Kaspersky rejigs UK sales team

Security vendor reshuffles corporate sales team at Abingdon office, with raft of new appointments

Kaspersky has expanded its team to grow its channel and drive revenue and market share in UK and Ireland

Security vendor Kaspersky Lab has expanded its corporate sales team for the UK and Ireland.

Chris Smith, former channel director for Northern Europe at McAfee, has moved into a head of regional channel sales for UK and Ireland position at Kaspersky. He will be responsible for the vendor’s channel and distribution partners, with the aim of growing its channel.

Tinesh Chhaya, joins Kaspersky as head of sales for education. Prior to joining Kaspersky, Chhaya was head of the education sector for UK and Northern Ireland at Sophos and previously held roles at analyst Gartner. In his new role Chhaya will drive revenue for the education sector in the UK and Ireland to increase market share in the region.

The team will also be supported by Helen Grant who is taking on the role of renewals manager. Grant will work with Kaspersky’s Green Team partners and directly with the vendor’s distributors to offer support for existing customers when renewing products.

Also joining are Coreen Head and Doug Sharples. As part of the internal sales team they will focus on sub-100 opportunities, working alongside resellers to close deals.

In addition Elizabeth Hatt, former manager of the channel, has been promoted to a newly created role, designed for working on partner acquisition and enablement. In her role she will ensure new partners are up and running as quickly as possible and that all partners are successfully growing their business with Kaspersky.

Bill Trim, corporate sales director at Kaspersky Lab, said: “We have seen a huge growth in our corporate business in 2009 and we have increased the number of our channel partners by 20 per cent, following the launch of the Green Team Partner Scheme earlier this year.

“The SMB market is an area that is typically overlooked by other IT security vendors. However, Kaspersky Lab understands this market, and is committed to delivering our range of award-winning products and services for this segment.”

All appointments will be based at Kaspersky Lab’s new 12,000 sq ft UK office in Milton Park, Abingdon.