Sophos has announced that Kris Hagerman has stepped down as its CEO and will serve as an advisor to the company until April 1, 2024. Effective immediately, Joe Levy is the President and acting CEO of Sophos.
Hagerman has been CEO of Sophos since 2012 and led the company through a period of dramatic growth.
The company has roughly tripled its revenue during his tenure to over $1 billion, and has grown its customer base from roughly 150,000 customers to over 580,000 customers worldwide, establishing Sophos as one of the clear next-generation leaders in the cybersecurity industry.
Hagerman led the successful IPO of Sophos on the London Stock Exchange in 2015, and a successful sale to Thoma Bravo in 2020.
“I am proud of our team’s accomplishments over the last 12 years as we have transformed Sophos into a true next-generation cybersecurity leader and an industry innovator in delivering cybersecurity as a service,” said Hagerman. “I am excited to pass the baton to Joe Levy as President and acting CEO to lead Sophos into the future. Joe and I have worked closely together for over nine years, and he has been pivotal in leading our product, services and technology initiatives that have underpinned Sophos’ growth. He has my full and enthusiastic support.”
Levy is a nearly 30-year veteran of cybersecurity products and services innovation. He has also been working closely with the channel since the mid-1990s. With his business accomplishments, hands-on experience as a security practitioner and deep knowledge of attacker behaviours, Levy is well-positioned to competitively lead Sophos to fulfil market need and demand, due to the increase in the unrelenting cyberattack climate.
During his nine-year tenure at Sophos, Levy also drove the transformation of Sophos from a product-only vendor into the global cybersecurity as a service company it is today.
Sophos’ managed services now defend more than 20,000 customers worldwide.
Levy also brought his vision for creating an operational threat intelligence unit to life.
Called Sophos X-Ops, the 500+ person team joins together cross-departmental cybersecurity operators and threat intelligence experts to provide real-time and historical attack data that makes Sophos’ defences smarter and faster.
“I am extremely excited for the opportunity to further grow Sophos as a global cybersecurity leader. Many organisations worldwide are still neglected relative to the industry’s focus on securing large enterprises, leaving them exposed to opportunistic and targeted attacks. Our immediate goal is to work with our partners to further expand our collective ability to secure organisations that are unprotected or need stronger cyber defences.
“Our research indicates that midmarket and smaller organisations are increasingly in the crosshairs of attackers. The interconnectedness of the modern world, with these under protected segments as its critical substrate, leaves us all exposed to the direct or indirect risk. The best way to reach all these organisations is to arm Managed Security Providers (MSPs) and cyber-focused channel partners worldwide – those capable of operating cost-effectively at massive global scale – with innovative security technologies and services they can resell or co-deliver. Fundamentally, the vision is that we are all more secure as more of us are secure, and in my new role, Sophos is more focused than ever on making that happen,” said Levy.
Comment from Thoma Bravo
“Kris has been an outstanding leader for Sophos. Under his leadership, the company has delivered strong growth in revenue and profitability, strengthened the company’s next-generation product portfolio, and entered high-growth strategic new markets and channels. The board appreciates Kris’ contributions to the success of the company, and we wish him well for the road ahead.
“We’re pleased to appoint Joe as the President and acting CEO of Sophos. Joe’s hands-on career as a cybersecurity practitioner, innovator and successful business leader moves Sophos into a whole new level of competitiveness. With his industry pedigree and accomplishments, Joe is well-positioned to lead Sophos in the direction the market is demanding,” said Chip Virnig, a partner at Thoma Bravo and a Sophos board member.
