AccessData Strengthens Worldwide Team with Three New Hires

Global News

25
Oct
2018

Editor

AccessData Group, a leading provider of integrated digital forensics and e-discovery software, today announced that three industry veterans have joined the company in various client services leadership positions to assist customers in both the public and private sectors.

“We pride ourselves on being able to deliver what our clients need. Whether you’re talking about managing data intensive investigations, commercial litigation or ensuring regulatory compliance, we are committed to delivering high-touch personalized service so our customers can be successful,” said Abdeslam Afras, executive vice president of international business at AccessData. “To support that commitment, we’ve successfully recruited three seasoned professionals with deep experience in law enforcement, digital investigations and information management. These new hires significantly bolster the expertise on our team and will propel us forward in our efforts to assist customers worldwide.”

The three executives who have joined the company this year include:

• Christopher Johnson - Mr. Johnson has joined AccessData as vice president of sales for the EMEA Region and will be based in the company’s London office. He will support law enforcement agencies and other public sector clients throughout the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa. He will also serve as an industry consultant, working with prospective new clients to evaluate their technology needs. Mr. Johnson has more than 20 years of law enforcement and public sector experience at the local, regional, national and international levels. He is a former intelligence manager for the UK’s National Crime Agency and has lead on strategic work such as Organised Crime Group Mapping and the prioritisation of targeting organised criminals. He joined AccessData this year to help the company deliver tangible operational outcomes to public sector clients who deploy the AccessData suite of software solutions.
• Alexander Poelma - Mr. Poelma has joined AccessData as director of business development for the International and U.S. Federal market segments, tasked with assisting law enforcement agencies in determining their forensics software requirements and identifying the optimal technology solutions. He is currently based in The Netherlands but will be relocating to the U.S. later this year and will be based in Southern California. Mr. Poelma has nearly two decades of experience working for law enforcement agencies, most recently as a senior staff member for the Dutch Tax Authorization’s law enforcement division (FIOD), and has served as a digital forensics investigator on complex cases. After using a variety of forensics software tools during his experience participating in big investigations, he was impressed by AccessData’s innovations with products such as AD Lab and Quin-C, and joined AccessData to help further develop these applications to ensure they are the best solutions in the market that help law enforcement agencies in the fight against crime.
• Wesley Ellis - Mr. Ellis has joined AccessData as vice president of technical and professional services and will be based in Washington, D.C. He will be responsible for all technical services related to the AccessData suite of applications. Mr. Ellis has more than 18 years of experience in EDRM management, digital forensics and incident response, including prior jobs working for Guidance Software and the Federal Bureau of Investigations. He has worked with all phases of the enterprise software consulting, cybersecurity and litigation lifecycle involving the deployment of software applications to support the collection, preservation, processing, review, production and presentation of electronic evidence. He joined AccessData this year to work with tools that provide cross-case calibration, post-breach services, and to support clients that have either migrated to the cloud, will migrate to the cloud or are considering moving certain systems and data to the cloud.

“We’re gratified that these experienced professionals — including a previous AccessData customer and a business partner — were so energized by what they saw with our strategy and product innovations that they made the decision to join our team,” said Afras.