VMware's former chief operating officer joins Cohesity as new CEO

Sanjay Poonen oversaw sales, marketing, services, and alliances in his most recent role at VMware

Cohesity has snapped VMware's former chief operating officer as its new CEO and President.

Sanjay Poonen oversaw sales, marketing, services, and alliances in his most recent role at VMware, helping to double revenues from approximately $6bn to $12bn.

He also helped to build multiple cloud partnerships, including AWS, Microsoft, Google, and Oracle while leading the company's security and end-user computing businesses.

"Cohesity sits at the intersection of three of the highest priority business issues today - cyber security, cloud, and data management," said Poonen.

"It is poised to become a major powerhouse with industry analyst firms naming the company a leader and one of the fastest growing in its category."

Poonen is taking over from Mohit Aron, who has been CEO since founding the company in 2013.

Aron will now focus on accelerating Cohesity's product innovation and roadmap in a new role of chief technology and product officer.

He will continue to lead the company's research and development, support and services and remain on the board of directors.

Aron said: "As we scale, it is important to me to have a tighter focus on where I spend my time to have the greatest impact.

"I approached the Board with the goal of finding a seasoned and proven executive that I could partner with to achieve our ambitious goals. I'm excited to work with Sanjay as we continue to grow and disrupt the $25B data management market."

Poonen praised Mohit for having built an "incredible team", adding: "In my due diligence with customers, I've found that Cohesity has the best technology in its category and protects data for many of the biggest brands in the Fortune 500.

"I look forward to leading this talented organisation and driving even further success in strong partnership with Mohit and all Cohesians."