Simon Reed

Simon Reed is Distinguished Security Fellow at Sophos, where he advises executive leadership on cybersecurity strategy, AI, emerging threats, and long-term technology direction. He has spent more than two decades in senior executive leadership roles at Sophos, McAfee, and several venture-backed technology companies.

Before assuming his current role, Simon served as Chief Security Officer, where he established and led Sophos X-Ops, bringing together more than 1,100 experts across threat intelligence, incident response, managed detection, offensive security, and enterprise security into one of the industry's largest cross-functional cyber defense organizations. Earlier in his career, Simon held senior technology and research leadership roles at McAfee and served as CTO for several venture-backed technology companies.

Over a career spanning more than 25 years, Simon has progressed from software engineering and advanced research into executive leadership across cybersecurity strategy, AI transformation, product innovation, enterprise risk, and global security operations. His experience spans the full lifecycle of technology—from research and engineering through commercial product development and operational security—enabling him to bridge deep technicalexpertisewith business strategy and organizational leadership.

Throughout his career, Simon has helped lead corporate strategy and transformation initiatives, with extensive experience supporting mergers and acquisitions across both acquisition and divestiture activities. He has helped organizations navigate ownership transitions across venture-backed, private equity, and public markets, providing strategic leadership through periods of growth, integration, and organizational change.

Simon helps organizations navigate the intersection of cybersecurity, AI, and business transformation in an increasingly complex threat landscape. He regularly advises enterprise executives and speaks publicly on AI, threat intelligence, and the evolving cyber risk landscape.