Sigma opens Sydney APJ hub & appoints Bede Hackney

Sigma has expanded into Asia Pacific and Japan and has opened a regional headquarters in Sydney. The company has appointed Bede Hackney as Vice President for the region.

Sigma said Hackney will be based in Sydney. He will lead the company's go-to-market activity across Asia Pacific and Japan.

Sigma sells an AI apps and analytics platform for business use. The company said it has seen early customer traction in the region.

Mike Palmer, Chief Executive Officer, Sigma, said the company viewed the region as a growth opportunity.

"APJ represents a significant growth opportunity as more organizations prepare for an AI-driven future." said Mike Palmer, CEO of Sigma. "With early customer traction in the region, now is the right time to invest in dedicated leadership. As our new VP of APJ, Bede will play a critical role in expanding our presence, building local relationships, and helping teams operationalize AI in a meaningful way."

Sydney base

Sigma has expanded its international footprint in recent years. It said it has recently expanded offices in New York and London. Sigma said it scaled its headcount more than 30x in 2.5 years in those locations.

The company did not disclose investment figures for the Sydney headquarters. It also did not disclose how many roles it plans to add in Australia and the wider region.

Sigma positioned the Sydney location as its headquarters for Asia Pacific and Japan. It did not detail whether it plans to open additional offices in other markets in the region.

Sales leader

Hackney previously served as Head of Australia and New Zealand at Zoom, according to Sigma. He has also held a regional vice president role at Databricks in Australia and New Zealand.

Sigma said Hackney has more than 25 years of experience with high-growth technology companies. It listed Databricks, Zoom and Tenable among the companies where he has worked. It also cited prior senior leadership roles at Nimble Storage, VMware and Citrix.

In its announcement, Sigma said Hackney will build teams in the region. It said he will focus on customer success.

Product focus

Sigma described its offering as a set of AI applications for business use. It also described a platform for analytics. It said the product uses cloud-native analytics and governed access to data.

Hackney said organisations in the region want to operationalise analytics and AI. He also pointed to the importance of tools that business teams can use directly.

"Sigma is redefining how organizations access and act on data, and I'm excited to bring that mission more broadly to APJ," said Bede Hackney, Vice President of APJ at Sigma. "As enterprises look to operationalize analytics and AI at scale, Sigma's combination of governed, cloud-native analytics and the flexibility business teams need creates a powerful opportunity in the region. I'm looking forward to building strong local partnerships and helping customers build and iterate on AI applications without technical complexity, unify external systems through a single interface, and deploy analytics globally with confidence."

The company said the move reflects continued international expansion. Sigma has not provided a timetable for further regional hires or additional office openings.