Every year, HashiCorp celebrates the exceptional teams that exemplify the core values and principles that guide the company’s operations and culture. Through the HashiCorp Principle Awards, outstanding achievements in cross-functional teamwork and dedication to the company’s ethos are recognized. This article introduces the 2025 winning team and the impressive runners-up, reflecting on their remarkable contributions and the embodiment of HashiCorp’s principles.
HashiCorp has clearly defined principles that are not just words but a way of working and delivering value. Since the initiation of the Principle Awards in 2020, the company has acknowledged teams and individuals who have demonstrated excellence in alignment with these guiding principles.
Meet the 2025 Principle Award Winner
Strategic Security & Compliance Enhancement for Enterprise Products
This year, the prestigious award was given to a collaborative effort between the Research & Development (R&D) and Security teams. They spearheaded a significant initiative focused on bolstering security and compliance measures essential for the delivery of HashiCorp’s products and services. This effort became crucial after external audits unveiled gaps in security controls, which were attributed to accumulated technical debt and issues with responsibility allocation. Addressing these gaps was imperative to meet and exceed customer expectations.
The project was a comprehensive cross-functional initiative involving substantial contributions from various departments within R&D and Security. Teams such as Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC), Cloud Security, Product Security, Threat Detection & Response, Platform Engineering, Product Engineering, and R&D Operations collaborated effectively to identify weaknesses, implement improvements, and ensure sustainable solutions.
The team effectively integrated several of HashiCorp’s core principles, including Integrity, Pragmatism, Execution, and Communication. Integrity was demonstrated through their commitment to addressing security challenges proactively and holding themselves accountable for delivering improvements. Their pragmatic approach involved prioritizing the most critical security needs, balancing long-term impact with immediate risks. Transparent communication was maintained throughout the process, keeping stakeholders informed and reinforcing trust with internal teams and customers.
Through aligned priorities and decisive actions, the team not only improved HashiCorp’s security posture but also strengthened the foundation for future collaborations between R&D and Security teams.
Congratulations to the Winning Team Members:
Jessica Capaldi, Luka Trbojevic, Bryan Sharp, James Dayhuff, Eric Weinstein, Chris Steinmeyer, Colette Alexander, Adam Gray, Michele Degges, Devon Powley, Rose Jen, Thu Anh Le, Jamie Finnigan, Randy Hodges, Jessica Overton, Antony Saba, Ryan Breed, Izaak Weiss.
Meet the Other Finalists in This Year’s Awards
HashiCorp Validated Designs and Assets That Matter
Another outstanding initiative recognized this year was the HashiCorp Validated Designs and Assets That Matter project. This effort made technical resources more accessible for customer-facing teams, providing them with reliable, standardized content to assist customers in designing and operating cloud solutions effectively. The initiative delivered a structured, validated collection of assets, reinforcing HashiCorp as the standard for cloud operations.
The impact of this project has been remarkable. Customer-facing teams now have access to over 100 high-quality assets, including Solution Design Guides, onboarding materials, and a new “Demos Done Right” platform. These resources have led to increased deal win rates, larger deals, and reduced operational friction, saving millions in productivity costs.
The success of this project was made possible through collaboration across R&D, Technical Field Operations (TFO), Support, and Product Marketing Management (PMM), led by the TFO Value Engineering team. The project embodied the principles of Integrity, with a focus on technical accuracy, and Pragmatism, by addressing real-world solutions. It demonstrated that well-designed tools are crucial for winning deals, exemplifying the principle that "Beauty Works Better."
Kudos to the Team Members:
Bryan Sadowski, Adam Cavaliere, Michelle Roberts, Vish Krinshnaswamy, Michael Wood, Amber Reddy, Ian Kemp, Dan Brown, Prakash Manglanathan, Troy Fluegge, Thomas Kula, Justin Clayton, Monica Miller, Chris Stella, Syed Quadri, Jenna Wong, Mauricio Afiuni, Mauricio Esteban Mitolo, Rodolfo Castelo Méndez, Eric Espinola Cañadas, Just Herreman, Adam Summer, Allison Broski, Andrew Marrone, Mark Lewis, Craig Sloggett, Emmanuel Rousselle, Lucy Davinhart, Chris Zembower, Ravi Panchal, Jenna Degaust, Matt McQuillan, Finn Dannin, David Canadillas, Srini Nagaraju, Shriram Rajaraman, Dave Randolph, Van Phan, Alex Basista, John Duke, Johnny Chen, Tristan Stoker, Adam Buxton, Jeff McCollum.
The Launch Lifecycle Process and HashiConf
Following the HashiDays event, the team took the opportunity to reflect on product announcements and major launch processes. With HashiConf approaching, they aimed to refine the Launch Lifecycle Process (LLC), a framework designed to bring structure, transparency, and efficiency to announcements.
The objective was to align this launch process with the Product Lifecycle Process (PLC) to enhance communication, ensure accountability, and set every team up for success. This involved several key steps:
- Providing clear visibility into announcements and timelines.
- Implementing iterative ‘readiness checks’ to track progress.
- Establishing escalation paths for off-track announcements.
- Understanding cross-functional impacts on marketing, sales, and other launch workstreams.
- Executing a seamless launch with all planned announcements delivered on schedule.
The results were outstanding. HashiConf was a successful event, featuring impactful announcements across HashiCorp’s infrastructure and security portfolios. The improved launch strategy provided marketing, sales, and go-to-market teams with necessary insights well in advance. The team also delivered compelling keynote designs, activations, briefing decks, and infographics, bringing the conference to life.
Kudos to the Team Members:
Grace Stillar, Jen Hanussak, Faranak Medrano, Melar Chen, Mitchell Ross, Yushuo Huang, Diana Smith, Aubrey Johnson, Rich DuBose, Sam Pandey, Shaziya Bandukia, Monika Doshi, Anubhav Mishra, Omar Ismail, Sarah Hernandez, Paul Thrasher, Ashish Larivee, Kanishk Sahni, Siranjeevi Dheenadhayalan, Anando Chatterjee, Prakash Linga.For those interested in learning more about HashiCorp’s guiding principles, visit their principles page. If the values resonate with you, consider exploring career opportunities with HashiCorp, as they continually seek talented individuals who align with their ethos. You can view open roles across various departments and locations on their careers page.
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