Zach Blaine

Chief Financial Officer Expel

Last Reviewed: September 27, 2026

Executive Summary

Zach Blaine is Chief Financial Officer of Expel, the managed detection and response company, where he leads the accounting, finance and procurement teams. He joined Expel in 2019 as its first finance leadership hire and built its finance and accounting function from scratch. Before becoming CFO he also worked on the go-to-market side, spending two years as vice president and chief of staff to the Chief Revenue Officer. Before Expel he worked in public accounting at BDO USA, in revenue at Mandiant and as controller at StayNTouch. He is a Certified Public Accountant.

Career Highlights

• Chief Financial Officer of Expel, responsible for the company’s financial health and its accounting, finance and procurement teams.
• Joined Expel in 2019 as its first finance leadership hire, built its finance and accounting function and supported the company through multiple rounds of fundraising, rapid ARR growth and headcount expansion.
• Served at Expel as corporate controller and then VP of finance and accounting.
• As VP and chief of staff to the Chief Revenue Officer, led revenue operations, enablement, sales development and systems for Expel’s go-to-market organisation.
• Controller at StayNTouch, a SaaS hospitality technology company acquired by Shiji Group in 2018.
• Managed revenue at Mandiant during its acquisition by FireEye and its move to public-company Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.

Professional Journey

Blaine studied accounting and finance at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, where he was a Business Scholar. He began his career in public accounting at BDO USA, auditing technology and cybersecurity companies in the Washington, D.C. area.

He then joined Mandiant and managed revenue there while FireEye acquired the company and brought it under public-company Sarbanes-Oxley controls. Several people he met at Mandiant later founded Expel. He next became controller at StayNTouch, a SaaS hospitality technology company that Shiji Group acquired in 2018.

In late 2019 Expel’s Chief Operating Officer, Yanek Korff, recruited him as the company’s first finance leader. As corporate controller and then VP of finance and accounting, he built the finance and accounting function while Expel raised several funding rounds and grew its revenue and headcount quickly. He then moved into go-to-market and spent two years as VP and chief of staff to the Chief Revenue Officer, running revenue operations, enablement, sales development and systems. In a May 2026 company interview he said the move taught him that “you really have to get over to that business function to understand the truth behind what the numbers suggest.”

He then became Chief Financial Officer, after about six years at Expel. In the same interview, published during his first months in the job, he said he had begun by revisiting the company’s strategy, testing its operating model, modelling scenarios and reviewing cash and runway. He also described using AI to let the finance team run many more scenarios than headcount had previously allowed. Expel has not published the date of his appointment. He has moved from Alexandria, Virginia, to Denver, Colorado.

Education

University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Business

B.S., Accounting and Finance