Fortinet appoints Luca Simonelli as senior vice president, Asia Pacific

• Former Fortinet EMEA leader returns to oversee sales strategy & regional growth across APAC
• Appointment comes as organisations accelerate AI adoption, cloud transformation & cybersecurity investments

Fortinet, the global cybersecurity leader driving the convergence of networking and security, has appointed Luca Simonelli (pic) as senior vice president for Asia Pacific (APAC).

Based in Singapore, Simonelli will lead Fortinet’s Asia Pacific sales organisation, overseeing the company’s operations across Japan, North Asia and South Asia, including Southeast Asia, India & SAARC, Australia and New Zealand. He will focus on driving regional strategy, strengthening customer and partner relationships, and accelerating Fortinet’s continued growth across the region.

Announcing the appointment, Joe Sarno, executive vice president, International Sales at Fortinet, said: “Asia Pacific continues to be one of the most dynamic cybersecurity markets globally, as organisations accelerate digital transformation, adopt AI and modernise critical infrastructure.

“Simonelli’s deep industry experience, customer focus and proven ability to build high-performing teams further strengthen our leadership across Asia Pacific and position us well to support our customers, partners and teams as we continue executing our long-term growth strategy.”

Simonelli brings more than 30 years of technology leadership experience across cybersecurity, networking, SASE, cloud security and managed services. Most recently, he held a senior leadership role at GCX Managed Services. He previously spent nearly eight years at Fortinet, where he led the company’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) business, building and scaling high-performing teams while driving regional growth.

Simonelli said: “Fortinet has built one of the industry’s most comprehensive and integrated cybersecurity platforms, bringing together networking, security and AI to help organisations reduce complexity while strengthening cyber resilience. As customers continue to modernise their infrastructure and embrace AI, Fortinet is uniquely positioned to help them secure every part of their digital journey.

“I’m excited to rejoin Fortinet and work alongside our customers, partners and teams across Asia Pacific to build on the company’s strong momentum and help more organisations securely embrace the next phase of digital transformation.”

Simonelli holds a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Milan and is based in Singapore.