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Sophos has created a new role of ANZ general manager, appointing Ashley Wearne to the position.

Wearne will be responsible for all local management duties and driving the company’s complete security initiative across the region.

The new role also includes ‘strong involvement’ in driving channel growth, which the company says is a ‘key focus’ since its recent unveiling of a new partner programme.

Sophos says the newly created role underpins its continued investment in the region and a 10 year history of profitable growth, which saw the APAC region record 27% year-on-year growth for the 2012 financial year.

Wearne, who will report directly to Singapore-based Asia Pacific managing director Stuart Fisher, has more than 25 years experience in the security and software industry in New Zealand, Australia, Asia and Europe.

His previous roles have seen him working in enterprise sales, channel, marketing and managerial functions for companies including Adobe, McAfee, Novell and Unisys.