SecurityBridge has appointed Jesper Zerlang as chief executive officer, effective January 1, 2026, signaling a leadership shift aimed at accelerating the company’s international growth strategy.
Zerlang previously served as chairman of the board for the past year and steps into the CEO role as the SAP security specialist scales with backing from funds advised by BU Bregal Unternehmerkapital (BU).
Leadership change aligns with next growth phase
Zerlang’s appointment comes as SecurityBridge transitions from founder-led operations to a structure designed for global scale.
In a statement, Zerlang said the company sits “at the intersection of cybersecurity and SAP,” positioning it well as SAP customers face increasing security and compliance pressures.
“SecurityBridge is uniquely positioned at the intersection of cybersecurity and SAP – a domain I know deeply and care about profoundly,” Zerlang said in the statement.
“Over the past year, as Chairman, I have seen firsthand the strength of the team, the technology, and the outcomes we deliver for customers. With BU’s support and a clear ambition to scale internationally, I am excited to step into the CEO role to accelerate global impact while raising the bar on trust and customer outcomes,” he continued.
With BU’s investment support, Zerlang is expected to focus on expanding SecurityBridge’s international footprint while maintaining its emphasis on customer outcomes and trust in SAP-native security tooling.
Founders step back from day-to-day operations but remain involved with company’s customers
As part of the transition, co-founders Christoph Nagy and Ivan Mans are stepping away from their daily roles as CEO and CTO, respectively.
Both will remain closely involved in the business, shifting their focus to product evangelism, innovation, and customer-driven initiatives within the SAP ecosystem.
Nagy said the move strengthens SecurityBridge’s ability to scale while allowing the founders to concentrate on product leadership and ecosystem engagement.
“SecurityBridge has grown into a remarkable company with a strong foundation and a clear mission,” Nagy said in a statement. “This transition strengthens the company’s ability to scale globally while allowing us to focus where we create the greatest value for customers: product leadership, innovation, and engagement with the SAP ecosystem.”
Mans added that the change positions the company for its “next stage” while preserving its technical depth and customer focus.
We spoke with Mans in April 2025 as SecurityBridge scaled its technology. To him, the company was, and still is, poised to grow as SAP environments increasingly require external security support.
“The challenge we often see is what I call the inconvenient truth,” said Mans. “We have to look at SAP experts in an organization and say, ‘there are some serious threats,’ and that can be hard to hear.”
“What we deal with a lot is how siloed organizations can be. The SAP side of the house might see security as a burden, but the CISO and security team often know there are issues and we can work with them on addressing those issues,” he continued.
Private equity backing supports international scale as channel motion expands
SecurityBridge’s growth plans are backed by BU Bregal Unternehmerkapital, a DACH-region–based mid-cap investment firm with more than €7 billion in assets under management. BU has positioned itself as a long-term partner for founder-led and family-owned businesses looking to internationalize and digitize operations.
The CEO transition underscores a broader trend among SAP-focused security vendors as demand grows for specialized, platform-native cybersecurity solutions across global enterprise environments.
When we spoke with SecurityBridge CRO Roman Schubiger in June 2025, he outlined that the channel will also be a key component of the company’s growth strategy.
“We are already well on the way with a few large systems integrators, but we want to expand that cooperation with more regional and global SIs and a variety of partners through investments in events and how we build brand awareness with these providers,” Schubiger told us at the time.