Security vendor McAfee has poached its new small and medium-sized business (SMB) chief from Apple.
Bill Rielly has joined McAfee as senior vice-president for SMB. He comes to the Intel-owned security company from Apple, where he ran the worldwide SMB segment for the Apple Online Store. According to McAfee, Rielly was tapped for his combination of hands-on SMB expertise and experience in a global role. In his new role, Rielly will report directly to McAfee president Michael DeCesare. He’ll be responsible for McAfee’s worldwide SMB segment
“Rielly has had phenomenal success in taking some of the most notable brands in the industry and expanding their share of the SMB market worldwide,” said DeCesare, in a statement. “He understands the needs of business owners and can envision the opportunities that we can drive in this important market with our deep portfolio and strong cloud offerings.”
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With Apple, Rielly helped drive adoption of the iPhone, iPad and Mac by businesses He has also held an SMB executive position with Microsoft and an e-commerce position at JP Morgan Chase.
According to McAfee, security is a key concern in the SMB market as hackers view smaller businesses as less security-conscious and, therefore, more vulnerable.
“With business owners being targeted by cybercriminals more frequently, security should never be an afterthought,” said Rielly, in a statement “Customer and company data is more valuable to cybercriminals than many business owners realize. McAfee is committed to protecting their businesses from these threats.”