Vectra AI appoints Taj El-Khayat to boost EMEA growth

Vectra AI has announced the appointment of Taj El-Khayat as Vice President of EMEA Partner Sales and Alliances.

In his new capacity, El-Khayat will focus on engaging with channel partners, managed security service providers (MSSPs), technology and cloud alliances, and global systems integrators. This strategic move is aimed at addressing the rising demand for extended detection and response (XDR) solutions and customised cybersecurity services across the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region, particularly in the context of the hybrid attack landscape.

The appointment of El-Khayat follows the introduction of the Vectra AI Clarity Programme for MSSPs. This programme is designed to enable partners to deliver high-quality XDR solutions in the region.

Expressing his enthusiasm for his new role, Taj El-Khayat stated, "I'm delighted to expand my role at Vectra AI and drive business growth at this critical time. Against a security skills shortage, a surge in AI and cloud technologies, and increasingly complex, costly security stacks – organisations are struggling to prevent SOC team burnout and breaches. But, there's a golden opportunity to empower our channel partners with comprehensive cybersecurity services that will reduce the burden for customers and protect against multi-surface attacks. As such, my first aim will be to transform our partner momentum to a revenue engine that allows us to multiply our go-to-market reach."

El-Khayat brings extensive experience in channel strategy and sales leadership within the EMEA region to his new post. Before joining Vectra AI in 2022, he held senior roles that were instrumental in driving regional growth at firms such as Citrix, Riverbed Technology, Juniper Networks, and Microsoft. His previous role at Vectra AI was as Area Vice President for South Europe, the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (SEMEA).

Teppo Halonen, Senior Vice President EMEA at Vectra AI, praised El-Khayat's contributions and emphasised the importance of his new role by saying, "El-Khayat's partner-centric approach to sales has been instrumental to growing Vectra AI's business over the past couple of years, and I'm excited to see him up our game as his remit expands to EMEA as a whole. His experience and leadership will be essential to building on our world-class channel partner programme, activating our new MSSP programme locally and empowering channel-led growth."

As the company continues to build its presence in the EMEA region, the new Clarity Programme for MSSPs is expected to complement existing strategies to strengthen the delivery of XDR solutions and ensure comprehensive defence against modern cyber threats.