Former Nextgen MD Gavin Lawless to lead security distie Chillisoft's Australian expansion

New Zealand cybersecurity distributor Chillisoft is boosting its Australian presence with industry veteran Gavin Lawless stepping in as chief executive of the West Island operation -- and taking a stake in the business.

Lawless recently departed Nextgen, where he served as Australian managing director for six years until its acquisition by Exclusive Networks in April 2024.

"Chillisoft in New Zealand has done a fantastic job over the past 25 years in building a business which is highly respected and differentiated, Lawless said.

"I have observed and respected Geoff [Cossey] and Alex [Teh] from a distance as they have provided formidable competition in NZ," he said.

"Now being able to start something special in Australia with them, and to build on the very solid NZ foundation is an excellent opportunity for us as a business and for me personally," Lawless added.

The move comes amid significant distribution consolidation in the Australia-New Zealand region, with Orca Tech acquired by Tech Data, Nextgen by Exclusive Networks, and Wavelink becoming part of Infinigate.

Chillisoft said it has distinguished itself in the market through technical excellence, providing services such as 24/7/365 white-labelled managed detection and response (MDR) and incident detection and response (IDR), along with vendor-level pre-sales and partner support.

"Gavin will be a fantastic leader for our Australian operation, and addition to our ANZ senior team, sharing our ambition, experience, and values. Welcome aboard Gavin," Geoff Cossey, Chillisoft founder and director, said.

The company's existing New Zealand vendor portfolio includes cybersecurity leaders such as ESET, Netskope, Mimecast, CyberArk, Thales (Imperva), ExtraHop, WatchGuard, Exabeam, and Qualys.

"We are excited to ignite our focus in serving the Australian market," Alex Teh, Chillisoft group chief executive, said.

"With over three decades of IT industry experience, spanning vendors, distributors, and some of the biggest names in the business, Gavin has a proven track record of driving massive growth and building strong, scalable operations," Teh said.

"His leadership, strategic vision, and deep understanding of the market make him the perfect fit to lead our Australian expansion," he added.

While Chillisoft has serviced Australian partners from New Zealand for over a decade, this expansion is its first dedicated, locally led operation in Australia.

Lawless brings substantial experience to the role, having previously led Avnet in Australia from 2005 to 2012, where he grew the business from $50 million to $250 million through organic growth, and then to $500 million following the acquisition of ITX in late 2010.

His career also includes leadership roles at Infor, where he led Enterprise Sales and the Channel business, and Oracle, where he served as sales director before returning to distribution with Nextgen in 2018.