Getting to know Enzo Compagnoni, regional vice president & general manager for Red Hat ANZ

We’re delighted to share that Enzo Compagnoni has moved into the role of regional vice president and general manager for Red Hat Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). In his new role, Compagnoni will be responsible for leading the Red Hat business in ANZ, helping to drive the digital transformation success of customers and partners across the region.  

Compagnoni has over 25 years of experience in the enterprise IT industry under his belt and has been with Red Hat for more than six years, most recently as senior director for enterprise sales, ANZ. Prior to Red Hat, he has held various leadership roles in technology companies including EMC, PeopleSoft and PTC.

We caught up with Compagnoni to hear his perspective on open source and Red Hat, and how openness and authenticity can make for a stronger team.  

How has your journey been so far at Red Hat?  

One of the reasons why I joined Red Hat six and a half years ago was the company's openness and transparency, a natural trait for a business built around open source software. I felt as though I could turn up to work and be exactly who I am, which is an important factor for someone who values authenticity. 

Perhaps the greatest highlight for me since joining Red Hat has been seeing the people that were in the company when I first joined, along with newer recruits, grow and develop, along with the growing business. Red Hat enables and promotes an open culture where the best ideas always win, no matter where they come from.

What do you most look forward to in your new role? 

As we continue to grow as a business, I will work to help bring different parts of the business closer together. It is my goal to create a fully aligned team so that we continue to be crystal clear on Red Hat’s mission in ANZ of providing industry-leading enterprise open source products and services to our customers. I’m also looking forward to engaging with customers from different industries, and of course with our strong ecosystem of partners. 

From an internal perspective, I'm here to serve the teams across ANZ, not the other way around. The new role I’m stepping into affords me the tools, resources and visibility to become a cheerleader for the local team. As I become more involved in Red Hat’s broader business across Asia Pacific, I’m looking forward to becoming an outspoken advocate of the business and associates in ANZ. 

How can Red Hat and open source technology support the digital transformation of companies in Australia and New Zealand? 

Open source communities power everything Red Hat does, including the products we create, the culture we embrace, and the solutions we design, for and with our customers. The key thing about open source is that, if you use it, you have access to a literal world of innovation. There are so many open source developer communities around the globe, all of them continually innovating, working on refining the software. 

Red Hat draws upon that innovation and makes it ready for the enterprise, imbuing it with the additional safety, security, scale and usability to support open hybrid cloud that is essential for organizations in today’s business landscape. This is one reason why we’re receiving increased interest from cyber security teams and CISOs, as open source software’s historical value proposition around safety and security becomes more important to enterprises.  

How would you define leadership, and what kind of a leader would you like to be? 

I believe in leading by example, by showing people the way through action. A good leader must also be a good communicator and be able to articulate a high-level vision to help people understand how they, as individuals, fit into an organization’s broader goals. I am a big believer in prioritizing good execution focused around the success of our customers above all else.

I’m also driven by strong values around transparency and openness, which is what drew me to Red Hat in the first place, and I hope to use this drive to foster trust, communication and collaboration throughout the business as my remit expands.