Sophos creates Aus, NZ MD role

Sophos' recently appointed Asia-Pacific managing director has created a new management role to oversee the Australian and New Zealand segment of the market and respond to its growth.

Sophos has brought on Ashley Wearne, whose first set of challenges will include increasing channel growth for the company in the region. Wearne will report to the recently appointed managing director for the Asia-Pacific region, Stuart Fisher.

Wearne will have full responsibility for the Australian and New Zealand operations, including sales and marketing. The company, as a whole, is in the process of establishing a new partner program and moving to a two-tiered distribution system. It recently started this through Distribution Central in Sydney and other connected businesses in New Zealand.

Previously, Fisher had three sales directors from Australia and New Zealand report to him, and while the global firm has grown by 17 per cent in the past year, the Asia-Pacific region has grown by 27 per cent. Due to this, Fisher said that it was time to invest and bring in more senior talent.

Fisher spent about two months reviewing candidates before settling on Wearne, who he picked due to Wearne's broad industry knowledge and hands-on experience in similar roles. Wearne's previous roles include the country sales-management roles at Adobe for almost three years, McAfee for over six years, Novell for seven years and over 12 years as Unisys' program sales manager.

"I am delighted to be joining Sophos at a time when our customers face new technology trends such as 'cloud computing', the adoption of mobile applications and employees bringing their own devices into the workplace," Wearne said in a statement.

"It's a time when everyone wants security solutions with less complexity and lower cost, at the same time as needing to focus on core business. Part of my new role is to remind businesses that complete security is a non-negotiable."