Meet Mimecast’s New Channel Chief, Jonathan Corini

Jonathan Corini takes the helm of the email protection vendor’s channel organization, ready to help partners win bigger accounts.

New Mimecast channel chief Jonathan Corini is ready to take the email security specialist upmarket by empowering existing and new partners to sell to the enterprise.

The cybersecurity veteran, previously vice president for worldwide channels at Forescout Technologies, sees the channel as the vehicle to bringing Mimecast’s expanding security portfolio to larger customers.

“The key areas for me is working with all types of partners to help us expand into enterprise,” Corini told CRN. “From my perspective, this is a pivotal role to help the company.”

[Related: Mimecast CEO: Internal Email, Supply Chain Attacks On Rise]

UK-headquartered Mimecast, with North American operations based in Lexington, Mass., fields a channel of MSPs, resellers and systems integrators that’s done a great job penetrating the SMB market, Corini said.

The company currently has 3,200 active partners around the world who deliver about 70 percent of its total business.

“We want to make substantial investments in the channel community, give them great ability to not only land but expand with our solutions. Fix customers top priorities and pain points,” he said.

The opportunity to move upmarket can benefit partners of all stripes, and new ones Mimecast will look to recruit, as enterprises increasingly appreciate the need to secure their most ubiquitous communications platform.

“We start with a double-down on our top partners today that absolutely can help us in enterprise,” Corini said. “But there will be some new partnerships, and some we want to exponentially grow because their focus is enterprise.”

Corini plans on seizing that momentum Mimecast sees with larger clients while ensuring it doesn’t lose focus on smaller ones and the MSPs who generate a large part of its business.

To do that, Corini wants to ramp both pre- and post-sales enablement to help partners identify opportunities. Another key goal is streamlining the process of transacting with the company.

Adding an email protection practice can benefit many systems integrators, MSPs and resellers.

“It’s still a very important part of what a partner would want to provide to their customers, ensuring that threat vector is secured,” he said. “And it’s overlooked.”

Before ForeScout, Corini held senior channel positions at Tanium and McAfee.

Nic Alicandri, chief sales and marketing officer at CipherTechs, a Mimecast partner based in New York City, has worked with Corini for more than 15 years, and looks forward to seeing him execute a channel-first vision.

“I know he truly understands the channel and how to provide value back to partners,” Alicandri told CRN. “His knowledge of the space and desire to build long-term and successful relationships with partners are the reason I’ve always enjoyed working with him.”