Expel culture · 3 MIN READ · SCOUT SCHOLES · FEB 20, 2025 · TAGS: Expletives / leadership & management
TL;DR
- Alex Glass, VP, Global Channel Sales & Alliances, was recently named in the 2025 CRN Channel Chiefs list
- He was also promoted from Director to his current VP role, and shares more on what that promotion looks like for him
- Expel’s culture is what drew him here, and we share an example of that culture with you
Alex Glass, VP, Global Channel Sales & Alliances at Expel, was recently named in the 2025 CRN Channel Chiefs list. To celebrate, we sat down with Alex to give you a deeper dive into this accomplishment and what it means to him.
He’s only been at Expel for about eight months, but he’s already racking up a list of successes. But before we dive into what he’s doing now, we asked him how he got into cybersecurity, and more importantly, how he ended up at Expel.
Transitioning from IT to cybersecurity at Expel
Alex has been in channel sales and IT tech for almost 20 years, and has been in cybersecurity for about half of that time. His resume boasts experience at Rapid7, running their Americas channel through their IPO, and working for Duo Security through their Cisco acquisition. He’s no stranger to picking winning teams.
As for cybersecurity, it seemed like a natural fit for someone with a desire to build long-term professional relationships people can count on. Cybersecurity is a growing field with tons of opportunities, but what really stuck out for Alex was how cybersecurity was a natural segue for his career after working in backup and disaster recovery.
“On the channel side of the business, once you’ve been around for a while, you build meaningful relationships—especially at the partner level—and become a known good, a trusted source for partners. That quality of relationship makes it difficult to ever want to leave this space.”
As for why he chose Expel specifically, it was the culture that called to him. He said:
“I think it goes without saying that Expel delivers and offers a top-tier service around MDR, recognized as a leader within the MDR space and in the community. But really, after having the opportunity to speak to Merk [Dave Merkel], and Justin, two of the co-founders during the interview process, I really got a feel for the company and culture they’re driving, and that made a huge difference. Earlier in your career, culture may not be as important to people, but as you continue to progress, you want to work with people that appreciate you being a person, and having a life and an understanding of what that means. And I could tell from a quick conversation with Merk and Justin, they got it.”
On his latest accomplishments and leadership style
A few weeks ago, Alex was promoted to his VP role from a Director position, shortly after he was named to the 2025 CRN Channel Chiefs list. While he’s proud of these accomplishments, and stated the Channel Chiefs list was a tremendous honor, he isn’t letting it steal focus from what he’s working on at Expel.
“I’m responsible and focused on the global build, as we continue to build the United States route to market, and emerging markets like EMEA. We have a large team, so I’m focused on making sure they have what they need to succeed, as I’m big on servant leadership. I want to enable them to be their best selves in the roles they own, largely removing roadblocks and barriers.”
He continued, “I’m very fortunate with the team I have. They know how to operate; they know what great looks like. I’ve been in the industry for a while, but I certainly don’t have all the best ideas. I have thoughts and initiatives, but I also know where my limitations are. I have a team of wonderful people from different backgrounds and abilities that come from different organizations and locations. Their experiences are all different, so I want to make sure the team has a voice, and a say in what success ultimately looks like for us.”
Fun facts and a very important question
Alex is based in Austin, Texas, where he lives with his wife and two children. But we also learned he has a secret talent—he has a black belt in Taekwondo. His mom encouraged it as a child, and he credits the sport for teaching him patience, and that you won’t always succeed on the first try. And as anyone with children knows, anything teaching patience gets a thumbs up.
As part of our culture at Expel, we start most all-hands calls with a very important question. A random Expletive will pose a question to the entire org, and we’ll spend the first few minutes in shock (and sometimes horror) as we try and logic our way through wild questions. So we closed out our time with Alex with a very important question just for him: Would you rather have seven fingers on each hand, or seven toes on each foot?
After a chuckle and a pause, he said, “I’m guessing if I had seven toes on each foot, that would make my foot wider and allow me to swim a little bit faster. I enjoy snorkeling and swimming, and that could enhance my swimming abilities. And you could hide the seven toes in shoes easily, and they make wide shoes already, but I don’t think they make custom gloves often.”
