Acronis has appointed Prakash Panjwani as Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. He replaces Jan-Jaap “JJ” Jager, who remains a shareholder. Two days earlier, the vendor had introduced Gerald Caron as its new CISO.
Acronis, based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, and a provider of an AI-native cyber platform for MSPs and IT departments, announced a change at the top of the company on October 15, 2026. Prakash Panjwani takes over as Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. He succeeds Jan-Jaap “JJ” Jager, who, according to the announcement, remains an Acronis shareholder. The company did not state a reason for the change.
Experience at WatchGuard and SafeNet
Panjwani previously served as CEO of WatchGuard Technologies and of SafeNet. According to Acronis, he led WatchGuard for ten years and developed it from a firewall-focused business into a broader cybersecurity platform. The announcement says this platform includes AI-powered endpoint detection and response (EDR), extended detection and response (XDR) and managed detection and response (MDR).
Warren Adelman, Chairperson of the Acronis Board of Directors, thanked Jager for advancing the product platform with AI-based features and for growth in the partner business. Adelman said Panjwani brings experience in cybersecurity, product development, go-to-market and the MSP market. He also pointed to Panjwani’s experience with organic growth and acquisitions.
Platform focus for MSPs
Acronis names as a focus the unification of cybersecurity, data protection, infrastructure management and service automation in one natively integrated platform. Panjwani said Acronis has built an AI-native cyber platform with an MSP-focused approach that scales well. In his view, MSPs can adopt platforms built from the ground up for cyber protection that use AI-based automation to simplify operations and reduce the cost of delivering services. These are assessments by the company and its new CEO.
New CISO since October 13
Two days earlier, Acronis had appointed Gerald Caron as Chief Information Security Officer. He is to lead security strategy and operations and strengthen the security posture across the product lifecycle and in internal processes. According to the announcement, Caron is responsible for security governance and compliance, employee security awareness, and the prevention, detection, response and recovery of security incidents. His global team works with Legal and business leaders on data protection and privacy, and with IT teams on business continuity and disaster recovery.
According to the company, Caron has more than 20 years of experience in government and the private sector. He most recently served as Program Management Director at SAIC and previously as Vice President of Cybersecurity at RIVA Solutions. A former member of the Senior Executive Service, he held CIO roles at the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Health and Human Services and several technical roles at the State Department.
The October 13 announcement still quotes Jager as CEO. He said Caron would work closely with the R&D teams and help advance the MDR service “MDR by Acronis TRU.” According to Acronis, the service provides MSPs with 24/7/365 threat monitoring and rapid incident response. The company states that its MDR business is growing by more than 50 percent quarter over quarter. Also part of the portfolio is “Acronis GenAI Protection,” which is intended to help MSPs monitor generative AI usage, protect sensitive data and defend against prompt manipulation.
Dr. Jakob Jung is Editor-in-Chief of Security Storage and Channel Germany. He has been working in IT journalism for more than 20 years. His career includes Computer Reseller News, Heise Resale, Informationweek, Techtarget (storage and data center) and ChannelBiz. He also freelances for numerous IT publications, including Computerwoche, Channelpartner, IT-Business, Storage-Insider and ZDnet. His main topics are channel, storage, security, data center, ERP and CRM.
Contact via Mail: jakob.jung@security-storage-und-channel-germany.de