KnowBe4, the provider of the world’s largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, today announced it will be facilitating the planting of 10,000 trees around the world to celebrate its 10th anniversary and the addition of its 1,000th employee.
KnowBe4’s employees worked together to choose the perfect way to welcome and celebrate their 10-year anniversary and 1,000th team member by submitting their ideas and voting as a group on their favorite one. Six people brought the winning idea along, and to continue ‘going big’ in all ways, they decided to scale the project up and do a play on numbers of 10 times 1,000 to equal 10,000 trees.
“I think that this tree project is a great symbol for KnowBe4’s global growth,” said Stu Sjouwerman, CEO, KnowBe4. “With each employee, the organization’s roots spread out and grow stronger. But the best part about it for me personally is that planting trees allows us to give back to the planet we all live on. Planting trees is a meaningful way with real, positive effects to celebrate this exciting milestone.”
“One Tree Planted,” a 501 charity that helps global reforestation efforts, will be planting the trees for this project as soon as possible. Planting will happen in phases, as they wait until “planting season” begins within each region for best results. For example, they aim to get started in Australia in February, as this is the best planting time there. The OneTreePlanted team will reach out with an update one month after they are able to plant the trees in each region.
The trees will be dispersed across four countries: Indonesia, Australia, Kenya and the U.S. These areas were chosen due to the need for trees based on wildfires and other environmental threats. The types of trees planted will be determined by One Tree Planted experts, who will identify which tree species will bring the highest overall benefit to each particular region.
KnowBe4’s employees importantly note that expansion does not stop here, and the team continues to think big and aim high.
“Since we are in hypergrowth and we are still all dealing with COVID, it is important to continue to celebrate our growth as an organization,” said Erika Lance, senior VP of people operations, KnowBe4. “We are still hiring with over 100 open positions.”
