ROCHESTER, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 24, 2026--
Token, the biometric identity assurance company, today announced the appointment of Torrell Funderburk to its Industry Advisory Board. A two-time Top Global CISO, Funderburk has led enterprise security for Sealed Air (NYSE: SEE), a Fortune 500 company, and for Maestro Health, an AXA subsidiary – bringing frontline CISO experience to a board that guides Token’s response to the threats facing the world’s most critical organizations.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260624215933/en/
Token’s Industry Advisory Board is composed of senior cybersecurity executives, CISOs, and government security leaders responsible for protecting some of the world’s most critical organizations and infrastructure.
The appointment comes at a defining moment for enterprise security. Credential compromise remains the leading cause of enterprise breaches, and AI has made the problem structurally worse – phishing, deepfakes, and social engineering now operate at machine speed, while the credentials underneath have not fundamentally changed. As enterprises move AI agents from advisory roles into operational workflows, a second question has emerged: who, exactly, approves the high-consequence actions those agents are now capable of taking? Token recently extended its biometric architecture in response to that question, placing hard gates around actions such as releasing funds, changing access rights, or modifying production systems – so that an AI agent can prepare the work, but only a verified, physically present human can approve the outcome.
Token’s cryptographic biometric identity assurance proves the human, not just the credential. Rather than layering factors onto weak credential foundations, Token binds both access and approval to a verified, physically present person through on-device biometric authentication enforced on secure hardware. The TokenCore product line–including the TokenCore Wearable, TokenCore Portable, and TokenCore Node – integrates with existing IAM, SSO, and PAM infrastructure. It does not replace the identity stack; it completes it.
“The CISOs and security leaders on our Industry Advisory Board live with the consequences of identity failure every day, and that perspective is exactly what shapes where we take this technology,” said Kevin Surace, CEO of Token. “Torrell has built and defended security programs at Fortune 500 scale, across some of the most demanding regulatory environments there are. As the question shifts from ‘who logged in’ to ‘who approved this action – a human or an agent,’ his judgment is exactly the kind we want guiding us.”
Funderburk’s career spans industrial automation software engineering, cyber architecture, and enterprise security leadership across the manufacturing, healthcare, and financial services sectors. He is the founder and CEO of Overspace, a cyber resilience company he launched in 2025 that is pioneering Quantified Resilience as a new category for measuring and managing systemic cyber risk. A recognized voice on cyber resilience and modern security programs, he has spoken at RSA Conference and CES, and his writing has appeared in CSO Online. He serves on the AI Advisory Board at Furman University and is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
About Token
Token provides biometric-assured identity solutions for enterprises that need to stop credential theft, phishing, social engineering, and account takeover at the point of access. Token products combine biometric fingerprint verification, secure hardware, FIDO2 and WebAuthn authentication, and wireless ease of use to ensure that only the right person can access critical systems. Token protects workforce access across modern enterprise applications, identity providers, and cloud platforms.
Founded in 2014 and backed by Grand Oaks Capital, Token delivers secure, passwordless authentication solutions that help organizations reduce identity-based risk and strengthen workforce security. For more information, visit www.tokencore.com.
Torrell Funderburk, Token Industry Advisory Board member
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Formally dressed in a traditional Qatari bisht, Dr. Nasser Mohamed strolled past a crowd of several hundred people outside Chase Center as the England-Croatia World Cup match was shown high above on the big screen. His gold-and-black robe featured a flourish: rainbow piping down each sleeve and the words “love” and “freedom” written in Arabic.
“That’s why the World Cup is really powerful, because people don’t need to hear about who I am — I can just walk, be seen, and that’s it,” he said. “We don’t have to say a word.”
Four years ago, when the World Cup was played in his home country and Mohamed was already living across the world in San Francisco, he came out and became an exceptionally rare openly gay man from Qatar, where gay sex is prohibited and he can't dress how he'd like.
Mohamed is speaking up again for those without a voice. The 39-year-old now feels secure enough to walk around with confidence, and without fear of harm, while wearing chunky heeled boots, mascara and 2-inch dangly earrings. He still gets regular backlash and hate, but he has also found support and kindness from around the globe that helps drown out the death threats and divisiveness.
“I am so loved in San Francisco, really, truly,” Mohamed said of the city he moved to more than a decade ago. “I have not worn this since I was a kid in Qatar, and San Francisco put it back on my shoulders, with rainbows.”
For him, donning the bisht for everyone to see is important: “The emir of Qatar put it on (Lionel) Messi at the last World Cup to celebrate Messi. We should be celebrated too.”
An LGBTQ+ activist and family doctor who treats HIV, “Dr. Nas” — as he is known — launched his “Love is the Goal” campaign ahead of the World Cup and Pride Month, hoping to humanize all people taking part. For a video, he combined soccer lingo with references to love, such as him reading “love is kickoff, the very first touch,” and someone else offering “love is the assist, finding you exactly where you are.”
“Saving a life like mine is very expensive, and I know that, and this is the hard truth,” Mohamed said. “So that’s why I had to pave my own path and get out. I lost everything. I’m disowned completely. I had to build myself from scratch, the ground up, all of it.”
On Wednesday, Qatar plays its final group-stage match, against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Seattle. Mohamed won't be there, but he was at the team's first game, on June 13 in Santa Clara, California. He had clear and visible security, and was escorted by California state Sen. Scott Wiener to the 1-1 draw with Switzerland. A photo from the day has more than 12 million views on social media.
“As I was passing, everybody was taking pictures of me with the senator,” he recalled. “It was so dramatic.”
And emotional.
“In the stadium I couldn’t speak because if I started talking I’m not going to stop crying, because when am I going to see Qatar again in my life?” Mohamed said through tears. “When is it ever going to happen again? I don’t know. When am I going to see home? I can’t see Mom and Dad, even when they were getting hit by missiles.”
After the game, he hosted a dance party at the San Francisco Mint highlighted by a performance “Let Your Love Shine,” written by close friend Simon Tam and sung by Debby Holiday.
“Nas’ journey moves me because it is rooted in extraordinary courage and an enormous heart,” Tam said. “He’s taken his own truth and turned it into a way to help others feel seen, worthy, and less alone.”
Tam believes Mohamed can change the world — and that's the doctor's hope, too.
“The first step to heal is to witness things the way they are,” Mohamed said. “My endgame is for every child to belong with their own family and their own society.”
Still, it breaks his heart knowing he can't go back to Qatar. Mohamed has been ostracized by his own family because of his sexuality and for standing up to power to help others. He has aided moves out of Qatar for others, including a transgender woman who told The Associated Press she had been imprisoned and tortured. The woman spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for her safety.
An emailed request seeking comment was sent to the government of Qatar on Wednesday.
Mohamed is thankful for this new existence, embracing the obstacles that come with his work, even as he believes his safety could be at stake.
“We all fled persecution and took political asylum in the U.S., and now we invited all of them to come here to play soccer,” he said. “I didn’t feel safe leaving my apartment.”
Still, after everything, he roots for Qatar — and the Americans. He plans to watch the U.S. during the round of 32 next week in Santa Clara.
“I am cheering for both the United States and for Qatar with love,” he said. “They both had homes for me and, when I challenge either of them, it is out of love, and I mean it.”
AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/fifa-world-cup
Dr. Nasser Mohamed, of Qatar, is photographed, Wednesday, June 17, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Dr. Nasser Mohamed, of Qatar, is photographed, Wednesday, June 17, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Dr. Nasser Mohamed, of Qatar, is photographed, Wednesday, June 17, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Dr. Nasser Mohamed, of Qatar, is photographed, Wednesday, June 17, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Dr. Nasser Mohamed, of Qatar, is photographed, Wednesday, June 17, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
