Company news · 2 MIN READ · KAITLIN WAITE · FEB 19, 2026 · TAGS: Announcement / Award / Partnership
TL;DR
- Expel has announced its 2026 Partner of the Year Award winners
- This year’s recipients are recognized for helping orgs maximize security ROI and help build operational resilience
- We’re honoring folks across the United States and EMEA, including some new categories this year
In the last few weeks, we’ve been letting our partners know they’ve won an award in our second annual Partner of the Year Awards. In case you missed the memo last year, we started highlighting our partners with an annual awards ceremony to highlight just how important the partner program is here at Expel. We wouldn’t be where we are without the commitment from our partners to bring the best in security to their customers.
“Security is a team sport, and our partners are the essential players who help us drive criminals out of our customers’ environments,” said Alex Glass, vice president of global channel and alliances at Expel. “This year’s winners prioritize practitioner-led security that integrates with existing tech stacks to deliver real protection. We’re proud to celebrate these organizations for their commitment to honesty, flexibility, and relentless execution in the face of an evolving threat landscape.”
And the winners are…
While some of our winners have already been celebrated, we’re thrilled to publicly announce them today. Most of our winners receive one-of-a-kind wrestling champion belts (yes, seriously).
- North American Partner of the Year: GuidePoint Security
- IR Partner of the Year: Surefire Cyber
- Emerging Partner of the Year: Myriad360
- EMEA Partner of the Year: Babble Cloud
- Regional Partner of the Year: Bird Rock Systems
- Innovative Partner of the Year: Alacrinet
- Cloud Partner of the Year: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- PE Firm of the Year: Carlyle Group
And in addition to our partner awards from last year that apply to partners as an entire organization, we’ve also named a rising star this year–an individual partner contributor who deserves special recognition. That is:
- Rising Star: Matt Schmidt, Senior Account Executive, GuidePoint Security
“Being named Expel’s North American Partner of the Year underscores our shared commitment to delivering exceptional security outcomes for our clients. Our partnership empowers organizations with greater visibility and clarity across their security operations—helping them maximize technology investments and strengthen their overall security posture.”
Mark Thornberry, SVP, Vendor Management at GuidePoint Security
For full details about Expel’s partner program, including benefits like sales incentives, deal registration, training tools, marketing collaboration, and more, visit the Expel Partner Program webpage.
