Anna Pobletts ’12 Named to Okta Ventures’ 2026 Identity 25 List The head of Passwordless at 1Password was honored for her work as an innovator in the AI age.

By Laura Lemon
July 28, 2026

With lists of numerous eight-character passwords dotting journals and notes apps – all with the required special character and number – Anna Pobletts ’12 saw a problem. Security in the digital world had grown to mean clutter and frustration for the average person, and she wanted to find a solution. With a background in identity, cryptography and security at the Department of Defense, Praetorian and Twilio, in 2021, Pobletts co-founded and served as chief technology officer of Texas startup Passage, which focused on passkey technologies that allowed users to have secure, passwordless logins. By end of 2022, 1Password, an international identity security company, acquired Passage, making Pobletts head of Passwordless at 1Password where she continues to oversee the development of human-centric authentication technologies that both protect information while eliminating friction. In May 2026, Pobletts was named to Okta Ventures’ 2026 Identity 25 list, which spotlights identity innovators in the AI age.

What does this honor mean to you — especially since you co-founded Passage and saw this startup through its entire growth and its acquisition by 1Password? 

It means a lot to be recognized by people in this field I genuinely respect. Previous and current honorees are people who’ve spent decades working on open standards and have quietly shaped how the internet actually works. With Passage, we were trying to get people to move away from passwords to more secure login options, and the challenge was making something secure enough to matter and simple enough that a non-technical person would actually use it. Being included in this group means that the work I did through Passage was valued by the people who deeply understand this technology and problem space.

This honor was advertised on a Times Square digital billboard. Can you articulate what that moment felt like when you saw your photo in Times Square?

It really was surreal! It went so fast, but I really tried to focus on enjoying the moment. My husband was there, along with some other honorees. We were taking pictures, cheering and hyping each other up in the middle of Times Square. Sharing this experience with others made it even better!

How did W&L prepare you for your career and the years after graduation? Is there a particular lesson or memory that sticks out that you’ve carried throughout?

I have a math and computer science dual degree from W&L, and between that and doing research with Sara Sprenkle [associate professor of computer science], one thing that sticks with me is learning how to handle ambiguity – how to sit with a problem that doesn’t have a known answer yet and figure out where to even start. That has turned out to be one of the most valuable things I carried into founding a company because most of what you’re doing as a founder is operating with incomplete information and figuring out what actually matters. Beyond that, taking classes across many different disciplines taught me to be more open-minded and well-rounded instead of just leaning on my technical skill. Communication, good writing and actually understanding your customer matter just as much as being able to build the product.

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