Security operator with 25 years of building and scaling managed security businesses takes the helm as AI reshapes the SOC; co-founder Dave Merkel remains on Expel's board
Key takeaways
- Steve Kelley is Expel's new Chairman and CEO.
- Co-founder Dave Merkel steps back from the CEO role and joins Expel's board of directors. Co-founders Yanek Korff and Justin Bajko stay in their roles.
- Kelley has spent 25 years growing managed security and MDR businesses, including at LevelBlue, Bitdefender, EdgeWave, and Trustwave.
HERNDON, Va., Nov. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Expel, the leading agentic managed detection and response (MDR) provider, today named Steve Kelley board chairman and chief executive officer. Kelley, a cybersecurity executive with more than 25 years of experience building and scaling security businesses, takes the helm as AI reshapes security operations. He succeeds co-founder Dave Merkel, who remains on Expel's board of directors.
Kelley has built his career on security's shift from selling tools to delivering outcomes, and has held numerous senior leadership roles. As president and general manager of Bitdefender's Business Solutions Group, he led a turnaround of the 700-person global business unit, spearheading the go-to-market launch of its MDR services platform to significantly accelerate sales growth. Over two years, the business nearly doubled its revenue run rate while dramatically increasing profitability. As CEO of EdgeWave, he pivoted the company into MDR services and led its sale to GoSecure. As chief marketing officer at Trustwave, he helped reposition the business as a managed security services leader ahead of its sale to Singtel. Most recently, he advised on the carve-out of AT&T's cybersecurity business to form LevelBlue, one of the world's largest managed security service and MDR providers, as well as four follow-on acquisitions while serving as an operating partner at WillJam Ventures.
"Dave Merkel and Expel have built an exceptional team and a world-class MDR platform that serves as the foundation for the future of agentic-enabled security operations. The recent extension of the Expel Workbench to leverage AI across the entire threat lifecycle and to cover the full AI attack surface positions the company to extend its lead as a preeminent innovator in MDR," said Steve Kelley,
Chairman and CEO of Expel. "I am excited to join Expel at this pivotal moment and to collaborate with Dave as a board member as well as his co-founders Yanek Korff and Justin Bajko and the rest of the operating team as we guide the company together to its next chapter of growth."
Merkel co-founded Expel and led the company as CEO for the past 10 years. He's stepping back with a strong executive team in place, product delivery speeding up, and AI reshaping both how organizations operate and how attackers work. Kelley brings experience leading security businesses through those kinds of shifts at scale.
"I've spent 10 years building Expel with a crew I'd go to war with. Knowing when to hand off is part of the job, and this is the right time. Steve has scaled security businesses before, and he's the right person to lead Expel's next chapter. The mission doesn't change. We've always stopped bad people from doing bad things. Now we'll stop AI-enabled bad people from doing bad things," said Dave Merkel, Expel co-founder and board member.
Kelley sees AI as a fundamental shift in security operations, with people still at the center of it. "AI is very good at applying known techniques to get to a probable answer. Security still needs human judgment and creativity to get to a definitive one. Our job is to enable and empower businesses to leverage AI in a way that delivers optimal security outcomes across a diverse and ever-changing threat landscape," said Kelley.
Co-founders Yanek Korff, chief operating officer, and Justin Bajko, chief strategy officer, remain in their roles alongside Expel's executive leadership team. Customers' SOC coverage, team, and Expel contacts stay the same.
About Expel
Expel is the leading agentic MDR provider. Our solutions use AI to improve the speed and accuracy of our human expertise. Expel MDR works with the tools you already have, providing coverage across critical attack surfaces such as cloud, identity, email, SIEM, SaaS, and on-prem environments, out in the open, alongside you. No black boxes. No rip-and-replace. We ask better questions to get to clearer decisions, faster action, and security operations that get stronger over time. For more information, visit our website, check out our blog, or follow us on LinkedIn.
SOURCE Expel
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