Justin Bajko

Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer Expel

Last Reviewed: September 26, 2026

Executive Summary

Justin Bajko is a co-founder and the Chief Strategy Officer of Expel, a managed detection and response (MDR) company that watches customers’ security tools and investigates and responds to threats on their behalf. He founded the company in 2016 with Dave Merkel and Yanek Korff, and was VP of Strategy and Business Development from the start until November 2025, when he became Chief Strategy Officer with responsibility for corporate and product strategy. Before Expel he spent his career in managed security services, running FireEye’s global service delivery organisation, Mandiant’s Managed Defense service and teams in Symantec’s managed services business.

Career Highlights

• Co-founded Expel. Its first Form D, filed in September 2016, lists him with Dave Merkel and Yanek Korff as an executive officer and director.
• VP of Strategy and Business Development at Expel from the company’s inception, keeping the company close to its customers and partners.
• Became Chief Strategy Officer in November 2025, responsible for setting and overseeing corporate and product strategy.
• Senior director of global service delivery for FireEye’s managed service, where he built and ran security operations centres worldwide with more than 80 analysts.
• Managing director of Mandiant’s Managed Defense service, one of the earliest MDR offerings.
• Held a range of roles in Symantec’s managed services business.

Professional Journey

Bajko has spent his career on the service side of security operations. At Symantec he worked in a range of roles in the managed services business. He then became managing director of Mandiant’s Managed Defense service, which Expel describes as one of the industry’s first MDR providers. After that he was senior director of global service delivery for FireEye’s managed service, building and running its security operations centres around the world, with more than 80 analysts across several sites.

In 2016 he co-founded Expel with Dave Merkel and Yanek Korff. The company’s first SEC Form D, filed that September from a McLean, Virginia address for a $7.5 million offering, lists all three as executive officers and directors. A 2019 Form D for a $40 million offering again lists Bajko as an executive officer. As VP of Strategy and Business Development, a title he held from the start, his job was to stay close to customers and partners and keep the company pointed in the right direction.

In November 2025 Expel announced that he had moved into the role of Chief Strategy Officer, responsible for corporate and product strategy and for keeping its teams aligned. In the interview that accompanied the announcement he described Expel’s shift from a pure analyst-led service to what it calls a product-led service model, with detection engineering run as a managed capability. He also set out a sceptical view of standalone “AI SOC” start-ups, arguing that AI should make human analysts and detections better rather than claim to replace them. Expel’s leadership page lists him as Chief Strategy Officer alongside chief executive Dave Merkel and chief operating officer Yanek Korff.

Expel’s own biography says he is from northeast Tennessee. He follows University of Tennessee football and lists automobiles, boating, travel and video games among his interests.

Education

No education record was found on any first-party or primary source.