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Cybersecurity and identity security company Saviynt has appointed Kamel Heus as Vice President of Sales for the Middle East and Africa (MEA), in a move aimed at accelerating its regional growth, strengthening its partner ecosystem and expanding its presence in key markets including Saudi Arabia.
Heus, who will be based in Dubai, will oversee Saviynt’s sales operations across the Middle East and Africa, with Turkey also included in his regional mandate.
His responsibilities will cover new business development, customer renewals and expansion, regional channel strategy, partner ecosystem development and the establishment of a stronger local go-to-market organisation.
The appointment comes as organisations across the region increase investments in digital transformation and artificial intelligence, creating new cybersecurity challenges around who and what is authorised to access corporate systems and sensitive information.
Saudi Arabia, local hosting take centre stage
A key component of Heus’ mandate will be expanding Saviynt’s footprint in Saudi Arabia while increasing the company’s local hosting capabilities.
The strategy is significant as organisations in highly regulated sectors increasingly place greater emphasis on data residency, local infrastructure and the ability to receive technology services within their respective jurisdictions.
Saviynt said strengthening its regional operations will enable it to respond more effectively to customer requirements while developing a deeper network of local partners.
Pete Angstadt, Chief Commercial Officer at Saviynt, said the company sees considerable opportunity in the MEA market as businesses accelerate their digital transformation programmes.
“MEA represents a significant opportunity for Saviynt as organisations across the region accelerate their digital transformation and increasingly look to AI to transform how they operate and grow,” Angstadt said.
He added that Heus’ knowledge of regional customers, markets and partner ecosystems would be important to the company’s expansion plans.
“Kamel’s deep experience in the region and understanding of its customers, markets and partner ecosystem will be invaluable as we continue to expand our presence,” Angstadt said.
Two decades of cybersecurity experience
Heus brings about 20 years of enterprise cybersecurity sales and leadership experience spanning the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
Before joining Saviynt, he served as Vice President, EMEA at Thales, where he led the company’s Identity and Access Management business across the region.
His career has also included senior roles at Centrify, now part of Delinea, and Sophos, giving him extensive experience across identity management and enterprise cybersecurity.
He holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics and Computing from Université Grenoble Alpes in France and has lived in Dubai for more than a decade.
His long-standing presence in the region is expected to support Saviynt’s efforts to understand local market conditions and build relationships with enterprises and technology partners.
AI creates a new identity-security challenge
Beyond conventional employee access, Saviynt’s regional push comes at a time when AI systems and autonomous agents are becoming increasingly integrated into enterprise operations.
These systems can interact with applications, retrieve information and, in some cases, perform tasks with limited human intervention. That creates a growing need to identify, govern and continuously monitor non-human identities alongside employees and other users.
Saviynt has increasingly positioned its technology around this emerging challenge. Its platform includes capabilities for managing workforce identities, privileged users, non-human identities and AI agents, while its Zuma offering is designed specifically to address identity security in the era of enterprise AI.
For businesses, the issue is no longer simply determining whether an employee should have access to a particular application. Organisations must increasingly establish what access an AI agent, software workload or other machine identity should have, who owns that identity and whether its permissions remain appropriate.
What the appointment means for MEA
The move signals that Saviynt views the Middle East and Africa as more than a conventional sales territory, with local partnerships, hosting infrastructure and AI-driven identity security becoming central to its expansion strategy.
For enterprises across banking, government, healthcare, energy, telecommunications and other data-intensive industries, the growing adoption of AI is likely to make identity governance an increasingly important part of cybersecurity planning.
Heus said the region’s cybersecurity market is evolving rapidly, with organisations needing to secure access not only for their employees but also for increasingly autonomous digital systems.
His immediate priorities will therefore extend beyond generating sales to building Saviynt’s local presence, expanding its partner network and helping organisations address the identity risks emerging alongside AI adoption.
With Saudi Arabia expansion and local hosting identified as key priorities, Saviynt’s latest leadership appointment points to a broader strategy of combining regional market investment with the emerging demand for identity security in an increasingly AI-driven enterprise environment.
