Sophos appoints new Chief Financial Officer Paul Smolinski to head Sophos global fiscal operations

Sophos, a world leader in IT security and control, announced today that it has appointed Paul Smolinski to chief financial officer, global operations. Smolinski will drive business growth via mergers and acquisitions, as well as capital markets access. These efforts support Smolinski’s additional responsibilities to develop and implement the company’s IPO and investor relations strategies. Smolinski’s role also includes overseeing human resources and legal services for Sophos. Operating out of the Oxford, UK office, Smolinski will report directly to Sophos CEO, Steve Munford.

“Sophos has emerged as a recognized challenger to McAfee and Symantec in corporate markets, powering growth at twice the industry rate,” said Steve Munford, CEO for Sophos. “The corporate market is buying our aggressive vision of product integration, and as the security industry consolidates we are leading in combining security and control. Paul’s impressive background gives us more firepower to lead in this consolidation.”

Smolinski has more than 15 years of experience in the financial sector. He joined Sophos from The Innovation Group, Plc. where he was the group finance director responsible for finance, legal, human resources and investor relations. Prior to this post, Smolinski spent more than 10 years at Compaq where he notably oversaw a team of 220 employees as the director of finance and administration for the UK and Ireland. He also worked for Ernst & Young. Smolinski earned a BA in economics from the University of York.

“It’s a privilege to be joining Sophos at a time when the company is reshaping enterprise security through smart innovation,” said Smolinski. “For a financial professional, there couldn’t be a more exciting time to enter a company. 2007 will see Sophos building on its tremendous market potential as we continue expanding our products and company worldwide.”