Sophos Names Kris Hagerman as Chief Executive Officer

Sophos, with dual headquarters in Boston, MA and Oxford, UK, today said that Kris Hagerman has been appointed as chief executive officer of the company, effective immediately.

Hagerman, who will also join the company’s board, succeeds Steve Munford who will become non-executive chairman of the board.

Hagerman spent seven years in senior management positions at Symantec and Veritas before becoming CEO of Corel Corporation in 2008. At Symantec, he was group president, data center management, overseeing a $1.5 billion business with more than 2,000 employees. Prior to Symantec, Hagerman was executive vice president, storage and server management at Veritas. During Hagerman’s career as a senior executive at Veritas, the company grew from approximately $1.0 billion in revenue to more than $2.0 billion in revenue, prior to its acquisition by Symantec.

“Kris brings strong execution and strategy skills, a proven ability to lead top performing teams, and a successful track record of scaling billion-dollar software organizations,” Gyenes said. “We enthusiastically look forward to working with Kris and to his leadership for the company’s continued growth.”

Departing Munford has been CEO of Sophos since 2006, helping the company to grow to $400 million in annual bookings in its most recent fiscal year ending March 31, 2012. Munford will be returning with his family to his native Canada, the company said.

“I am proud of our team’s accomplishments over the last seven years as we have transformed Sophos from an antivirus vendor to a strategic provider of complete security,” said Munford. “I am excited to welcome Kris as our new CEO to lead Sophos into the future. I look forward to working closely with Kris and the board as we continue to build on Sophos’ global success.”

In May 2010, private equity firm Apex Partners acquired a majority stake in Sophos in a deal reportedly valuing the company at $830 million at the time.