Dropzone AI Head of Channel Shashi Nair Named a 2026 CRN® Channel Chief

Recognition highlights channel leadership driving Dropzone AI's rapid company growth

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dropzone AI, the leading provider of the Agentic SOC with AI agents that collaborate, today announced that Shashi Nair, Head of Channel, has been named to the 2026 CRN Channel Chiefs List. This annual list from The Channel Company brand highlights the top leaders in the IT channel ecosystem who relentlessly champion partnerships and drive mutual success for partners, solution providers, and customers.

Over the last year, Dropzone AI has expanded its partner program to include leading national and regional VARs, SIs, Consultants and MSSPs in the US, as well as established a strong channel foundation in international markets, especially in EMEA. The company recently launched its Global Channel Program, Dropzone AI Orbit, which has been well received by the partner community. The program was designed from the ground up with partner success and partner satisfaction in mind.

As enterprises increasingly adopt the Agentic SOC, demand for partners who can help scale operations, reduce alert fatigue, and accelerate response times continues to increase. Since joining Dropzone AI in the last few months, Nair has leveraged more than 15 years of experience in indirect channels and alliances to position the channel as the company's primary growth engine, executing a channel-first go-to-market strategy designed to accelerate scale through partners.

Previously, Nair held senior sales, business development, and partnership leadership roles at high-growth software and cybersecurity companies, most recently leading channel sales at Cyware, where the program earned CRN's 5-Star rating for three consecutive years. Now, under Nair's leadership, Dropzone AI's channel program achieved several milestones:

• Added three strategic partners aligned to the company's ideal partner profile within his first 30 days
• Transitioned the sales organization to a channel-only motion through pass-through and channel-sourced deals
• Invested in more than 10 regional and national partner events, directly impacting pipeline growth

"Shashi's recognition as a CRN Channel Chief reflects his leadership, vision and execution in building a scalable, partner-led growth model for Dropzone AI," said Edward Wu, Founder and CEO of Dropzone AI. "As organizations move toward agentic security operations, Dropzone AI's traction across regulated and global markets is creating opportunities for partners to drive customer outcomes and recurring revenue."

The company's channel momentum coincides with strong company growth and expanding market demand for AI-driven security operations. In 2025, Dropzone AI delivered 11x ARR growth, secured a $37 million Series B funding round while supporting more than 300 enterprises in production, and was named a Winner of the BIG Innovation Awards.

"Our commitment to the channel is total: an 'All in' approach that permeates our entire organization," said Shashi Nair, Head of Channel at Dropzone AI. "We operate as a unified team, continuously refining our go-to-market strategy to ensure mutual success with our partners. We are dedicated to building a program that empowers partners to help customers confidently cut through the noise of AI and modernize their security operation. I am honored to be included in this recognition."

Learn more about Dropzone AI and see a demo.

About Dropzone AI

Dropzone AI weaponizes LLMs for cyber defenders, delivering the Agentic SOC: AI agents that collaborate 24/7 so they can beat attackers. Dropzone integrates into your existing SOC stack on Day 1 (SIEM, EDR, ticketing, and threat intelligence) and agents immediately start to investigate alerts, respond to emerging threats, and proactively hunt attackers. Dropzone works with enterprises and MSSPs including ECS, Avalara, UiPath, and Zapier, and is actively protecting over 300 companies. Learn more by visiting www.dropzone.ai.