As ACRE Security looks to push its go-to-market strategy globally with a revamped product portfolio, the company has tapped Kumar Sokka to become CEO next year after a lengthy transition process.
Many had been expecting Sokka, the well-respected Global President and General Manager at LenelS2, would continue leading the brand after Carrier sold its Access Solutions business to Honeywell for $4.9 billion.
Sokka will be responsible for the ACRE’s Intrusion and comnet solutions until June 15 while fulfilling contractual obligations for Honeywell, and John Skowronski will be serving as Interim CEO until June 15. Sokka will not work with access controls products initially due to executive non-compete rules.
Mark Roberts, Chief Marketing Officer at ACRE, said Don Joos served admirably as CEO working to integrate varying companies together into a single operating entity. With that work largely done it was a natural time for a transition in leadership focus, he said, adding that Joos will now likely be taking a long break before pursing his next opportunities.
“It's now time to accelerate our growth and start thinking about go-to-market more than we're thinking about internal operational issues and putting the skill sets in place to ensure that we can leverage that,” Roberts said. “Plus, we’ve got pretty much a brand-new portfolio coming by the end of the year.
“Don was excellent at the internal operational transformation part of it. If you look at his history as a transformation CEO, that’s what he does, right? This is just the next phase about our growth.”
Roberts said it made sense at this time for Sokka to handle the distribution-focused products of comnet and Intrusion, and Skowronski has already been the sales leader for access control and visitor management as they complete the revamping of the product portfolio.
“John's an obvious choice for the visitor management and access control. “For us, it is a jigsaw puzzle, but it fits nicely,” Roberts said. With the integration work done, ACRE needs to now, “look outside the company, pick your head up, let’s go talk to some customers and partners and drive this thing home.”
Sokka has been widely recognized during his tenure at LenelS2 for developing the organization to be customer-centric, innovative, and cloud-enabled. Sokka also gained extensive experience at Rockwell Automation building and leading the Digital Business unit.
Throughout his 15 years at Rockwell, Sokka managed multiple global business and sales divisions and lived in various cities across North America and Asia. His leadership emphasized not only business growth but also developing and empowering teams.
Sokka began his career at Siemens, completing their Leadership Development Program. Sokka holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management and a BS in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University and is currently residing in Austin, Texas.
"We strongly believe that Kumar’s people-focused leadership, digital-mindset and proven track record make him ideally suited to join the ACRE security leadership team. His appointment will continue our journey of growth and innovation,” said Tzachi Wiesenfeld, Chairman of the ACRE Board of Directors in a statement.
Sokka said he was “excited and thankful” to join ACRE, which he said has tremendous potential as a physical and digital security player, “with tremendous potential underpinned by its best-in-class tech stacks, a strong culture of innovation and a commitment to customer service excellence.
“I look forward to working with ACRE's exceptional partners and customers, as well as collaborating with our talented team, to advance our shared mission of reshaping security together."
