Sophos Appoints Aparna Williams as Chief Legal Officer
Sophos, a
global leader of innovative security solutions for defeating cyberattacks, announced
that Aparna Williams has joined the company as Chief Legal Officer
(CLO). Williams oversees all aspects of Sophos’ global legal, compliance, and
regulatory operations, reporting directly to Joe Levy, Sophos’ CEO.
With more than 25 years of legal leadership across
high-growth, global technology companies, including roles at Coalfire Systems,
Shippo, Imperva, and Symantec, Williams has built and scaled legal functions
that enable growth, strengthen governance, and support global expansion. Her
expertise spans corporate governance, complex transactions and M&A,
regulatory strategy and privacy, legal operations, and enterprise risk.
Throughout her career, she has been recognized for her ability to transform
legal operations into a strategic function—balancing compliance and risk
management with innovation and commercial opportunity.
“Cybersecurity is a business built on
trust, and Aparna’s appointment reinforces Sophos’ commitment to protecting
that trust,” said Joe Levy, CEO, Sophos. “Her deep expertise in corporate
governance, compliance, and transactions will help keep Sophos safe and secure
while enabling our continued growth. Aparna also brings a commercial and
customer-centric perspective that will benefit our partners and customers
worldwide as they navigate evolving cybersecurity regulations and supply chain
risks."
Strategic focus areas for Sophos
Legal under Williams’ leadership
- Governance & Ethics: Reinforcing
board-level governance and enterprise risk management with
cross-functional controls that support resilient growth.
- Privacy, Data & AI: Ensuring privacy,
data protection, and responsible AI practices are embedded into products
and operations to meet global requirements and uphold Sophos’ ethics and
compliance standards.
- Regulation & Policy Leadership: Engaging
proactively with regulators and contributing to the development of global
cybersecurity and data protection policies, while helping customers and
enterprise leaders navigate complex compliance and supply-chain
requirements.
- Customer & Commercial Enablement: Streamlining
contracts, safeguarding IP, and working directly with customers and
partners to reduce friction, build trust, and improve time-to-value while
maintaining robust protections.
“There is deep purpose in
cybersecurity—defending people and helping them when it matters most has been
the mission throughout my career,” said Aparna Williams, Chief Legal Officer,
Sophos. “Sophos is at a pivotal moment, scaling to protect organizations of
every size with the right mix of AI, platform innovation, services, and partner
reach. As AI accelerates, bringing both transformative opportunity and new
risks, my role is to ensure we scale with confidence, strengthening governance
and trust to ensure innovation fuels growth and resilience for our customers.”
A frequent speaker and mentor,
Williams is a thought leader on the intersection of law and cybersecurity,
including regulatory readiness, supply chain risk, and the role of legal
operations in managing cyber risk. She is also an active advocate for advancing
women in law through organizations such as Association of Corporate Counsel
(ACC), the ACC NCR Leadership Academy, and Ms. JD.
Leave A Comment