Acronis is pleased to welcome Shane Watkins as Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO). In this role, Watkins will lead the company’s global people strategy, focusing on organizational effectiveness, leadership development and the capabilities needed to support Acronis’ continued growth.
As CHRO, Watkins is responsible for every facet of the people function, including organizational design, culture, total rewards, talent strategy and leadership development. His work will help ensure that Acronis has the structure, leadership and talent required to execute its business priorities while creating an environment where employees can do their best work.
Watkins is a global human resources executive with more than two decades of experience helping technology companies scale, transform and create lasting enterprise value. He brings experience leading global organizations across cybersecurity, financial technology and enterprise software.
Before joining Acronis, Watkins served as Chief Human Resources Officer and Senior Vice President of People at WatchGuard Technologies. There, he led the company’s global people strategy and organizational transformation, helping guide the organization through a period of global growth, strategic acquisitions and business change. Earlier in his career, he held senior human resources leadership roles at Remitly, Whitman College and other technology-forward organizations.
Watkins is known for calm judgment and a people-centered leadership style. That approach is grounded in a clear business principle: Organizations perform better when people understand priorities, leaders are equipped to make decisions and teams have the capabilities to execute effectively.
At Acronis, Watkins will partner with the leadership team to strengthen organizational effectiveness and develop leaders across the company. He will also focus on building the talent, systems and programs needed to support growth in a global organization. The goal is to connect people strategy closely with business strategy, helping teams move faster, make better decisions and deliver strong results.
“I’ve always believed that the most successful organizations are those where people understand how their work contributes to the business, leaders are empowered to lead, and teams are equipped to perform at their best,” said Watkins. “I’m excited to help create that environment at Acronis as we enter this next chapter of growth.”
This work reflects Watkins’ passion for building organizations that are both highly performing and deeply human.
His priorities will span the full employee lifecycle, including designing an adaptable organization, strengthening leadership practices, advancing a clear approach to total rewards and ensuring that talent decisions support long-term objectives. Together, these areas create the conditions for accountability, collaboration and sustainable performance.
As Acronis begins this next chapter, Watkins’ experience scaling technology organizations and leading through transformation will support the company’s continued evolution. We are excited to welcome him to Acronis and look forward to the impact of his leadership across our global team.
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About Acronis
Acronis is a leader in AI-native cyber protection, unifying data protection, cybersecurity, IT operations and hybrid infrastructure to deliver business continuity, security and compliance with less cost and complexity. More than 21,000 service providers trust Acronis to protect over 750,000 businesses in 150 countries. Acronis is headquartered in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.
