Nick Savvides joins Forcepoint

Symantec veteran Nick Savvides has joined cyber security vendor Forcepoint as its senior director of strategic business in Asia-Pacific.

The move marks a seismic shift for the cyber expert who was at Symantec for over 14 years and was once fondly referred to as “Mr Symantec” by colleagues.   

“The last 14 years have definitely been wonderful and exciting,” Savvides told CRN. “I had the opportunity of working with some great people and on some very tough projects, and I saw a lot of change through all the M&A, business evolution, threat changes and more. “

“Now, though I feel like I am entering a new phase for myself in joining Forcepoint. After taking some time off in December and January to spend some time with my family, I am very excited to be joining a great team at Forcepoint, many of whom I’ve worked with before and working on some interesting problems.”

“Forcepoint is a company that, I think, is itself entering a new phase, it has many great products, but is really emerging as the world leader in data protection, and I feel like I can contribute to that positively. I find Forcepoint’s human-centric approach to security very unique and personally interesting as  it brings together human cognitive sciences, behavioural analysis, and cyber threat signals into a single model. All of this combined is what attracted me to this role.”

Savvides said he would  be focused on growing Forcepoint’s strategic business and is also tasked with providing thought leadership and over-the-horizon guidance externally to CIOs, CISOs, industry and analysts etc. Internally, he will work with the sales, engineering and product teams.

“It’s an interesting time to be joining a company, considering the worldwide threat to our health, our economies, and our society as a whole from COVID-19,” Savvides continued. 

“My short term plan changed from the regular 30/60/90 type activity that you typically do when taking on a new leadership role, to focus on helping our customers to manage a large-scale remote workforce while ensuring data protection is maintained, regardless of where their employees are working from.” 

Regarding longer term goals, Savvides said he would be working to transition the organisation for a new phase of growth.

“This is a new approach not just for Forcepoint, but for customers and partners alike,” he explained.

“There is just as much work to do with partners to bring them along on this exciting journey as there is with customers.”