Cato Networks, a provider of the single-vendor SASE platform, announced Frank Rauch has joined the company as Global Channel Chief. Rauch’s appointment headlines several channel leadership hirings and promotions meant to meet the growing channel demand for SASE and SSE.
As Global Channel Chief, Rauch will be responsible for driving the channel ecosystem globally, enabling partners to profit from the enterprise shift to cloud-native networking and security. With more than 30 years of experience, Rauch has led, developed, managed and grown global partner ecosystems at Check Point, VMware and HPE. He also has led field sales, inside sales and strategy organizations. He and his teams have been recognized with more than 150 channel awards, and he has been recognized personally.
“The cloud is the enterprise’s present and future, appliances are its past. Forward-thinking channel partners know their future lies in the cloud, but they need the right platform and technology partner to profit from the cloud,” Rauch said. “After doing my due diligence, I found Cato to be that partner. Cato’s, cloud-native SASE platform is unique in the industry, differentiating Cato’s channel partners from their competitors who are still focusing their business around appliances”
In welcoming Rauch, Cato Networks CRO Alon Alter said, “SASE is the future of enterprise networking and security. With the Cato SASE Cloud, partners can get to market quickly with new reoccurring revenue streams, delivering differentiated converged enterprise networking and security capabilities and value-added support services.”
As SASE and SSE have gained traction among enterprises, Cato has seen increased interest from service providers, like Windstream Enterprise and KDDI, and other channel partners. To meet that need, Cato has further expanded its channel leadership team.
Robert Holley joins Cato as the AVP for VAR, Resellers, and Service Providers, Americas. Robert has spent 20 years in the telecommunications, IT, and technology industries, building successful relationships and teams across sales and marketing, most recently at Versa Networks.
Shane Hallen has joined Cato as Director of Service Provider Sales, Americas. Before Cato, Shane served as the Strategic Sales Manager of Service Providers for Cisco Meraki. He will be focused on establishing partnerships with Service Providers in the Americas.
Paolo Maestripie has joined as Director of Service Provider Sales, EMEA. Maestripieri spent three years at ThousandEyes (now part of Cisco), where he led the alliances practice with global partners as the Client Partner Director of Service Providers and Global Systems Integrator. Before Thousand Eyes, Paolo served as the Global Alliances Director of Orange for Zscaler for more than six years.
Rounding out the channel leadership team, Cato veterans Ron Hamlett and Mark Draper have been promoted from their positions as Director of Channel Sales. Ron assumes the role of AVP, Technology Services Distributors and Agents where he’ll manage those relationships across the Americas. Mark will serve as AVP for Channel Sales within the EMEA region. Their expanded roles align with Cato’s growing channel investment across both regions.
For more information about partnering with Cato, visit www.catonetworks.com
