Alex Ionescu

Alex Ionescu is Chief Technology Innovation Officer at CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity company he co-founded in 2011 as its inaugural chief architect. He later served as VP of Endpoint Engineering leading a team of 350 engineers.

A recognized global authority on operating system internals and kernel security, he co-authored the last three editions of Windows Internals and has driven critical vulnerability remediation across major platforms throughout a career spanning Apple and Microsoft.

Through his independent consulting work, he delivered Windows internals courses to government agencies and enterprises worldwide for the last 15 years, while presenting groundbreaking research at leading security conferences.

Most recently, he served the Canadian government, where he led national signals intelligence initiatives as technical director at the Communications Security Establishment.

Ionescu speaks five languages and holds a Master of Information and Cybersecurity from UC Berkeley and a Bachelor of Computer Science from Concordia University.

A first-generation Romanian immigrant, Ionescu returned to Montreal after a decade in Silicon Valley and Seattle.

He is an enthusiastic supporter of the arts in Montreal and a philanthropist. Through his family foundation, he has committed $15 million in transformational gifts to the Opéra de Montréal, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and the Orchestre Métropolitain.

In 2026, he received the Concordia University Alumni Association’s Benoît Pelland Alumnus of the Year award.