Insight names Valerie Abend to lead global cyber strategy

Insight has appointed Valerie Abend as Senior Vice President of its global cybersecurity practice, putting the long-serving cybersecurity executive in charge of the company's global security strategy.

Abend will lead the security organisation across Insight and oversee efforts to bring together cybersecurity work already spread across the business. The appointment builds on the rollout of Insight Managed Exposure Defence, a service designed to help organisations shift from reactive threat response to continuous exposure management.

The hire also carries significance for Insight's operations in Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific region, where executives linked the appointment to rising demand for cybersecurity advice as companies adopt artificial intelligence tools and rethink risk management. Insight recently added Australian cybersecurity specialist Sekuro to the group, strengthening the US-listed technology company's regional footing in security services.

Abend joins with experience across financial services, government and consulting. Most recently, she was Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Centre, known as FS-ISAC, where she worked on issues including artificial intelligence risk, quantum computing and supply chain security.

Before that, she spent more than eight years at Accenture as a Senior Managing Director, where she founded and led the financial services security and cyber strategy practices. Earlier in her career, she held senior roles at the US Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, focusing on cybersecurity policy for the banking system and crisis response for critical infrastructure.

Her background spans both policy and commercial cybersecurity work. Insight also noted that Abend serves on the Cloud Security Alliance Board of Directors and has testified before the US Congress on cybersecurity risk.

Jack Azagury, President and Chief Executive Officer of Insight, outlined the company's rationale for the appointment.

"Security is fundamental to how our clients operate, innovate, and build long-term resilience," Azagury said.

"Val has spent her career solving complex cybersecurity and policy challenges across government, financial services, and enterprise technology. Her track record of building world-class practices will be invaluable as we scale our global cybersecurity business and build on the incredible momentum of Insight Managed Exposure Defence."

Regional focus

Mike Morgan, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, APAC, at Insight, tied the appointment directly to the regional market.

"Valerie Abend's appointment comes at an important time for our clients across Australia and APAC. As organisations accelerate their adoption of AI, cybersecurity can no longer be treated as a standalone technology issue. It is increasingly central to how businesses manage risk, build resilience, and pursue growth. With Sekuro now part of Insight, Valerie's leadership gives us an opportunity to bring together deep cybersecurity expertise in the region with Insight's global capabilities, scale, and partner ecosystem. For our clients, that means a more connected approach to cybersecurity, bringing strategy, expertise, and technology together to help them build resilience as they transform and grow," Morgan said.

Sekuro's leadership also framed the appointment in the context of changing customer needs. Noel Allnutt, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Sekuro, an Insight company, said: "The cybersecurity landscape is moving incredibly quickly, and AI is accelerating that change. Valerie Abend understands that security cannot sit separately from how organisations adopt technology and grow their businesses. That makes her appointment an exciting one for us. By combining her global leadership with the cybersecurity expertise we have built through Sekuro, we have an opportunity to help clients across Australia and APAC stay ahead of emerging threats while continuing to innovate."

Security demand

Insight described Managed Exposure Defence as a response to demand from enterprises seeking more continuous monitoring of cyber risk, rather than relying on incident response after a threat has been identified. The service uses AI-driven tools and automation to help security teams detect, correlate and remediate threats across client environments, while also linking with third-party platforms.

That positioning reflects a broader shift in the cybersecurity market, where technology suppliers are trying to present security as part of wider business transformation rather than as a separate technical function. In Insight's case, Abend's remit appears intended to align cyber strategy more closely with the consulting, engineering and managed services operations already inside the company.

Abend emphasised that point in comments accompanying the appointment.

"Cybersecurity has moved far beyond protecting infrastructure. It is now inseparable from how organisations transform, adopt AI, and build resilience," said Valerie Abend, Senior Vice President of Insight's global cybersecurity practice.

"Insight has a unique advantage: an unmatched partner ecosystem, world-class engineering talent, and proven offerings like Insight Managed Exposure Defence. I am thrilled to join the team to accelerate our global expansion and help clients turn cyber complexity into business resilience."