HOMEGROWN cybersecurity firm Ensign InfoSecurity on Wednesday promoted Tammie Tham to chief executive officer (CEO) to lead the company in its next phase of growth.

Ensign was formed late last year as a 60-40 joint venture between state investment firm Temasek Holdings and listed telco StarHub.

The company said on Wednesday that Ms Tham is a 19-year cybersecurity and IT industry veteran, as well as a founding member of the Ensign team.

She was most recently Ensign's executive vice-president for enterprise and services, overseeing and managing the enterprise business portfolio, which comprises bespoke cybersecurity services such as the designing and building of enterprise-wide solutions.

Before joining Ensign, Ms Tham was CEO and founder of StarHub's cybersecurity systems integrator Accel Systems and Technologies. She has also held senior leadership roles at BT Frontline, IBM and Netrust.

She replaces interim CEO Yeoh Keat Chuan, who is the managing director of Temasek International's enterprise development group and will remain on Ensign's board of directors. Mr Yeoh was appointed as interim chief in October last year.

Ms Tham's appointment comes a week after the company opened its global headquarters in Singapore. It also established a new Singapore-focused security operations centre on the same day.

The company employs some 500 cybersecurity professionals, and will increase its headcount by 100 to 600 employees by next year.

Headquartered in Singapore with offices in Malaysia and Hong Kong, Ensign also has customers in Brunei, Myanmar and Thailand, with plans to expand its presence in South Korea in 2020.

Its core competencies include security architecture design, validation and management of advanced security solutions, as well as advanced threat hunting, red teaming and incident response services.