Ambitious Optiv assembles European A-team

Two more former NTT Security executives come on board following recent appointment of EMEA head Simon Church

US-based managed security services giant Optiv has added two more ex-NTT Security executives to its European line-up.

Ian Rigby has been appointed European sales director, while Heiner Luntz has been installed as European finance and operations director.

Both executives worked at NTT Security at the same time as Simon Church (pictured), the man tasked with building Optiv from the ground up in the UK and the rest of Europe, and orchestrating a string of acquisitions across the continent.

Luntz spent five and a half years at NTT Security between 2010 and 2015 as CFO, while Rigby spent more than six years at the MSSP as business unit director and then sales director.

Church previously told CRN sister publication Channelnomics Europe that he had made three senior appointments to "complete" his European leadership team. The third appointment has yet to be announced.

At the time, Church added that they would be "familiar faces" in the industry.

The MSSP - which produces sales in excess of $2.2bn each year in the US - is aiming to grow to a relative size in Europe, which will see the firm build European revenues into the eight-figure range over the next few years.

Church is hoping to build its UK presence to around 30 staff by the end of the year; a figure that will rise into the hundreds in 2019.

The appointment follows two previous executive hires by Church at the end of July. Ex-Palo Alto Networks executive Nigel Gilhespy joined as European services director, while another ex-Integralis man - Rob Lay - took a post as director of solutions architecture in Europe.

"With Heiner and Ian on board, my leadership team is nearly complete. I am extremely pleased to welcome them both to Optiv and look forward to continued success in Europe," Church said in a statement.