Today we officially announced the appointment of Acronis’ new Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Pulvermueller. Most recently serving as the President of Partner Business at hosting giant GoDaddy, Pulvermueller brings his expertise in developing successful cloud-based go-to-market strategies – particularly through service providers and resale channels to the world’s leader in cyber protection.
Pulvermueller is assuming the role of CEO from Acronis founder Serg Bell, who had acted as CEO since 2013. This transition comes at a pivotal moment for Acronis. The company just received a $250 million investment from CVC Capital Partners VII and others, pushing the company’s value to more than $2.5 billion.
“I am excited to join the Acronis team, engage with our tremendous partner network, and continue Serg’s vision of providing industry-changing cyber protection services,” said Pulvermueller. “Acronis is poised to disrupt the data protection and cybersecurity markets while redefining how service providers leverage remote monitoring and management (RMM) and professional services automation (PSA) services. I look forward to contributing my knowledge and experience in the service provider business to ensure we take full advantage of that opportunity.”
With this shift in leadership and recent round of investment, Acronis plans to enhance its go-to-market initiatives and expand its partner network to new managed service providers (MSPs), managed security service providers (MSSPs), hosting partners, cloud distributors, cloud aggregators, network service providers, and others.
At the same time, Pulvermueller has committed to applying his passion and expertise in channel-centric business development to create expanded opportunities for the existing Acronis partner community, supporting and accelerating the growth and success of the thousands of businesses in the IT channel today who rely on Acronis Cyber Protection Solutions.
A bright future for Acronis
Given Pulvermueller’s experience in chief executive leadership roles at Host Europe GmbH and Host Europe Group (HEG) and his successful expansion of GoDaddy’s Hosting, Productivity, and Security services, the Acronis community has high expectations for the future.
“Acronis is on a tremendous growth trajectory thanks to the cyber protection strategy put in motion by Serg,” noted Acronis Chairman of the Board of Directors, René Bonvanie. “Given Patrick’s demonstrated expertise in helping rapid growth companies scale and proven success in a channel-centric environment, we are confident he will accelerate Acronis’ success and prepare the company for the next stage.”
Acronis founder and previous CEO, Serg Bell echoed this belief: “I’m proud of Acronis’ success to date and believe now is the perfect time to pass the baton to Patrick. We did an extensive search for an outstanding leader and Patrick's track record of success, partner-led approach, and operational expertise were obvious strengths. He has the experience to continue pushing Acronis’ mission and improve our operations – taking the organization, the product portfolio, and our partnerships to the next level.”
Bell will remain deeply involved with Acronis to see the company he founded take this next step. He will continue to act as a member of Acronis’ Board of Directors and will serve as Chief Research Officer, directing the technology and research strategy of the organization with a particular focus on advanced technologies including autonomous research, data management, and Acronis’ Cyber Network and Cyber Platform.
Pulvermueller’s vision for Acronis
Acronis is positioned to achieve exciting new growth as the IT channel becomes increasingly aware of the importance of the modern, integrated cyber protection approach. With the entrance of Pulvermueller as CEO, the Acronis community gains an accomplished industry leader who offers new ideas and perspectives on how best to achieve that growth. As this new vision for the company unfolds, Pulvermueller is actively engaging with members of the Acronis partner community, listening to their thoughts and finding ways to help them achieve their business goals, as well.
To take part in this conversation and learn more about the future Pulvermueller envisions for Acronis, be sure to register for the Acronis #CyberFit Summit World Tour 2021: the world’s largest gathering of cyber protection professionals and IT thought leaders. Tickets are available now for all four events with both in-person and virtual registration open.
About Acronis
A Swiss company founded in Singapore in 2003, Acronis has 15 offices worldwide and employees in 50+ countries. Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud is available in 26 languages in 150 countries and is used by over 20,000 service providers to protect over 750,000 businesses.
