Today VMware confirmed four new leadership appointments across its research and development (R&D) organization. These new leaders will continue to drive our multi-cloud strategy and offerings as the company remains committed to helping customers transform their businesses and unlock the full potential of multi-cloud. These appointments reflect the company’s deep bench of technology and business leaders, and each is a VMware veteran with proven leadership in advancing VMware’s portfolio strategy and execution.
Krish Prasad, SVP and General Manager, will lead the Cloud Infrastructure Business Group. Krish has been at VMware for the past 7 years and has led various VMware Cloud businesses, including the VMware vSphere and VMware Cloud Foundation product lines and the VMware Cloud infrastructure platform that powers the VMware Cloud offering. During his ~30 years in the software industry, he has built a well-rounded background combining engineering with general management experience across companies including Hewlett Packard.
Umesh Mahajan, SVP and General Manager, will lead our Networking business. Umesh has over three decades of product and leadership experience and is recognized as an expert in the networking industry. He continues to drive industry-leading innovations for the VMware networking and network security portfolio including VMware NSX, NSX Load Balancer and NSX Distributed Firewall. With previous leadership roles at Cisco and then as a co-founder of Avi Networks, he will continue guiding the Networking team with the vision, passion and product excellence he’s known for.
Purnima Padmanabhan, SVP and General Manager, will lead the Modern Apps and Management Business Group. A seasoned executive in the cloud security and management space, Purnima has led VMware’s Cloud Management business for over six years. Having held several C-suite roles prior to VMware, including at Loudcloud, BMC and MokaFive, Purnima has extensive experience in building and successfully launching innovative products in the fields of cloud infrastructure, security, and enterprise mobility.
Jason Rolleston, Vice President and General Manager, will lead the Security Business Unit, bringing deep security expertise to this role with leadership experience at McAfee, Cisco and Symantec. Jason will continue to lead meaningful product innovations and cross-functional advancements for VMware’s integrated security strategy and the VMware Carbon Black portfolio.
We want to also say thank you to the leaders who recently left VMware, Tom Gillis, Mark Lohmeyer and Ajay Patel, for their years of service to the company. Their leadership laid important groundwork for the advancement of VMware’s multi-cloud strategy. Umesh, Jason, Krish and Purnima will continue to accelerate against that strategy to help VMware customers adopt a cloud-smart approach.