Daniel Gardner returns to Ping as ANZ sales director

Gardner is tasked with driving growth across public and private sector markets while strengthening channel engagement.

Ping Identity has appointed Daniel Gardner as sales director for Australia and New Zealand, with a growth remit across public and private sector organisations in the region.

Gardner rejoins Ping, where he spent four years as an account executive. His previous roles include CrowdStrike, where he managed major accounts in the region, RSA Security and Telstra.

He reaffirmed his commitment to the channel, which he described as an essential part of Ping’s growth plans.

“Identity projects are often as complex as they are transformational. We need our partners to ensure our customers can successfully achieve the great business outcomes they’re looking for,” he told CRN Australia.

With new capabilities rolling out, including time-bound cloud access and an AI trust framework, Gardner said he’s excited about these recent innovations and the future roadmap.

“The ANZ team in particular has so much runway for growth, and I can't wait to play my part in helping our customers, both new and existing, create incredible identity experiences for their customers and employees,” he said.

As AI creates agents and new identities that need securing, Gardner’s also looking to expand PingOne Neo decentralised identity capabilities to more customers across both countries.

“With AI becoming more pervasive, our ability to secure non-human identities and AI agents will also be a game-changer for our customers,” he said.

Financial services and the public sector will continue to be key growth markets for the business, while Ping sees wider opportunities across consumer-facing sectors.

“These businesses are increasingly understanding the link between a great identity experience, revenue, and customer loyalty,” he said.

Looking ahead, the business wants to emphasise that identity is a lynchpin for security and customer experience.

“I’ll be working closely with my team to show customers and prospects how they can use identity to secure their critical business assets while also creating better experiences for their customers, partners and employees,” he said.