Proofpoint has announced the immediate appointment of Sumit Dhawan as its newest Chief Executive Officer. Rmi Thomas, who has been doubling as the CFO and acting CEO since 25th October, will continue in his role as Chief Financial Officer of the company.

Dhawan enjoys an impressive reputation as a technology leader with a proven ability to construct leading security, cloud, and end-user computing businesses. His tenure as President of VMware contributed significantly to the company's operations, driving over $13B in revenue. He also led all global go-to-market functions, including worldwide sales, customer success and experience, strategic ecosystem, industry solutions, marketing, and communications.

Seth Boro, the Managing Partner at Thoma Bravo, expressed the board's excitement over Dhawan's appointment. He said, "The Proofpoint board of directors could not be more excited to partner with Sumit as he joins Proofpoint to usher in a new stage of growth. Sumit brings a wealth of valuable experience and expertise in building category-leading, scaled companies and businesses. We are confident his customer-centric passion and strong legacy of leadership will continue to carry Proofpoint’s mission forward in providing people-centric cybersecurity solutions that address some of the most challenging risks facing organizations today."

Before his time at VMware, Dhawan held the CEO position at Instart, a cybersecurity business specialising in innovative web application security services. Other renowned companies like VMware and Citrix have also benefited from his remarkable general management and senior executive roles, where he succeeded in establishing leading businesses on a large scale.

In his reaction to the appointment, Dhawan expressed his honour in joining an innovative frontrunner in cybersecurity. "Over the years, Proofpoint has built an exceptional brand and is trusted by some of the world’s leading organisations as their cybersecurity partner of choice," said Sumit Dhawan. "I’m honoured to join a leader at the forefront of cybersecurity innovation and to shepherd its continuing and unwavering commitment to helping organisations across the globe protect people and defend data."

In a recent move, Proofpoint reported that it has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Tessian, an industry leader that uses advanced AI to detect and protect against accidental data loss and evolving email threats. Tessian's inbound and outbound email protection solution is cloud-native and API-enabled, promising to further expand Proofpoint's already award-winning services to guard against common forms of data losses such as misdirected emails and data exfiltration.