Expel announces winners of second annual Partner of the Year Awards

Leading security operations provider celebrates the strategic partners helping organizations maximize security ROI and build operational resilience

[TL;DR / Key Takeaways]

• What: Expel names its 2026 Partner of the Year Award winners, honoring the technology and service leaders delivering high-impact security operations across the United States and EMEA.
• Impact: This year's recipients are recognized for helping organizations maximize their tech stack and stay ahead of threats.

HERNDON, Va., Feb. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Expel, the leading managed detection and response (MDR) provider, today announced the winners of its second annual Partner of the Year Awards. The program recognizes top-performing technology partners, resellers, and consultants across the United States and EMEA who demonstrate excellence in delivering transparent, outcomes-based security operations.

"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."

2025 Expel Partner of the Year Award Winners:

• 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
• 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," said Mark Thornberry, SVP, Partnerships at GuidePoint Security. "Our partnership empowers organizations with greater visibility and clarity across their security operations—helping them maximize technology investments and strengthen their overall security posture."

The Expel Partner Program arms partners with the resources and dedicated support they need to better serve our customers, while increasing their own revenue to ensure mutual success—a mission exemplified by this year's winners. Expel is a partner-first organization, providing channel partners with the leading MDR service in the market to support their customers' evolving security needs. With Expel, partners and their customers benefit from our best-in-class security operations platform, Expel Workbench™, along with the people, technology, and expertise to protect environments across endpoints, cloud, Kubernetes, SaaS, network, SIEM, email, identity, and more.

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.

About Expel
Expel is the leading managed detection and response (MDR) provider trusted by some of the world's most recognizable brands to expel their adversaries, minimize risk, and build security resilience. Expel's 24/7/365 coverage spans the widest breadth of attack surfaces, including cloud, with 100% transparency. We combine world-class security practitioners and our AI-driven platform, Expel Workbench™, to ingest billions of events monthly and still achieve a 17-minute critical alert MTTR. Expel augments existing programs to help customers maximize their security investments and focus on building trust—with their customers, partners, and employees. For more information, visit our website, check out our blog, or follow us on LinkedIn.

SOURCE Expel