Object First names Pete Hannah as sales chief for Western Europe

Backup storage specialist Object First has announced the appointment of Pete Hannah as its new vice president of sales for Western Europe.

A seasoned IT industry veteran, Hannah adds more than 25 years’ experience and is credited with successfully recruiting and leading teams that have delivered significant growth. He steps into the new role having served as Object First’s EMEA sales lead since September 2023.

Prior to joining the company, Hannah co-founded Basingstoke-based Noima Consultancy with the aim of helping organizations expand through optimized strategy and sales execution, and has also previously held key sales leadership positions at Netgear , TD Synnex , and BT.

In his new role as vice president of sales for Western Europe, Object First said Hannah will focus on channel development , recruitment of channel partners, as well as growing the company’s sales team through new hires.

“We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Pete to the Object First team,” commented David Bennett, CEO of Object First. “His extensive experience in the IT channel , combined with his proven track record of driving growth and building teams, makes him the perfect fit to lead sales in Western Europe.

“As we continue to expand our partner network with the best storage for Veeam, Pete’s leadership will allow us to build on our strong momentum.”

Object First provides Ootbi (out-of-the-box immutability), a ransomware -proof backup storage appliance that’s purpose built for Veeam. The offering is built on immutable object storage technology designed and optimized for top end backup and recovery performance, without the need for security expertise.

Demand for such a solution has seen the company post strong growth in recent times. In Q2 2024, Object First achieved 300% year-over-year increase in transacting partners thanks to its strong global channel ecosystem.

The firm said its partner program, which is built on a 100% channel model, has been instrumental in helping resellers meet growing demand for highly secure backup storage that is immutable out-of-the-box.

“This is an exciting time to be joining Object First,” said Pete Hannah, Object First’s new vice president of sales for Western Europe.

“I look forward to building a strong team focused on our key European markets in Western Europe, where there is a huge market of Veeam customers who need secure, simple, and powerful immutable storage.

“Together with our partners, we aim to deliver exceptional security and value to our customers who urgently need a defense against ransomware and other threats.”