Global security provider Forcepoint has hired technology industry veteran Rees Johnson as chief product officer (CPO) after the company registered double-digit growth in revenue for the year and acquired new customers.
Johnson joins from Symantec, where he was senior vice president of product management for the company’s Enterprise Division.
Forcepoint said he will oversee the company’s product portfolio, including leadership and management of all product development, innovation and strategic integration efforts.
"Today's reality is that people are working from, well, everywhere. Securing hybrid and rapidly evolving computing environments is proving to be beyond the reach of most companies,” said Manny Rivelo, CEO of Forcepoint.
“Providing secure network access is only half the battle. Progressive organisations must also address the protection of precious information assets in perimeter-less networking environments.
“Forcepoint is revolutionising data security by enabling users to safely access and use data anywhere they work," Rivelo added.
Rivelo continued, stating it was the right time for Johnson to be joining the company. “Forcepoint's data security heritage has proven to be a game-changer for SASE, and Rees' background made him the perfect executive to assume the helm of leading our SASE product development teams,” he said.
“Rees has been a cybersecurity innovator and disruptor for more than two decades and I look forward to partnering with him as we accelerate investment and development in the industry's only Data-first SASE offering," he added.
Johnson has more than two decades of product leadership experience in network security, cloud security and SaaS migration strategy. He has served on the leadership team of the three largest security acquisitions in the market, including McAfee by Intel for $7bn (£5bn), Bluecoat by Symantec for $4.6bn (£3.3bn) and Symantec by Broadcom for $10bn (£7.2bn).
Before joining Symantec, Johnson held senior leadership roles at Intel (formerly McAfee), including senior vice president and general manager of the Content and SaaS Security business as well as senior vice president of McAfee Labs.
Johnson also served as general manager and senior vice president for Network Security at McAfee where he doubled the company's Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) bookings to achieve number one market share.
Additional leadership roles at McAfee include senior vice president of product management for the System Security and Risk Management business units and director of product management for ePO.
"The future of network security is absolutely SASE and to lead with data is paramount. Forcepoint's data-first SASE strategy is the way forward for organisations today. Forcepoint has a rich and proven history of data security leadership including nine times placement in the leader quadrant by the industry's most recognised analyst firm," said Johnson.
"Forcepoint has a strategic advantage in being a leader in the increasingly crowded global SASE market with its data-first differentiation. Key to success is providing customers a pathway to the cloud at their pace and in a way that meets their unique requirements.
“There is a tremendous opportunity in front of us and I look forward to continuing to develop and innovate new pathways for customers as they realise the true business enabling power security can deliver," he added.
