Optiv continues European expansion with double hiring

US-based MSSP steps up European assault after taking on two UK-based directors

Optiv has appointed two directors, as the US-based MSSP continues to plot an aggressive assault on the European market.

Owned by private equity firm KKR, Optiv is a $2.2bn revenue giant in the US with 1,800 employees.

Ex-Integralis executive Simon Church - who was appointed earlier this year to spearhead Optiv's expansion into Europe - previously told our sister title CRN that he was aiming to bring the MSSP to a "relative scale" to its North American operations through a string of cybersecurity acquisitions.

Optiv has now appointed Nigel Gilhespy as European services director and Rob Lay as director of solutions architecture in Europe. Both Gilhespy and Lay are based in the UK.

Gilhespy (pictured top right) boasts a CV which includes senior roles at Palo Alto Networks, Equinix and IBM while Lay (pictured bottom right) worked at Integralis alongside Church between 2008 and 2013 and then until 2014 after it rebranded to NTT Com Security.

"Optiv is uniquely positioned to help global clients improve the consistency and effectiveness of their security programmes and minimise cost. We are seeing solid momentum in Europe as clients embrace our ‘inside out' risk-centric approach to security, where security investments are driven by corporate objectives rather than fear of external threats and vulnerabilities. I am extremely pleased to welcome Nigel and Rob to the Optiv team, and look forward to leveraging their business, technical and client service experience to help more public and private entities build sustainable risk-centric foundations for implementing proactive and measurable cyber security programmes," Church said in a statement.

Optiv claims to be ten times larger than its nearest competitor in North America, and is looking to quickly add scale in western Europe following Church's appointment.