Xneelo founder returns as CEO

Xneelo founder and owner Hans Wencke will return to the company as CEO in April 2024 as Philip Delport steps down.

Wencke co-founded Hetzner SA in 1999 with his brother-in-law, Martin Hetzner.

It rebranded to Xneelo in July 2019 to differentiate itself from Hetzner Online and expand to North America.

The name Xneelo (pronounced ex-nee-lo) was inspired by a Latin phrase that translates into the ability to create something out of nothing.

“Hans, as the founder with 20+ years of experience, is best positioned to consider the future evolution and needs of the business,” said Delport.

“It has been my privilege to be part of the Xneelo journey, and I wish Hans, the leadership team and all at Xneelo continued success.”

Wencke thanked Delport for his contribution to the company and wished him well.

“Over the last two years as CEO, Philip has taken Xneelo on a steady, solid journey through difficult times such as the COVID pandemic, Eskom load-shedding and economic uncertainty,” said Wencke.

“He has also overseen the development of the Xneelo Cloud, a new product that is currently in customer Beta.”

Wencke was born in South Africa and raised in a German home.

After graduating from the Cape Technikon in 1996 with a B-Tech in Human Resource Management, Hans started his career as an HR practitioner at Consol Glass.

He left the company after two years and joined Key Recruitment before co-founding Hetzner SA in 1999 with his brother-in-law, Martin Hetzner.

Under his leadership, Hetzner grew to be one of the largest specialist web hosting providers in South Africa, and the larger Middle East and Africa region.