“Having resources that you can pull into calls to not only have technical know-how, but also the sales acumen to educate and lead a customer is invaluable.” – Jordan Hawkins, Continuant

“AVANT is the only TSD I use, my Channel Manager is great, and Pathfinder helps me in meetings and just makes my life so much easier.” – Anita Patel, Minerva Tec Group, LLC

 

Engineering Spotlight

This month, we’re spotlighting Hunter Edmisten, Field Sales Engineer, with a focus on CX.

In 15 years of building relationships and technology solutions, Hunter has worked in multiple roles within the Sales Engineering realm. His background in UCaaS, CX, and full end-to-end solutions allows him to break down hurdles in understanding how technology evolves.

Here’s a bit more about Hunter, in his own words! 

Tell us about something you do for AVANT that Trusted Advisors may not know.  

I love the outdoors! I’m an avid hunter of big game and birds, and my bird dog’s a standard poodle named Rio. I enjoy long-distance running when I’m not chasing my three athletic children around the southeast for their respective sports. I play multiple instruments and sing quite frequently.

Where are you located?

Greenville, SC

What’s an unusual food combination you secretly enjoy?

I love salty and sweet. I don’t eat fast food often, but I love Wendy’s french fries dipped in a Frosty.

What’s your favorite hack for staying productive or organized?

Get up early. Start your day before the sun comes up, and target your hardest projects of the day to leave margin for the relationships in your life.

Ready to level up your sales game with expert guidance? Our Engineers have your back and are available for you to bring them into your opportunities! Connect with them and get started by filling out an IQA on Pathfinder!