Acronis. It’s the global leader in cyber protection, and has announced the appointment of cloud software and hosting industry veteran Patrick Pulvermueller as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2021. Pulvermueller succeeds Serguei Beloussov, who founded the company in 2003 and has served as CEO since 2013.
Pulvermueller joins Acronis from GoDaddy, where he most recently served as President of the Partner Business. In that role, he led the company’s strategic expansion of its Hosting, Productivity, and Security services through resellers and agency partners.
Combining that experience with his product development expertise, we’re told Pulvermueller is “an expert in developing successful, cloud-based go-to-market strategies, particularly through service providers, resale channels, and strategic alliances.”
He previously held executive leadership roles as CEO of Host Europe GmbH and Group CEO of Host Europe Group (HEG), where he previously served as Group COO.
Pulvermueller said: “I am excited to join the Acronis team, engage with our tremendous partner network, and continue Serguei’s vision of providing industry-changing cyber protection services.
“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.”
Acronis says Pulvermueller takes over at a pivotal time. In May, the company received over $250 million in an investment round including CVC Capital Partners VII and others, which values the company at more than $2.5 billion.
In addition to accelerating its technology and product development, Acronis says it “plans to leverage that investment to further enhance its go-to-market initiatives – an area in which Pulvermueller has deep expertise – by expanding its broad partner network, which includes managed service providers (MSPs), managed security service providers (MSSPs), hosting partners, cloud distributors, cloud aggregators, network service providers, and others.”
Acronis Chairman of the Board of Directors, René Bonvanie, noted: “Having added more than $1.5 billion in valuation during the past 18 months, Acronis is on a tremendous growth trajectory thanks to the cyber protection strategy put in motion by Serguei. 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.”
As Acronis’ founder and largest shareholder, the company says Serguei Beloussov will “continue to be involved in the company as a member of the Board of Directors and Acronis Chief Research Officer, directing the technology and research strategy.
“He will focus on the company’s advanced technologies, including Autonomous Research, Data Management, Cyber Network, Cyber Platform, and Enterprise products. He will also focus on developing Acronis’ university relations program, including with the Schaffhausen Institute of Technology (SIT) in Switzerland, which he co-founded in 2019.”
In making the announcement, Beloussov said: “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, improve our operations, and build a multi-billion dollar revenue stream – taking the organisation, the product portfolio, and our partnerships to the next level.”
