Cybersecurity giant Sophos has announced the appointment of seasoned industry executive Torjus Gylstorff as its new chief revenue officer.
As CRO, Gylstorff is tasked with leading Sophos’ global sales organization, including its partner and customer networks, as the company looks to drive sales of its portfolio of security offerings - such as its managed detection and response (MDR) services and solutions for endpoint, network, email, and cloud security.
Gylstorff arrives with 25 years’ experience in sales, channels, and business development across the technology and cybersecurity sectors, including leading global sales teams and building channel ecosystems.
Most recently, he served as worldwide sales leader for Thales’ Application and Data Security business, which followed a tenure as vice president of worldwide channels and alliances at Symantec.
Previously, he has also led emerging business initiatives at Blue Coat Systems, as well as held various leadership positions at Norman Shark, IBM, and Lotus Software.
With Gylstorff on board, Sophos is aiming to expand its presence beyond its existing customer base of more than 600,000 global organizations in the small- and mid-sized business market.
The new CRO will leverage his channel expertise to develop strategies that strengthen and drive additional business with both new and existing MSPs, the firm said.
“Our vision at Sophos is a world where organizations of any size and means have a clear path to superior cybersecurity outcomes, and the work we do every day aims to close the cyber security divide and protect more organizations in the most at-risk segments of the market,” explained Sophos CEO Joe Levy.
“The best and most efficient way to do this is by scaling with channel partners and MSPs.”
Levy added that Gylstorff’s extensive industry experience will be a key asset to the company as it looks to drive the next phase of its “go to market evolution.”.
“With Torjus, who has decades of experience in leading channel sales, managing sales operations and developing relationships with customers, we can scale faster and in a way that accelerates growth for partners, MSPs and Sophos,” he said.
The move by Sophos comes amid an exciting period for the cybersecurity giant, with the company having recently announced plans to acquire Secureworks as part of an $859 million deal.
The deal, revealed on 21 October, will see Sophos integrate solutions from both companies to create what it described as a broader and stronger security portfolio aimed at serving businesses at the small, mid, and enterprise level.
