Cynomi Taps Shane Deegan as CRO to Expand MSP Reach

Channel-first security vendor Cynomi today announced it has hired veteran leader Shane Deegan as its new chief revenue officer. We spoke with Deegan ahead of the news to learn more about why he chose to spend the next part of his career at Cynomi.

Deegan joins Cynomi following time at ThreatLocker

Deegan most recently served as CRO at ThreatLocker, where he significantly scaled revenue growth in just over 5 years, driving rapid global expansion and deep adoption across MSP and enterprise markets.

Deegan says his move comes with a deep respect for everything ThreatLocker achieved in his tenure and a desire to return to hands-on work building alongside MSPs.

“I am a builder at heart, and I love the day-to-day of getting in the trenches with my teams and my partners,” Deegan said. “I knew I wanted another challenge to take another company and use what I’ve learned to build and scale again, and that’s when I first started looking for my next chapter.”

To Deegan, joining a partner-first company like Cynomi also means he gets to work directly with an industry he says is unique in its commitment to community.

“I think the community aspect in the channel is super unique to the space. Partners will accept and reject vendors very quickly depending on how they show up,” said Deegan. “I know MSPs buy based on their peers, and learning from others about what works, and I know how partners will reward the vendors they feel support them.”

Cynomi plans to reach MSPs at multiple maturity levels

Deegan’s deep expertise in cybersecurity means he’s no stranger to the myriad solutions on the market. He says he understands how many tools MSPs already use and the difficulties they face.

Still, he feels strongly that Cynomi has been “pigeonholed” into conversations focused solely on GRC and plans to work closely with CMO Erin McLean to redefine MSPs’ understanding of what Cynomi can provide to its partners and their customers.

“The goal really is to redefine how we’re talked about to show that really, what we do is provide a way for MSPs to scale their own security practices to include vCISO and other types of advisory services,” Deegan said. “You don’t have to be a PE-backed behemoth or a large MSP to offer these services, and we’re here to help all MSPs evolve.”

He says expanding Cynomi’s reach to more MSPs at varying maturity levels is a key goal for him as he scales the company moving forward. He’ll take years of experience managing advisory boards at ThreatLocker and working deeply with MSPs with him as he does so.

“Joining Cynomi really resonated with me because I saw an opportunity to provide security growth to partners,” he added. “My goal now is to really bring it to the masses.”

Why Cynomi’s leadership thinks Deegan’s leadership will accelerate growth in 2026

Deegan joins the company with explicit goals to grow its channel presence and build on the early success it has achieved over the last few years.

“Shane has already helped lead one of the channel’s most impressive growth stories, and that experience is exactly what Cynomi needs at this stage,” said David Primor, Ph.D., Co-founder and CEO of Cynomi, in a statement. 

“His leadership will be instrumental in accelerating revenue, strengthening our partner ecosystem, and helping service providers turn cybersecurity into measurable business growth. Shane’s ability to align strategy, execution, and partner success makes him the ideal fit for Cynomi’s next chapter,” Primor continued.

Primor told Channel Insider in December that he thinks Cynomi is well-positioned to enable MSPs and MSSPs worldwide as they seek ways to build service offerings and elevated compliance solutions for their customers.

Strengthening partner feedback loops and community engagement

To Deegan, that growth will come from leaning into the community within its partner base and strengthening feedback loops to determine what its MSPs need to be successful.

“It’s easy for us as vendors to sit in our ivory towers and think we know best, but really, it’s our partners that are the ears and the eyes on the ground for us,” Deegan said. “Growth is about taking the community we’ve already built and expanding it.”

He also says he wants partners to know that he joined Cynomi because he saw it as an exciting opportunity to do more of what he’s always loved: supporting partners.

“I’ve built myself as someone with deep loyalty to my partners, and I hope those who have worked with me over the years would agree,” Deegan said. “I made a conscious decision to move somewhere I genuinely believe in and see as valuable, and I’m super excited I found it all in Cynomi.”