Ina Fried

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Former Samsung Exec Omar Khan Departs Citigroup for Mobile Security Firm

Omar Khan, who left Samsung last year to head up mobile efforts at Citigroup, is on the move again.

Khan has been named co-CEO of Chinese mobile security company NQ Mobile, known until today as NetQin. Khan will lead the company along with current CEO Henry Lin.

Among Khan’s new duties will be helping lead the company’s international expansion — including increasing its presence in North America as well as in areas including Latin America, Europe, Japan and Korea.

“They are already the largest mobile security company in the world,” Khan said in a telephone interview on Thursday. “I’m excited about helping take their technology globally.”

Khan, who will be based in Dallas and starts the new gig on Monday, said that although NetQin has been known for its consumer products, there is a big opportunity in helping businesses deal with all of the workers who want to access corporate data on their smartphones.

Another part of his role will be helping beef up the company’s small team in the United States.

Khan joined Samsung in 2008 as senior VP of strategy and before that was a vice president at Motorola. Although he was at Citi for only six months, Khan said the company had accomplished a lot in a short time and was well positioned in the mobile arena.

“I think Citi has a tremendous opportunity ahead of them as well,” Khan said. “They were very good to me.”

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There was a worry before I started this that I was going to burn every bridge I had. But I realize now that there are some bridges that are worth burning.

— Valleywag editor Sam Biddle