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Former ConnectWise CEO Plans US Growth, Operational Maturity, Product Innovation

Cynet named the longtime leader of ConnectWise as its next chief executive to boost the cybersecurity platform’s operational maturity, strengthen brand visibility and expand partnerships.
See Also: AI-Driven Partnership for Enhanced Threat Detection
The Boston-based firm tasked Jason Magee with strengthening Cynet’s partner ecosystem, boosting its market reach, and refining its product offerings. Magee started Monday and replaced Eyal Gruner, who founded Cynet in 2015, served as the company’s CEO since its inception, and will now transition to the company’s board of directors.
“It checked all the boxes of what I was looking for in my next part of my journey,” Magee told Information Security Media Group. “It had to have an aspect of a platform, cybersecurity and AI automation. As I dug in and got to learn more about Cynet, it turns out it checks all those boxes.”
Magee most recently spent 13-and-a-half years at MSP software titan ConnectWise, culminating in a nearly six-year stint as the company’s CEO. ConnectWise employs more than 3,000 people and has been owned since 2019 by private equity firm Thoma Bravo, which stands in stark contrast to Cynet, which employs just 260 people and has raised $78 million, including a $40 million Series C led by Greenfield (see: ConnectWise’s Rivelo Aims to Secure SMBs With MSP Platform).
How the Cynet CEO Role Compares to Tenure Leading ConnectWise
Working at ConnectWise gave Magee experience with defending SMBs against cyber threats – which directly applies to Cynet’s mission – and helped him understand the operational challenges that arise at different revenue levels and how to overcome them. Magee said his experience working with VARs and MSPs will be particularly valuable given Cynet’s channel-driven approach.
“My passion and experience around cybersecurity and defending against the bad actors at small and medium-sized business, and what I was focused on doing at prior organizations, I could carry a lot of that into this role as well,” Magee said.
Magee said he values outgoing CEO Gruner’s industry experience, connections, and historical knowledge of the company, and will lean on Gruner for strategic decisions, customer engagement and long-term company direction. Additionally, Magee said Gruner’s relationship with employees and partners will help ensure a smooth transition.
“He’s going to be a go-to person for me,” Magee said. “He has the historical context and a track record that speaks for itself in cybersecurity. I’ll be tapping into that, collaborating with Eyal on many fronts.”
At a large company like ConnectWise, Magee said many processes and policies are already established, making the CEO’s role more about optimization and refinement. At Cynet, Magee said the leadership team must be hands-on, often wearing multiple hats to ensure growth. Magee hammered home the importance of established foundational processes while maintaining agility and innovation.
“People have to wear multiple hats on occasion,” Magee said. “Everyone needs to roll up their sleeves, myself included, because we don’t have the resources that maybe a larger organization like ConnectWise has.”
Where Magee Sees Room for Growth at Cynet
Magee said he plans to enhance Cynet’s platform by focusing on ease of use and intuitive AI, faster time-to-value for customers, and continued investment in automation and AI. To differentiate Cynet, Magee said the company’s platform must be affordable for small and medium-sized businesses and continuously improving, with new features being added.
“The platform makes it a bit more simple on CISOs and their teams that are tasked with protecting against threat actors from penetrating their organization,” Magee said. “That is something that can help them substantially on that front.”
Magee identified education, manufacturing and healthcare as key growth sectors for Cynet because they have lean security teams with limited budgets, need affordable, all-in-one cybersecurity solutions, and benefit from Cynet’s 24/7 SOC support. Stringent compliance rules in healthcare and education make cybersecurity a high priority, while Cynet’s all-in-one model helps address budget constraints.
Currently, Cynet’s revenue mix is 35% North America and 65% international. Magee aims to shift this to 60% North America and 40% international by expanding sales and marketing efforts in the U.S. and Canada, strengthening partnerships with VARs and MSPs in North America, and competing aggressively against key cybersecurity players in the region.
“They’ve been building out the team here, and have a good foundation for a team domestically,” Magee said. “But now we have the opportunity to pour more fuel on that, to go capitalize and compete against some of the players in the market right now.”