US tech giant hires Key as part of NZ expansion plans
Silicon Valley-based Palo Alto Networks, which sells security products designed to keep malicious software out of corporate networks, is making its presence felt in New Zealand after appointing former Prime Minister Sir John Key to its board.
The company has just doubled its local staff, and appointed its first country manager for New Zealand: Misti Landtroop.
Key, whose portfolio of directorships also includes Air New Zealand and ANZ on both sides of the Tasman, was appointed to the Palo Alto board along with Lorraine Twohill, chief marketing officer at Google LLC.
The role should usefully augment Key’s post-politics income. In its 2018 report, Palo Alto Networks lists stock awards to each director worth between US$320,000 ($475,000) and US$1 million.
The US company didn’t hire the exPM for his computer smarts.
“Sir John will bring to the board extensive experience in foreign affairs, investment banking and finance,” Palo Alto Networks’ chairman and chief executive Nikesh Arora said as Key was appointed.
But the former PM also does have somewhat of a grounding in security by dint of his time as Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) Minister — a stint that included the introduction of the Cortex programme to protect New Zealand from malicious software. At one point Key described the initiative as “Norton Anti-virus at a high level”.
Palo Alto Networks also has a product called Cortex, which offers AI-based protection against online threats, but the shared name is a coincidence; the company’s “Coretex” was not released until February 2019.
Landtroop said she could not name local Palo Alto Networks customers, citing confidentiality, but said her company’s Wellington-based team has been “working with government for the past few years”.
Budget 2019 set aside close to $100m under its “secure digital nation” initiative, which includes investments across Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) New Zealand, Government Chief Digital Officer, Cyber Security Strategy, the operation of RealMe and other digital initiatives.
Landtroop also sees pending 5G upgrades to mobile networks and an attendant growth in the “internet of things” complicating the security landscape. Ditto a revamp to the Privacy Act, currently making its way through Parliament, that will make it mandatory to disclose a data breach.
Palo Alto Networks is not a consumer-facing company (its firewalls can cost US$250,000 each) and lacks the profile of some of the Big Techs.
But it’s still a substantial operation. Its NYSE-listed shares have taken a hammering lately, along with other techs, but it still has a market cap of just under US$20 billion and it has around 10,000 staff worldwide.
Sir John will bring to the board extensive experience in foreign affairs, investment banking and finance. Nikesh Arora, Palo Alto chairman