Robinson burns the IT candle

When storage vendor Anthology Solutions went bust in September 2006, then Australia/New Zealand country manager John Robinson had to rethink his next move.

Robinson says Anthology had “done the right thing by him and
paid him what he is owed”. However, the closure came as bit of a shock and all he wanted to do was take some time off.

When Robinson heard about Kevin Hartin’s decision to leave Altech in December 2006, he saw it as an opportunity to get back into the industry. He was also not a stranger to the second-tier distributor.

Robinson’s relationship with Altech goes back to his days as country manager at AMD, in 2002. At the time Altech was an up-and-coming distributor headed out of Brisbane. The distributor also had only just opened an office in Sydney.

Altech owner Antony Sheen was more than happy to take Robinson on board and has even created a new role for him at Altech. Robinson says the role combines the national sales manager position recently vacated by Kevin Hartin and the other role oversees the national marketing activity that is headed up by Viktoria Kulikova. “The objective is to ensure there is harmony between the two prime functions of Altech’s activity and all working towards the same goal,” says Robinson.

Robinson actually started the role a couple days before Christmas and he worked through to a week past New Year. He then took a pre-planned family holiday to the Philippines for 10 days followed by five days in Hong Kong.

“I returned to Altech on 31 January. So I have worked two weeks had two weeks off and now completed another week on the job. I am almost looking forward to an ongoing arrangement like that but that would be way beyond my negotiation skills with our MD, Antony Sheen,” he smiles.

Besides honing in on his negotiation skills, Robinson also plans to refine Altech’s vendor base and a few strategic products that would align it with the distributor’s core business direction. In addition he wants to be able to expand Altech’s product portfolio into other related markets; for example he envisages growth in sales in two newly targeted markets – retail and security/surveillance – with dedicated business development resources.

Robinson’s appointment at Altech marks another notch in what has been an interesting career on both sides of the channel fence.

Prior to working for US-based Anthology Solutions as country manager A/NZ, for about 12 months, Robinson was the country manager A/NZ for components giant AMD for more than four years. He has also worked at IBM Technology Group, Microelectronics Division, as regional sales manager A/NZ for just over two years.

Broad background

Robinson’s background prior to IBM was in the electronic components distribution business. Robinson has held various roles including: managing director, BBS Electronics (two years); state manager, Hartec Limited (two years); deputy managing director and sales director, VSI Electronics, which later became Avnet (five years); and regional sales and marketing manager, A/NZ for Texas Instruments (12 years).

“Well I can honestly say the highs far outweigh the lows to the point of almost extinction of the lows. I say that while admitting to ‘workaholism’. I don’t mind working from dawn to dusk – then carrying on doing a night shift as well.”

His demanding work ethic stems from the fact that “there is very little to watch on the TV (I do try to catch up with the news) and I am not a book person. I can’t say I have had any bad employment situations. Besides, you never burn your bridges,” he says.

Robinson says the highs have definitely been the experiences he’s had working for companies large and small, local and multinational, being exposed to cultural differences, corporate practices and disciplines. And sales and marketing allow a tremendous interaction with customers, suppliers and staff.
“I have enjoyed every part of that – yes, even when the customer is wrong, they are still right, et cetera,” says Robinson.

Robinson got his first experience in the electronic components industry with a UK-based company called Plessey. The general electronics

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