Expel insider · 2 MIN READ · DAVE MERKEL · OCT 1, 2024 · TAGS: Announcement / Company news / Managed security
TLDR
- Kevin Mandia joins Expel’s board of directors, where his experience and vision will help inform our corporate strategy.
- Kevin joins at an inflection point for both the cybersecurity industry and for Expel.
- Kevin is participating in a Q&A event on October 17 at 11am ET to talk about security trends and Expel’s approach to MDR. Click here to register or see the replay.
When I co-founded Expel with Yanek Korff and Justin Bajko in 2016, we were pretty fresh off our roles at Mandiant, having proudly worked side-by-side with Kevin Mandia to help build the security industry pioneer. A big driver to that success was Mandiant’s “Managed Defense” offering, which to my knowledge was the first managed detection and response (MDR) solution of its kind. (Interestingly, Mandiant Intelligent Response and later, Mandiant for Security Operations were the earliest endpoint detection and response offerings, too.)
Our experience and learnings with Kevin in the early days of MDR were instrumental to our starting and building Expel. And those early lessons continue to guide us today. That shared history—working those long hours to solve complicated security problems in a burgeoning industry—is one of the many reasons we’re excited to announce that he’s joined our board of directors.
Kevin joins Expel’s board at an important time for the cybersecurity industry. Security threats continue to grow in frequency and sophistication, and C-suites are expected to make decisions based on how cybersecurity fits into overall business risk. And it’s not enough to just talk about “risk”—security needs to deliver a real ROI. Otherwise, security leaders can’t expect ever-increasing budgets while delivering the same (or worse) results. CISOs must understand that CEOs care about positive business outcomes, and not just “managing the risk.” The more a company’s cybersecurity program aligns with key business initiatives, the more successful it’ll be.
Additionally, similar to the atmospheric shift we felt with the introduction of cloud technology, the industry’s expectations (and fears) around AI are now rapidly evolving as its real capabilities become clearer.
This is also an important time for Expel, in part because for the past eight years, we’ve addressed the market concerns I outlined above. We provide peace of mind that our customers are covered 24×7, so security teams can allocate their scarce resources to business critical problems.
How? We have visibility into a massive cross-section of cyber threats and adversary activity, giving us a lens that sees beyond traditional threats. This intel helps customers use their imaginations and be prepared to mitigate even the most unexpected threats—if and when they come knocking. We’ve achieved a lot of success over the past eight-plus years, but we’re not satisfied (this hunger drove our work at Mandiant with Kevin, too). We’ve cemented partnerships with the likes of Wiz, Visa, and modePUSH to meet a broader range of our customers’ security needs. Our competition never stops trying to catch us, and our customers’ adversaries never give up, so we keep innovating.
Adding Kevin and his experience and strategic guidance to our already formidable board of directors means that we’re better positioned than ever to meet the security challenges that trouble our customers now and the ones that are just coming into focus.
We know the opportunity in MDR is massive, as companies look to managed security to bolster their capabilities. We’re uniquely qualified to lead the pack, and Kevin joining our board reinforces that we’re on the right path.
Join me and Kevin on Thursday, October 17 at 11am ET for a special Q&A we’re hosting to learn more about Kevin and how he’ll be working with Expel as we tackle the next chapter in our growth. See you there.
