Fortinet Appoints Luca Simonelli as Senior Vice President for Asia Pacific

Bengaluru: Global cybersecurity company Fortinet has appointed technology industry veteran Luca Simonelli as Senior Vice President for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, strengthening its leadership as organisations across the region accelerate digital transformation and adopt artificial intelligence-driven technologies.

Based in Singapore, Simonelli will lead Fortinet’s Asia Pacific sales organisation, overseeing operations across Japan, North Asia and South Asia, including Southeast Asia, India & SAARC, Australia and New Zealand. He will be responsible for driving the company’s regional strategy, strengthening customer and partner relationships, and accelerating business growth across one of the world’s fastest-growing cybersecurity markets.

Simonelli brings more than 30 years of international leadership experience spanning cybersecurity, networking, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), cloud security and managed services. Most recently, he served in a senior leadership role at GCX Managed Services. Earlier in his career, he spent nearly eight years at Fortinet, where he led the company’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) business, in addition to holding several leadership roles across the cybersecurity and networking industries.

Announcing the appointment, Joe Sarno, Executive Vice President, International Sales at Fortinet, said the Asia Pacific region continues to be one of the most dynamic cybersecurity markets globally as enterprises modernise critical infrastructure, embrace artificial intelligence and accelerate digital transformation.

He said Simonelli’s extensive industry experience, customer-centric approach and proven ability to build high-performing teams would further strengthen Fortinet’s regional leadership while supporting customers, partners and employees as the company continues executing its long-term growth strategy.

Commenting on his appointment, Simonelli said Fortinet has built one of the industry’s most comprehensive integrated cybersecurity platforms by combining networking, security and artificial intelligence to help organisations reduce complexity while strengthening cyber resilience.

He added that as enterprises continue modernising their digital infrastructure and adopting AI, Fortinet is well positioned to help customers secure every stage of their digital transformation journey. He also expressed enthusiasm about rejoining the company and working with customers, partners and teams across the Asia Pacific region to build on its existing momentum.

Simonelli holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Milan and will operate from Fortinet’s regional base in Singapore.

Fortinet is recognised globally for its integrated cybersecurity portfolio comprising more than 50 enterprise-grade products that secure networks, devices, applications and data. The company serves more than half a million customers worldwide and is also known for its extensive cybersecurity training initiatives through the Fortinet Training Institute, which aims to expand cybersecurity skills and career opportunities globally. Its threat intelligence division, FortiGuard Labs, leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to deliver real-time threat intelligence and advanced cyber protection.

The appointment comes at a time when cybersecurity has become a strategic priority for enterprises and governments across the Asia Pacific region amid rising cyber threats, rapid cloud adoption, AI deployment and increasing digitalisation of critical infrastructure. Fortinet’s leadership expansion is expected to support the company’s continued focus on helping organisations strengthen cyber resilience while securely embracing the next phase of digital transformation.