Datadog names Renee Mitsis to lead ANZ channel push

Datadog has appointed Renee Mitsis as Head of Channel and Alliances for Australia and New Zealand, stepping up its focus on partner-led growth in the region.

Mitsis brings more than 25 years' experience across sales and partner ecosystems. She will manage relationships with partners and customers across Australia and New Zealand, with an emphasis on engaging specialist partners earlier in areas such as security, AI and DevOps.

The hire comes as technology suppliers put greater weight on channel strategies that combine cloud providers, integrators and consultancies. Many customers now operate hybrid and multi-cloud environments while facing rising security and compliance obligations and growing interest in AI. These pressures are pushing vendors to rely more on partners that provide advisory services, implementation and managed operations.

Channel focus

Datadog provides observability and security for cloud applications and sells through both direct and partner routes, including alliances with cloud service providers and systems integrators. In Australia and New Zealand, its partners range from local firms serving mid-market customers to global consultancies supporting large transformation programmes.

Datadog's regional partner approach has three pillars: collaboration with cloud providers such as AWS; local and regional system integrators across industry segments; and global system integrators and consulting firms working with large enterprises.

Mitsis will work with Datadog's existing Channel and Alliances team in the region, focusing on strengthening collaboration across the partner ecosystem and the broader organisation.

Background

Mitsis spent five years at AWS, where she led partner sales in growth markets and worked with partners supporting customer expansions on AWS Cloud. Before that, she spent more than a decade at Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

At HPE, she founded and led the company's Women's Leadership Network, creating a community focused on career development for women. She also worked on diversity initiatives at AWS and intends to continue this work at Datadog.

In her first public comments in the role, Mitsis linked partner engagement to the operational challenges many organisations face in modern technology environments.

"Many organisations are still working with fragmented teams and systems, and that often extends to how they engage with partners," said Mitsis. "One of my priorities is bringing the right partners into the conversation earlier - whether that's embedding security expertise to reduce risk, activating AI specialists to accelerate adoption, or aligning DevOps partners to streamline delivery. When you match partners with the right expertise to the right problem, customers move faster and see stronger outcomes from the platform, while partners gain deeper, more strategic opportunities to grow."

Market pressures

Demand for observability tools has grown as organisations run larger, more distributed application estates. At the same time, boards and regulators are placing greater scrutiny on cyber risk and system resilience. Security teams also face higher workloads as software stacks evolve and attack surfaces widen.

AI adoption is adding further operational complexity as companies integrate AI services into applications and workflows. This often increases the number of components teams must monitor, govern and secure. In response, vendors are leaning on partners that can provide specialist skills, industry-specific knowledge and operational services.

Mitsis said she sees Australia and New Zealand as a market where partners play a central role in customer outcomes, particularly for organisations balancing innovation projects with risk management.

"Over the past years, I've seen first-hand how quickly technology environments have become more complex, with AI accelerating change, expanding attack surfaces, and raising the bar for what customers need to manage across reliability, security and compliance," said Mitsis. "Datadog stood out because it brings those conversations together in one place, giving organisations visibility and control when the cost of getting it wrong has never been higher. What really drew me in, though, was the strength of the partner ecosystem here in Australia and New Zealand. This is a market where partners play a critical role in helping customers navigate AI and security complexity, and confidently turn technology investment into real outcomes."

Eric Gaines, Channel and Alliances Director, Asia Pacific at Datadog, said partner engagement often expands after an initial implementation and broadens into other operational and security areas.

"Datadog partners often begin using the platform for a single capability, but its broad ecosystem enables them to expand into areas like security, digital experience, and AI-driven operations - helping customers achieve outcomes like faster threat detection, reduced risk, and AI-powered automation. This partner-led growth model closely mirrors AWS's ecosystem approach, creating strong alignment between the two organisations," said Gaines. "As Datadog expands across ANZ and APAC - particularly in regulated industries - partnerships are becoming a key driver of adoption and innovation. Renee's diverse background across AWS product, marketing, and partner leadership makes her uniquely positioned to help scale this strategy."