Cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks names new CMO

Cybersecurity firm, Palo Alto Networks, has appointed KP Unnikrishnan (pictured) as chief marketing officer effective 4 March. He will be based in the company’s Santa Clara headquarters and report directly to Palo Alto Networks chairman and CEO, Nikesh Arora.

According to the release, Unnikrishnan will lead the global marketing team to further strengthen the positioning of Palo Alto Networks. The transition comes at a time when Palo Alto Networks is positioned to help customers consolidate their security architectures and support them in their network transformation journey. 

He most recently served as vice president, marketing, for Asia Pacific and Japan for over four years. He have worked at the cybersecurity firm for almost a decade. He also held positions of senior director of marketing for Asia Pacific and Japan, as well as the marketing director for Asia Pacific. 

Zeynep Ozdemir was the previous CMO. She has decided to step away from her related responsibilities for personal reasons. Zeynep played a key role in helping achieve in a short period what very few marketers have done in their careers by building a globally recognised brand in the cybersecurity industry with Palo Alto Networks, the release said.

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Besides Palo Alto Networks, Unnikrishnan also worked for networking solutions firm, Brocade Communications, as director of marketing, Asia Pacific, for three years. As part of the Asia Pacific leadership team at Brocade, Unnikrishnan led the regional marketing team to build brand awareness for the firm, generate sales opportunities and spearhead integrated programmes to bring Brocade’s pioneering network architecture and strategy to market.

He was responsible for all aspects of marketing including branding, channels marketing, advertising and promotions, tele-marketing, strategy development, product marketing and press and analysts relations. 

Unnikrishnan also worked for Sun Microsystems as regional marketing director for emerging markets. He was there for 10 years. Unnikrishnan was part of the emerging regions leadership team and was responsible for executing the firm's marketing strategy across the emerging markets region. The region consists of South East Europe, including Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East and Africa, Latin America, India and Greater China. These high growth regions were key to the company's growth strategy and he headed the marketing portfolio of over 140 countries in this region

Taking over his role as head of marketing, Asia Pacific and Japan, Lisa Sim will be responsible for the company’s regional growth strategy, enhancing brand visibility, and driving opportunities by amplifying demand for Palo Alto Networks’ next-generation cybersecurity solutions. Sim has been with the company since 2017 and was most recently the head of marketing for South Asia. She is also the programme director for Cybersafe Kids.

The past nine years have been among the most fulfilling years of his career, Unnikrishnan said. "I have been part of the phenomenal growth story of this company, one that saw a startup of near anonymity catapult into a world leader in cybersecurity.” 

“I am excited to take on this role as we deepen our presence and impact across the world. With the most comprehensive cybersecurity portfolio, my goal is to continue to build on our mission of being the cybersecurity partner of choice, protecting our digital way of life," he added. 

“I am really excited about joining the JAPAC leadership team for the next chapter of our growth journey. Protecting our digital world deeply aligns with many of our customers’ values. It's rewarding work to protect organisations and to also drive social impact through our education programmes.” said Sim.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out for more information. 

In December 2022, Palo Alto Networks expanded a partnership that brings together BeyondCorp Enterprise from Google Cloud and Prisma Access from Palo Alto Networks to provide hybrid users secure and seamless access to applications - SaaS, cloud or on-premise - from managed or unmanaged devices.

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