Joe Levy appointed as CEO of Sophos, Dildine becomes CFO

Cybersecurity company Sophos on Monday announced the appointment of Joe Levy as the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Levy, who has been serving as acting CEO since February 15 after Kris Hagerman stepped down as CEO, is set to drive the execution of Sophos’ strategic vision. The company has also named Jim Dildine as Sophos’ new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and a member of the senior management team. 

Levy brings nearly 30 years of experience in cybersecurity product development and leadership to his new role. Over his nine-year tenure at Sophos, he has transformed the company from a product-only vendor into a global cybersecurity giant. This transformation includes the establishment of an incident response team and a managed detection and response (MDR) service that now defends over 21,000 organisations worldwide.

Additionally, Levy created SophosAI and Sophos X-Ops, an operational threat intelligence unit that integrates over 500 cross-departmental cybersecurity operators and threat intelligence experts. This unit shares real-time and historical cyberattack data across all Sophos solutions, enhancing their ability to defend against persistent cyberattacks.

Levy’s extensive experience includes working with the channel, including managed security providers (MSPs), which began in the mid-1990s when he started his career as a cybersecurity practitioner and innovator at a value-added reseller.

As CEO, Levy aims to expand Sophos’ strong customer base in the midmarket, which includes nearly 600,000 customers worldwide and generates more than $1.2 billion in annual revenue.

To support this strategy, Levy has named Jim Dildine as Sophos’ new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and a member of the senior management team. Dildine has a strong background in channel partner-based cybersecurity business. He joins Sophos from Imperva, where he served as CFO for over four years. Before Imperva, Dildine was CFO for Symantec’s $2.5 billion enterprise security business unit and held key financial leadership roles at Blue Coat Systems.

At Blue Coat, he oversaw significant growth, leading to a go-private transaction by Thoma Bravo, a sale to Bain Capital, and a subsequent sale to Symantec for $4.6 billion in 2016. He also managed the acquisition and integration of six security-focused companies valued at over $750 million.

Speaking on the development, Dildine said,” Having worked in technology and finance for over 30 years, joining Sophos at this pivotal moment is exciting. The company’s achievements, including its dedication to innovating cybersecurity technology and supporting its partners, are impressive.”

“I look forward to helping Joe accelerate growth and further establish Sophos as an industry leader," he added.

Chip Virnig, a partner at Thoma Bravo and a Sophos board member, who has worked with Joe through successful investments in SonicWall and Blue Coat Systems, said," Levy's authentic leadership and impeccable reputation in the cybersecurity industry make him the ideal CEO for Sophos."

"We’re also excited to have Jim join as CFO. We’ve worked with Joe and Jim for over a decade and believe their combined expertise will drive Sophos to new heights,” said Virnig.