Security vendor McAfee has named Bill Rielly, a former Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) executive, to head its global sales efforts to small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

Rielly, whose official title is SMB senior vice president, will report to Michael DeCesare, McAfee president. DeCesare said Rielly won the job owing to his hands-on SMB expertise and experience driving growth globally. He is tasked with handling McAfee’s global SMB sales, and, in particular, to drive adoption of the security vendor’s overall portfolio and cloud offerings.

“Rielly has had phenomenal success in taking some of the most notable brands in the industry and expanding their share of the SMB market worldwide,” he said. “He understands the needs of business owners and can envision the opportunities that we can drive in this important market with our deep portfolio and strong cloud offerings.”

In his prior position at Apple, Rielly led the worldwide SMB segment for the Apple Online Store, helping to build the installed base of the iPhone, iPad and Mac by business owners globally. At Microsoft he held executive positions in SMB and at JP Morgan Chase in e-commerce. He also is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and served in the United States Army.

McAfee sees Rielly as a key hire inasmuch as security is a top priority across the SMB market. To make its point, McAfee pointed to some statistics: With some 75 percent of data breaches in 2011 targeting SMBs, according to the House Committee on Small Business, nearly 60 percent are forced to close their doors within a year after being hit by cybercrime.

“With business owners being targeted by cybercriminals more frequently, security should never be an afterthought,” said Rielly. “Customer and company data is more valuable to cybercriminals than many business owners realize. McAfee is committed to protecting their businesses from these threats.”

McAfee recently released its Complete Endpoint Protection Business edition to complement the enterprise version of the security software.