Cohesity names Peter Hanna as APJ VP Sales, General Manager

Cohesity has appointed Peter Hanna Vice President of Sales and General Manager for Asia Pacific and Japan, a role covering the company's operations across key markets in the region.

Based in Hong Kong, Hanna will oversee sales strategy, technical sales, channel operations and growth initiatives across Australia and New Zealand, Singapore and ASEAN, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. He will continue to report to Mark Nutt, Senior Vice President and General Manager, International.

The appointment expands Hanna's remit after nearly three years leading partner and alliances sales for the region. His promotion comes as Cohesity increases its focus on Asia Pacific and Japan, an important growth area within its international business.

Before joining Cohesity, Hanna held regional leadership roles at VMware and Dell EMC. He brings more than two decades of sales and go-to-market experience in security across Asia Pacific, Japan, India and Greater China.

Cohesity sells data security and data management products and works with customers in more than 140 countries. The new regional structure reflects the need to coordinate sales, technical sales and channel teams across a broad set of markets with differing business conditions.

Nutt said Cohesity is increasing investment in the region as demand for data security products grows and businesses face rising pressure from cyber threats and data management challenges.

"APJ is a strategically vital geography for Cohesity and represents tremendous growth potential, which we are investing in heavily in terms of headcount, enablement and technical innovation. Peter's proven ability to bring together partners, technical teams, and sales excellence across the diverse markets and business cultures of the region means he is perfectly positioned to deliver the best possible business resilience solutions to our customers," said Mark Nutt, Senior Vice President and General Manager, International, Cohesity.

Nutt also pointed to Hanna's existing customer and partner relationships in the region.

"His direct engagement with many of our largest customers across the region will be invaluable as we continue to expand our customer base, and the entire APJ team will benefit greatly from his leadership and collaborative approach," he said.

Regional focus

Asia Pacific and Japan has become a key battleground for cyber security and data infrastructure vendors as companies contend with ransomware threats, compliance demands and rising volumes of corporate data. For suppliers, the region also presents a management challenge because sales models, partner ecosystems and customer buying patterns vary sharply between markets.

That helps explain why vendors often appoint senior executives to regional roles that combine direct sales oversight with responsibility for channel relationships and technical field teams. At Cohesity, the new role brings those functions together under one executive across a territory stretching from Australia to North Asia.

Hanna said the company was responding to changes in customer demand and the broader data security market.

"I am honoured to have the opportunity to bring together Cohesity's sales, technical sales, and channel teams across APJ at such a pivotal moment - not only for our customers and partners, but for the entire data security industry," said Peter Hanna, Vice President of Sales and General Manager, Asia Pacific and Japan, Cohesity.

He added that customers across the region were facing mounting pressure from both cyber risks and the growing use of artificial intelligence.

"Across the region, organisations are under increasing pressure to secure, manage, and unlock the value of their data, and as AI adoption accelerates and cyber threats continue to evolve, we are increasing the size and capability of our teams to even better support them in that journey. Cohesity is uniquely positioned to deliver true business resilience through our unified, AI security platform. I look forward to working with our regional and global teams to expand our customer base and help more organisations recover with confidence and speed," Hanna said.

The appointment also underlines the continued importance of channel partners in enterprise technology sales across Asia Pacific and Japan. Many vendors rely on distributors, resellers and service providers to reach customers in fragmented markets, particularly outside the largest economies, making channel leadership a central part of regional strategy.

For Cohesity, Hanna's move places an executive with partner sales experience at the centre of its regional push. His remit spans both customer acquisition and the management of existing relationships across one of the company's most geographically diverse territories.