Chris Peiris becomes Macquarie Government's Microsoft Security and Azure lead

Macquarie Government, part of Macquarie Technology Group, have named Dr Chris Peiris as Microsoft Security and Azure lead to grow capabilities and practices in the federal and state public sector.

Most recently he was APJ head of Microsoft workloads at AWS, overseeing migration and modernisation for public sector, and he has also served as national security lead at Avanade, where he successfully built a Cyber Fusion Centre based on Microsoft Sentinel.

For just over a year, he was a cybersecurity advisor to the Department of Defence, providing IRAP compliance and Azure/SAP security architecture for major ADF projects.

Previously, he spent over a decade at Microsoft as APJ cybersecurity lead, where he championed Azure cloud security initiatives for strategic enterprise customers. 

“Having spent years working alongside Defence, National Security and Intelligence agencies, I've seen firsthand how the stakes couldn't be higher when it comes to securing sensitive workloads and navigating complex frameworks like IRAP and the Essential Eight,” said Dr Peiris.

“That's exactly what drives our work at Macquarie Government, and I'm genuinely excited to bring my experience to the company. I’m not interested in just helping agencies check compliance boxes. I want to help them build resilient, future-ready cloud environments they can stake their reputations on.”

“His combination of hands-on experience, expert knowledge, strategic sales methodology, and proven success is extremely rare,” said Aidan Tudehope, MD at Macquarie Government.

“It is exactly what our customers need as they navigate an increasingly complex AI-driven security and compliance landscape. This appointment reflects our commitment to our clients and our people, and we're confident Chris’ expertise will support our customers’ AI-powered digital transformation goals.”