RSA names Tom Heiser as new president

Security firm RSA has appointed Tom Heiser as president, replacing Art Coviello, who will become executive chairman.

Heiser has worked at RSA for 26 years, most recently as chief operating officer, and helped to establish the company's cloud infrastructure and services branch.

"In nearly three years since taking a leadership role within RSA, Tom's contributions to the business in sales, marketing and professional services and, more recently as our chief operating officer, have been inspiring," said Coviello.

"Tom is a tireless advocate for our customers, and his leadership, energy and commitment to excellence make him the perfect person to lead RSA into the future."
RSA has placed a special emphasis on securing cloud computing services under Coviello. The challenges of extending security to the cloud were a primary focus of last year's RSA Conference, and Coviello touched on the subject at the most recent EMC World event.

Heiser will take over as president just as the company prepares to kick off the 2011 edition of the RSA Conference and Exhibition in San Francisco.

Security in cloud computing will be a hot topic at the conference, but early agendas also show that cyber warfare and government infrastructure will be of high interest.
Coviello is still slated to deliver RSA's opening keynote at this year's conference.