Verkada Bolsters EMEA Leadership with Strategic Appointment of Industry Veteran Mark Coates to Drive Regional Expansion

Verkada, a recognized leader in AI-powered physical security technology, has announced the strategic appointment of Mark Coates as its new Vice President of EMEA. In this pivotal role, Coates will spearhead Verkada’s overarching strategy, operations, and go-to-market execution across the vital regions of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, where the company is already experiencing rapid growth among its customer and partner base.

Eric Salava, Chief Revenue Officer at Verkada, underscored the significance of the move: “EMEA is a critical region for Verkada, with strong demand from enterprises and fast-growing organizations looking to modernize physical security and operations. Mark brings deep regional expertise, a proven track record of building and leading high-performing teams, and a strong understanding of the technology landscape. We’re excited to welcome him to the team.”

Coates brings an impressive nearly 30 years of experience in enterprise technology and security to Verkada. He joins from Gigamon, where he most recently served as Vice President, EMEA. During his tenure at Gigamon, Coates was instrumental in restructuring the EMEA organization, consistently driving considerable double-digit revenue growth. His leadership resulted in three consecutive years of record performance, earning him VP and Region of the Year honors from 2022 to 2024.

Before his success at Gigamon, Coates held the position of Vice President of North and West EMEA at Digital Realty. There, he achieved over a 30% increase in revenue and played a key role in the successful integration of Interxion following its significant $8.5 billion acquisition. Earlier in his distinguished career, Coates held senior leadership roles at DTEX Systems, Veritas Technologies, Good Technology, and Symantec, where he focused on building and scaling EMEA sales organizations through periods of significant market transformation.

Commenting on his new challenge, Mark Coates expressed his enthusiasm: “Verkada is modernizing physical security and building operations by replacing fragmented, on-premise systems with a single, AI-driven, cloud-based platform. What stood out to me was the ambition of the team and the momentum they’ve already built. I’m excited to join at such a pivotal stage of growth to help organizations protect people and places in a rapidly evolving world.”

Coates assumes the reins from Ardon Anderson, Verkada’s former Vice President of EMEA, who is set to pursue a new leadership opportunity in North America. Anderson leaves behind a significantly expanded EMEA organization, having expertly grown the business by over 700% and successfully launched operations in the Middle East, DACH, and Southern Europe.

Looking ahead, Mark Coates is scheduled to speak at VerkadaOne in London on March 19, 2026. He will join a diverse array of speakers, industry experts, and partners to discuss the latest trends and innovations in cloud physical security.