.…Cybersecurity veteran to drive regional growth, strengthen partner ecosystem and advance identity security across MEA
Saviynt, a leading provider of identity security solutions, today announced the appointment of Kamel Heus as Vice President of Sales for the Middle East and Africa (MEA). Based in Dubai, Heus will lead Saviynt’s business across the MEA region, including Turkey, as the company advances its growth and strengthens its presence in key markets.
In his new role, Heus will drive new business, renewals and customer expansion across MEA, while leading Saviynt’s regional channel strategy, expanding its partner ecosystem, and building out the company’s local go-to-market team. As AI reshapes how organizations across government, banking and financial services, utilities, healthcare, oil and gas, and retail approach identity, Heus’ appointment reflects the growing importance of securing both agentic identities and AI-driven environments. His near-term priorities include deepening Saviynt’s regional presence, expanding into Saudi Arabia, and growing local hosting capabilities to meet in-region delivery and data residency requirements.
“MEA represents a significant opportunity for Saviynt as organizations across the region accelerate their digital transformation and increasingly look to AI to transform how they operate and grow,” said Pete Angstadt, Chief Commercial Officer at Saviynt. “Our role is to help customers move faster on that journey while ensuring security and governance keep pace. 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. We’re making a long-term investment in MEA, and his appointment is an important step in bringing Saviynt closer to our customers and partners as we help accelerate their AI journey securely.”
Heus will also help MEA businesses address a new category of identity risk: AI agents. As these agents gain access to enterprise applications and data, they require the same discovery, governance and lifecycle controls that are traditionally applied to human identities. Saviynt’s Zuma platform is built to meet this need, giving organizations visibility into AI identities and the ability to enforce least-privilege access across their lifecycle.
“The Middle East and Africa have become one of the fastest-growing cybersecurity markets in the world, and Identity sits right at the center of it, especially as AI agents enter the enterprise,” said Kamel Heus, Vice President of Sales, MEA, Saviynt. “I’ve spent over a decade building businesses from the ground up in this region, and I’m excited to do it again at Saviynt. My focus is to build out our local presence, grow a strong partner ecosystem, and enable organizations across MEA to grow their business through secure, confident access both for their people and their AI. It’s a great time to be doing this work here.”
Heus brings 20 years of enterprise cybersecurity sales leadership and a strong track record of building and scaling businesses across the Middle East, Africa and Europe. He has held senior leadership roles at Thales, Centrify (now Delinea) and Sophos, most recently serving as Vice President, EMEA at Thales, where he led the company’s Identity and Access Management business across the region. He holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics and Computing from Université Grenoble Alpes in France and has been based in Dubai for more than a decade.
With Heus leading its MEA sales organization, Saviynt will continue to deepen its relationships with customers and partners, expand its regional capabilities and help organizations strengthen identity security as cloud, AI and digital transformation reshape enterprise environments.