WatchGuard Technologies has announced it has hired Simon Yeo as the company's new senior vice president of operations. In this role, Yeo will oversee WatchGuard's information technology systems and infrastructure, security and cloud operations.

A tech industry veteran with more than three decades of experience, his professional expertise spans the areas of public and private cloud, data centers, network engineering, DevOps, business systems, security and more.

"Simon brings a depth of tech industry expertise to WatchGuard and leadership style that focuses on people, collaboration and integrity," said Prakash Panjwani, CEO, WatchGuard Technologies. "His extensive security knowledge, familiarity with WatchGuard's products and go-to-market approach, and expertise with digital transformation make him the perfect fit for this role. We are thrilled to welcome Simon to the WatchGuard leadership team."

Prior to joining WatchGuard, Yeo was the CIO at Barracuda Networks for six years. He oversaw various strategic initiatives including business digital transformation, private-to-public cloud migrations, and security and compliance program transformations. Yeo also worked in executive roles at Upwork, Tout.com, Meebo and LoudCloud. A lifelong technology enthusiast, he holds a bachelor's degree in computer science and engineering from UCLA and a master's degree in computer science from Stanford University.

"WatchGuard is a renowned cybersecurity leader with a remarkably collaborative workplace culture," Yeo said. "I'm excited to step into this new role and look forward to working with the WatchGuard team as we continue to drive system and process modernization and cloud transformation to the next level."