Mike Cunningham appointed as MD of Optic Security Group

Optic Security Group has appointed Mike Cunningham as its new Managing Director.

Cunningham, who has held several leadership positions within the company and served as a board member for numerous years, will take over from the outgoing CEO, Ferzad Bharucha. Bharucha had been leading the group since January 2023. His departure marks a new leadership phase for Optic Security Group as it seeks to continue its growth trajectory.

The Chairman of the Board, Francis Galbally, expressed gratitude towards Bharucha, stating, "We are immensely grateful for Ferzad's vision, resilience, and dedication, which have propelled us through a period of tremendous growth and innovation."

Speaking on Cunningham's new role, Galbally noted, "Based in Sydney, Mike will provide strategic leadership to the Group as it achieves its vision as a world-leader in converged security solutions. This is an exciting next phase in Optic's growth, and we are confident that Mike will drive a range of initiatives that focuses on revenue and profit growth whilst delivering value to customers and staff."

Cunningham is a seasoned CEO and board director who commenced his career as a Chartered Accountant. He has previously led The IA Group, a high-performing financial services firm, for over two decades in international markets. Reflecting on his new role, Cunningham remarked, "It's an exciting time to be leading Optic Security Group. It's been a privilege to have been a part of the Group's journey and it's an honour to be leading it as it takes its next steps towards delivering an enhanced suite of converged security solutions."

He further highlighted the growing importance and challenges in the security sector, noting, "Rapid developments in artificial intelligence, analytics and cloud computing, are enabling game-changing innovations in security technology, yet at the same time organisations' increasing dependence on data is a vulnerability that malicious actors are exploiting."

Cunningham elaborated on Optic Security Group's plans, stating, "Through initiatives such as the OpticIQ lab, which is our soon-to-be-launched state-of-the-art video analytics and AI testing and training capability, and our recently announced partnership with Cyber Resilience Group and appointment of Grant McKechnie as Chief Security Officer, we are delivering new levels of trust, protection, and resilience to our customers so that they can focus on what they do best."

He added, "Security has been a laggard industry in the digital revolution. Optic's team focus is to digitally disrupt what has been accepted with what we see a digital future can be."