2019's biggest channel job moves ... so far

McAfee channel chief Adam Boreham defects to Kaspersky

January

Sophos ANZ boss Ashley Wearne departs

January

Sophos ANZ general manager Ashley Wearne left the security vendor in January after seven years at the helm.

Wearne was hired out of Adobe in 2012 when he was the creative suite vendor's Aussie channel chief.

"After 140 quarters working with multinational IT companies, I am looking forward to a balance of running my own advisory business and improving my golf game," Wearne told CRN at the time. 

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ServiceNow's Aussie channel chief exits

January

ServiceNow kicked off the hunt for a new ANZ channel chief in January after Brent Paterson left.
Paterson joined ServiceNow as its ANZ channel chief in July 2016, hopping across from Amazon Web Services, where he held channel and leadership roles for three and a half years.

A ServiceNow spokesperson confirmed his departure, though no replacement has been appointed yet. And the job is still vacant - ServiceNow told CRN the company is still looking.

Read the full story here.

Cohesity unveils first Aussie channel chief

January

Storage vendor Cohesity named Kathryn Ramanathan as its first channel chief for Australia and New Zealand, responsible for driving growth, managing and support partners in the region.

She previously worked for hyperconverged storage vendor Hiatchi Vantara, where she was partner manager for the southern region.

Her resume also includes roles as alliance manager for Brocade in Australia and New Zealand, an account manager for NTT Communications ICT Solutions and channel marketing work with Hewlett Packard.

Read the full story here.

Kemp appoints Tony Sandberg as ANZ leader

February

Application delivery software vendor named Tony Sandberg as its regional director for Asia-Pacific with responsibility for the Australian and New Zealand businesses.

He brought more than two decades of experience to the role, including stints at Polycom and Ericsson.

“I see great opportunities for Kemp’s growth in the region and the one I’m looking forward to most is bringing our metered licensing model to show future customers in Australia/ New Zealand that there is a way out of the F5 lock-in," Sandberg said.

He replaced former ANZ regional director Luke Holland, who left in July last year to join Solista.

Read the full story here.

Optus creates deputy CEO role, hires Kelly Bayer Rosmarin

February

Optus created a new role of deputy CEO for its consumer business, appointing banking figure Kelly Bayer Rosmarin to the new position.

The new role was created specifically to speed up improvements to Optus’s customer experience, according to CEO Allen Lew.

In her new role, Bayer Rosmarin is responsible for Optus’s consumer business focusing on customer experience, business and growing market share.

Read the full story here.

Artis Group boss Chris Greatrex exits

February

Artis group managing director Chris Greatrex left the company after more than seven years for a position in product development at Datacom.

He was replaced by former CA Technologies vice president of services Mark Bennett, a New Zealand native who has spent two decades in the IT industry in Australia, New Zealand and the US.

Greatrex landed the gig as Artis’ managing director in 2011 and prior to that, worked for the likes of SMS Management and technology, Kaz technology Services and Strategic Computer Solutions. 

Read the full story here.

Talend appoints first ANZ channel chief

March

Cloud data integration vendor Talend hired Helen Larcos as its first ANZ channel and alliances manager in March.

She joined from GitHub, where she was channel sales manager for ANZ and Southeast Asia.
Larcos is now based in Sydney and is responsible for supporting Talend’s regional partner ecosystem and expanding the vendor’s partner-led business initiatives.

Read the full story here.

Newly merged Polycom, Plantronics names ANZ boss

March

In the same week as announcing a new name and rebrand, the company now known as "Poly" selected Andy Hurt to lead its ANZ business.

Hurt was previously Polycom’s ANZ managing director since November 2018, having joined from NEC Australia.

Plantronics acquired Polycom in a blockbuster US$2 billion deal in July 2018, bringing together enterprise unified communications with Polycom's videoconferencing. The two announced an official merger and rebrand as Poly in March.

“Since joining in November, I’m proud to have been selected to lead the business in Australia and New Zealand, and have the opportunity to establish a new future for our customers, partners and employees in delivering a high-quality technology experience.”

Read the full story here.

CSG boss Julie-Ann Kerin steps down after seven years

March

CSG’s chief and managing director Julie-Ann Kerin stepped down after seven years with the company.

The company said a leadership change was required in order to implement its strategic transformation program – an initiative to turn around CSG’s multiple years of net losses, which includes a restructure of its SME and enterprise businesses.

Kerin was replaced by chairman and executive director Mark Bayliss as acting CEO, but is yet to announce a permanent leader.

Read the full story here.

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise hires Karl Sice

April

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise hired channel Karl Sice as its sales leader for Australia and New Zealand with the intent to challenge the voice and data networking industry giants.

Sice previously worked for ASI Solutions as the head of its commercial and federal government business. Prior to that, he was head of technology solutions for Staples, but left months after it was acquired and rebranded as Winc in February 2018.

Read the full story here.

Optus appoints new wholesale chief and shuffles exec ranks

April

Optus shuffled its executive team in April, leading to Ben White’s appointment as managing director for the telco’s SMB and wholesale business.

He replaced Stuart Bird, who led the telco’s mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) business from 2017. White also took on leadership of the small business team in the expanded role.

Read the full story here

NEC replaces ANZ managing director

April

NEC appointed Mitsuhiro Murooka as its new ANZ managing director to replace Mike Barber, who left earlier in April when the company restructured its local business to better align with its Japanese counterpart.

Murooka was previously vice president of NEC Japan, who first joined the company in 1986.

“I am confident that [Murooka’s] open-minded leadership and decades of experience in various ICT fields will further enrich and strengthen the company’s forward direction,” NEC senior executive vice president Kiko Kumagai said.

Read the full story here.

Syspro appoints Albert Lau as new Aussie channel chief

April

ERP software vendor Syspro made two key hires in April.

The first was former Pronto channel chief Albert Lau, who was appointed as strategic alliances and channel manager. He previously worked for Pronto for two decades before joining Syspro, most recently as its channel manager before he left in 2015.

The second major hire was former Sage and Infor sales exec Todd Hunt, who joined as sales director.

"Todd is one of the most highly regarded and respected sales directors across the Asia-Pacific region and will use his extensive experience in enterprise software to deliver exceptional customer support and growth across the Australasian region," Syspro’s Australasian CEO Rob Stummer said

Read the full story here.

SAP names Nick Ashton director of ANZ channel expansion

April

SAP appointed Nick Ashton to lead its ANZ channel expansion in April.

He replaced John Smith, who left the role after just six months to join robotic process automation software vendor BluePrism.

Ashton previously worked for SAP subsidiary SuccessFactors as partner business manager. In his new role at SAP, Ashton is responsible for partner recruitment and activation for SAP Cloud Solutions across the vendor’s Australia and New Zealand partner ecosystem.

Read the full story here.

Former Gigamon country manager Ian Teague joins SailPoint

May

Former Gigamon country manager Ian Teague left the company after four years to join enterprise identity governance solutions vendor SailPoint as country manager.

Prior to Gigamon, Teague worked for Akamai for a decade, most recently as country manager up until 2014.

It marked the second major hire for SailPoint in six months, after recruiting former IBM channel figure Craig McGregor in October 2018.

Read the full story here.

Veritas channel chief Janet Docherty jumps to Veeam

May

Veeam lured over Veritas Technologies’ ANZ chief Janet Docherty to lead its channel sales for Australia and New Zealand in May.

She replaced Belinda Jurisic, who moved up to APJ channel director a month prior.

Docherty joined Veritas four years ago as ANZ senior manager for channel sales after more than eight years at Symantec. 

Read the full story here.

Infoblox appoints FireEye's Kenneth Cartwright as first ANZ channel chief

May

Networking vendor Infoblox hired its first channel chief for Australia in Kenneth Cartwright.
He previously worked for security vendor FireEye working in channel management since 2017.

In the new role Cartwright is responsible for executive Infoblox’s channel go-to-market strategy in Australia and New Zealand.

“Infoblox is committed to working with our ANZ partners and customers in the best possible way to empower them to have advanced network control and protection without impacting their day-to-day operations,” said Cartwright.

Read the full story here.

Synnex hires Triforce veteran David Gleeson

May

Synnex hired channel veteran David Gleeson as a senior business development manager, responsible for the distie’s managed service provider portfolio.

He spent nearly two decades working for reseller Triforce, most recently as business manager for enterprise solutions.

Gleeson was charged with finding more MSPs to work with Synnex while “helping local partners who want to transition to a MSP.”

“I’ve previously worked with Synnex as a channel partner. Their management leadership and business vision was something I was keen to be part of,” said Gleeson.

Read the full story here.

Microsoft Australia appoints Rachel Bondi as new channel leader

May

Microsoft veteran Rachel Bondi took the reins of the company’s Australian channel leadership from former One Commercial Partner lead Mark Leigh.

Bondi joined Microsoft 21 years ago and has worked at the vendor’s Redmond headquarters for the majority of that. She returned to Australia in 2016 to take on the COO role, responsible for centralised marketing, programs and communications.

Leigh took a new role as general manager of public sector.

Read the full story here.

ASG Group boss Geoff Lewis departs

May

ASG Group chief executive and founder Geoff Lewis stepped down after 23 years, handing his position over to COO Dean Langenbach.

Lewis said the timing was right to step back from the business, and that he would be broadening his role as an active investor in technology and related areas.

ASG was sold to Japan’s Nomura Research Institute (NRI) in 2016, though Lewis has stayed on with the company since then.

Langenbach joined ASG as CFO in 2005 and was promoted to COO six years later.

“Geoff is a true trailblazer in Australian technology and his tenacity, vision and commitment have helped turn ASG Group into a genuine alternative to the global digital transformation players,” Langenbach said.

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Huawei Australia replaces 'best-ever' CEO

May

Huawei announced that its ‘best-ever’ Australian CEO George Huang would step down after posting record results.

The Chinese vendor typically rotates its senior leadership every few years, hence the reason for the change despite Huang  improving revenue by 18 percent to $735 million in 2018.

He will be replaced by 21-year Huawei veteran Haosheng (Hudson) Liu, the previous deputy managing director of Huawei Germany, CEO of Huawei Belgium and most recently CEO of Huawei Indonesia.

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KKR hires Malcom Turnbull

June

Former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull joined KKR, the investment firm that acquired MYOB, as a senior adviser. 

KKR didn't go into detail as to what Turnbull's role will be, other than saying in a canned statement that his "significant background in the private and public sectors” means he has “unique experience and holds a distinct point of view regarding how KKR can help address the problems our changing world presents.”

Read the full story here.