Tesserent names George Katavic as Federal Government business leader

Cybersecurity services company Tesserent has appointed George Katavic as its new managing partner for its Federal Government division.

Katavic will lead the ASX-listed company’s subsidiaries in Canberra, North, Claricent and Pearson, which comprises the company’s Federal Government division.

Katavic has been the managing director of North since 2018 which Tesserent acquired in 2019 from IT services provider PS&C.

As managing partner, Katavic is tasked to focus on the provision of consulting services across governance, risk, compliance, assurance and the Essential Eight. He will also be working alongside clients and vendor partners across the wider Tesserent Group.

“I am delighted to announce that Mr Katavic is now the Managing Partner of Tesserent Federal, further leveraging the depth and breadth of his experience and building on the strong relationships that he holds in Canberra. Mr Katavic has built an exceptional team in his time at North, which will be a key foundation to our future growth in Federal Government contracts,” Tesserent chief executive Kurt Hansen said.

“Mr Katavic will play a pivotal strategic role in expanding our cybersecurity services in Canberra and will be integral to helping Federal Government departments and agencies strengthen and bolster Australia’s cybersecurity defences. The threat landscape is forever shifting and there has never been more focus on the importance of cybersecurity and investment in building our sovereign cyber defences.”

In addition to Katavic’s appointment, Tesserent also plans to deliver additional cyber capabilities from the wider Tesserent group to Federal Government clients as part of its Cyber360 strategy.

Katavic joined Tesserent through the North Security acquisition in 2019, where he had been MD since 2018. Before North, he led the ACT business of CSC Consulting from 2011 to 2016, and later managing partner when it became DXC Technology in 2017, specifically at DXC Consulting.

Some previous stints include Opticon Australia, UXC, BCT Group, IBM and the Australian Public Service.

Commenting on his appointment, Katavic said, “I am excited to lead Tesserent Federal and contribute to the strategic expansion, uplift capability of the business and working to protect Australian assets and defences. Tesserent has more than 400 of Australia’s top security practitioners and I am passionate about helping to turbocharge growth and support Federal Government clients in enhanced cyber risk management.”

“The talent shortage and developing young talent is also a critical priority and I look forward to accelerating our graduate and cadet program to ensure we continue to expand our talent base and future pipeline to meet ongoing government demand.”