2020's biggest channel job shifts so far

It's only three months into 2020 and the channel has seen plenty of movement along its executive ranks.

CRN compiled all the job shifts that we've reported on from January to March 2020 in this photo gallery.

Click the navigation arrows on each photo or use the arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll through our list.

Know about a key local appointment that we missed? Email us at crneditors@crn.com.au

IBM names new Asia Pacific chief

10 January

IBM has named Brenda Harvey as its new Asia Pacific general manager, following the departure of chief executive and chairman Harriet Green in the same month.

An IBM spokesperson confirmed the appointment to CRN, and that Harvey will replace Green despite the different title.

Green stepped down from her role after more than four years, posting an announcement on LinkedIn on 8 January 2020.

Check out the original story here.

Ex-Data#3 exec Phil Dickman joins Intuit Technologies

13 January

Tasmanian-owned ICT services provider Intuit Technologies hired former Data#3 executive Phil Dickman to oversee revenue growth.

Dickman started in the newly-created role of chief revenue officer on 13 January, responsible for all aspects of revenue growth, including business and corporate development future acquisitions.

He joined Data#3 in 2014, becoming national sales manager for infrastructure solutions in July 2017. He left the company for a brief stint as chief executive officer for technology lifecycle solutions provider Greenbox Systems between September 2018 and January 2019, before returning to Data#3 as national practice manager for Dell.

Check out the original story here.

Equinix appoints Guy Danskine as new Australian leader

13 January

Equinix has found a new Australian leader in nine-year company veteran Guy Danskine.

He joined the data centre operator in 2011 as a global account manager in Sydney before relocating to San Francisco three years later, most recently in the role of senior director of strategic alliances. Prior to Equinix, he led sales and business development for Geo Networks in London, in additional to leadership and sales roles at Optus and Hutchison Telecoms.

Danskine replaces former Australian managing director Jeremy Deutsch, who was promoted to Equinix’s president of Asia-Pacific in July 2019 after 11 years with the company.

Check out the original story here.

Cloudera names Hortonworks founder as new chief

15 January

Rob Bearden, who recently led Docker through the sale of its enterprise business, took the helm of Cloudera as its new CEO, the big data company.

Before coming to Docker, Bearden was CEO of Hortonworks, a company that merged with Cloudera one year ago. A seasoned executive in the open source software world, he will be tasked with guiding a company that's transitioning beyond a focus on Hadoop—the technological backbone on which Cloudera scaled its business but has seen demand decline in the face of newer technologies.

The news came five months after activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed that he had acquired more than 50.3 million Cloudera shares for an 18.36 percent stake in the company. Icahn also gained two Cloudera board seats.

Check out the original story here.

Talend hires Ex-SAP Concur exec as new global CEO

16 January

Talend, a developer of cloud data integration and data integrity software, named Christal Bemont as the company’s new CEO. Bemont replaced Mike Tuchen, the company’s CEO for six years, who remains on the Talend board of directors.

Bemont joined Talend from SAP Concur where she was chief revenue officer for the developer of cloud-based travel and expense management applications.

Talend has also hired Ann-Christel Graham for the newly created position of chief revenue officer and appointed Jamie Kiser as chief customer officer. Like Bemont, Graham and Kiser both come to Talend from SAP Concur.

Check out the original story here.

Consultancy Sourced Group shuffles leadership

16 January

Australian-born IT consulting firm Sourced Group appointed Tim Baguley as its new ANZ managing director, with outgoing MD Salma Datenis taking on a global role.

Datenis, who led Sourced in ANZ since 2017, assumed the newly created role of vice president of operations. She is tasked with “driving operational improvements” across the company’s international operations in Canada and Singapore.

Datenis remains based in Sydney, with Sourced’s Business Operations, Marketing and IT Services joining her remit.

Check out the original story here.

Zscaler channel chief jumps to security training vendor KnowBe4

16 January

Security training vendor KnowBe4 appointed channel veteran Dilshan Sivalingam as its new channel chief.

Appointed in December 2019, Sivalingam was tasked with building the company’s Australian and New Zealand channels as part of the vendor’s global expansion plans. 

US-based KnowBe4 is a security awareness training provider that uses interactive simulations, tests, templates and more through an integrated platform. Some services include simulators for phishing attacks and ransomware, tests for weak passwords and spoofed domains, and a security awareness program builder.

Check out the original story here.

McAfee replaces CEO

17 January

McAfee hired Peter Leav, the former CEO of BMC Software, as its new CEO, replacing Chris Young, who created the cyber security company in its current form by carving it out of Intel four years ago.

The move gave McAfee the option of pursuing an initial public offering with a new leader. It has also considered deals in the sector, including potentially merging with NortonLifeLock Inc .

Young became a senior advisor at buyout firm TPG, which acquired a majority stake in McAfee from Intel in 2016 in a deal which valued the company at US$4.2 billion, including debt. Young will work with TPG on new technology investments.

Check out the original story here.

Business Aspect co-founder Dave Lennon exits

19 January

Business Aspect co-founder Dave Lennon left the company six years after it was acquired by Data#3.

“It’s been a wonderful ride and I want to thank all the people who have been a part of it, including my co-founders, the brilliant BA team, the Data#3 crew, and our wonderful clients and partners,” Lennon wrote on LinkedIn.

“I wish Business Aspect and the broader Data#3 group all the very best and look forward to seeing the ongoing success of these great companies.”

Check out the original story here.

Microsoft partner Eighty20 recruits Paul Scott as first MD

22 January

Sydney-based modern workplace specialist Eighty20 unveiled a new-look leadership team including its first managing director.

Leading the team is Paul Scott as managing director, who has been working with the Microsoft Gold partner in an advisory role since September 2019, having developed a strategic plan with Eighty20’s founders late last year. Prior to joining Eighty20, Scott was CEO of enterprise cloud and software provider 3wks, which was acquired and rolled up into IT services conglomerate GrowthOps in 2018.

The leadership team also includes Eighty20 co-founder John Kelly in the role of head of business development, Jenny Rees as head of people & culture, James Diekman as partnerships manager, Kris Carre as head of operations and Tim Rogers as head of delivery.

Check out the original story here.

Backup vendor Cohesity appoints new ANZ boss

23 January

Data management software vendor Cohesity appointed Steve Coad as its new country manager for Australia and New Zealand, replacing ANZ managing director Theo Hourmouzis.

Based in Melbourne, Coad is tasked with growing the adoption of Cohesity’s product offerings in the region, as well as working alongside channel partners.

“Steve not only brings a wealth of relevant industry expertise to Cohesity, but he also has a deep understanding of the regional market and the IT infrastructure needs of enterprises in Australia and New Zealand,” Cohesity APAC vice president of sales William Ho said in a statement.

Check out the original story here.

OKI Data promotes Tony Grima to MD

28 January

OKI Data promoted Tony Grima to lead its Australian and New Zealand operations starting tomorrow.

Grima previously served as country manager at rival print vendor Fuji Xerox, where he was credited with leading the vendor’s new channel partner program implementation and reconfiguring its sales pipeline. In July 2018 he moved to OKI as sales director, later winning promotion to general manager of sales and marketing. .

His new promotion will see Grima replace former managing director Alex Kawamura, who is moving to a Japan-based role overseeing the product development and business divisions for OKI in the US and ANZ.

Check out the original story here.

Citrix appoints new APJ channel chief

28 January

Citrix named Kathy Chen its new vice president of channel across its Asia-Pacific and Japan business.

Chen replaces Singapore-based Manish Sharma, who left Citrix in November 2019 to join virtual storage vendor StorMagic.

Chen is responsible for the Citrix partner ecosystem in the region and oversee the growth of the channel business. She will report to Citrix senior vice president of worldwide partner sales Bronwyn Hastings.

Check out the original story here.

Citrix appoints new ANZ boss

30 January

Citrix appointed Keith Buckley as its new area vice president for Australia and New Zealand.

Buckley replaced Erin Butler, who returned to Citrix USA to take on a new role spearheading customer success for the Americas East region.

Buckley reports to Citrix APJ senior vice president of sales and services Colin Brookes and has been tasked with driving growth across the region.

Check out the original story here.

IBM CEO Ginni Rometty to step down, names Arvind Krishna as successor 

31 January

IBM announced that long-time CEO Ginni Rometty will step down from the role and be succeeded by the head of its cloud business Arvind Krishna, effective April 6th.

Rometty, 62, will continue as executive chairman of the board and will retire at the end of the year, the company said.

An IBM statement offers no reason for the change, but features lead board director Michael Eskew saying the change was the result of "a world-class succession process"

Check out the original story here.

Wipro CEO steps down, citing family matters

2 February

Abidali Z Neemuchwala stepped down from his role as Wipro's CEO and managing director, the Bangalore, India-based global solution provider said.

Neemuchwala, who stepped down due to family commitments, will continue in his current roles while Wipro's board of directors find a new CEO to help with a smooth transition, the company said.

Neemuchwala joined Wipro in the spring of 2015 after a 23-year stint at rival Tata Consultancy Services, where he last served as a company vice president. He started at Wipro as group president and chief operating officer, but for the last four years has served as CEO and managing director.

Check out the original story here.

UPS vendor Delta appoints Steve Lovelace as channel chief

4 February

UPS vendor Delta Electronics continued its Australian expansion by appointing Steve Lovelace as national channel manager.

Lovelace joined from CyberPower Systems, where he was business development manager for ANZ from March to November 2019. His resume also includes time as business manager for Dicker Data and national channels manager for Targus.

In his new role, Lovelace focuses on developing specific routes to market with alliance partners, resellers, distributors, service providers and systems integrators.

Check out the original story here.

Nutanix appoints new global channel sales chief

5 February

Longtime industry sales veteran and former EMC executive Chris Kaddaras is Nutanix’s new executive vice president of global sales as the hyperconverged infrastructure pioneer looks to drive software and subscription growth to the next level in 2020.

Kaddaras spent more than 15 years at EMC in various top sales positions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, including vice president of commercial sales for EMEA, before leaving to join Nutanix in 2016 following Dell's acquisition of EMC.

In his new role, Kaddaras is tasked with leading Nutanix’s worldwide sales organisation as well as sales operations, technical sales, inside sales, OEM sales and channel sales.

Check out the original story here.

Barhead Solutions reveals double hire and a promotion

6 February

CRN Fast50 winner and Microsoft Gold Partner Barhead Solutions has announced two new senior hires and another major promotion.

First is Lisa Crosbie, who was promoted to technology evangelist. Crosbie has worked for Barhead since August 2017, and was named a Microsoft MVP for her contributions to Dynamics 365 and Power Platform communities, one of only 18 people with the distinction in the country.

In her new role, Crosbie will help customers keep up with changes to Dynamics 365 and Microsoft's Power Platform and advise on applying both products. Crosbie also designed and delivers App in a Day training demonstrations, having trained staff from almost 600 companies over the last six months.

Amanda Stenson is another new hire, in the role of not-for-profit lead. Stenson has worked in the sector for the past two decades. She will lead Barhead’s not-for-profit portfolio which includes the likes of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation, Mission Australia and Wesley Mission. Prior to Barhead, Stenson worked for the Advanced Solutions International for 15 years.

Finally Jennifer Maritz was hired as Barhead’s new head of sales. Martiz previously worked for IBM for 20 years, in addition to being CEO of Nvoi before joining Barhead.

Check out the original story here.

Riverbed names John Milionis as AU channel director

7 February

Riverbed’s John Milionis was named the network-grooming vendor’s channel director for Australia.

Milionis’s LinkedIn status reflected the change yesterday, and noted his time as senior manager of Riverbed’s Telstra alliance ended in January after a two-and-a-quarter-year stint.

Charles De Jesus previously led Riverbed’s Australian and New Zealand channels, and is now senior regional director for Australia. In October 2019 De Jesus told CRN’s Channel Chiefs guide that the vendor continues to see growth in its traditional partner base tied to networks, but is pushing its new digital experience platform as it “provides an opportunity to drive momentum in the cloud/digital born partner ecosystem, such as consulting & outsourcing partners.” 

Check out the original story here.

UK solutions provider Informed Solutions appoints first Australian boss

7 February

UK-based Informed Solutions selected Marie Florian-Kellett to lead its Australian expansion as its first managing director.

The digital transformation, data analytics, AI and systems integrator made it known in a press release that the appointment precedes further investment in Informed’s Australian presence, pledging to invest in more skills, talent and local hires in 2020.

Informed said that Florian-Kellett brings a wealth of experience in business change, digital products and services, having worked on digital transformation projects in a range of industry verticals. Sheis currently a strategic advisor for the Advisory Board Centre, a member of the Australian Restructuring Insolvency & Turnaround Association, and was previously chief product officer at Eftpos Australia.

Check out the original story here.

Ingram MD Felix Wong to depart

7 February

Ingram Micro has announced that Felix Wong, its chief country executive for Australia and New Zealand, will shortly step down.

A statement sent moments go said "After 28 years with Ingram Micro, Wong has decided to take a break and start a new chapter in his career."

Tim Ament will take over the position effective 1 March, 2020.

Check out the original story here.

AWS Australia names new MD

18 February

Amazon Web Services’ ANZ managing director Paul Migliorini has left the role after five years at the helm and will be replaced by former AWS director of enterprise Adam Beavis.

An AWS staffer confirmed the change to CRN, but would not disclose the circumstances around the job change. CRN understands that Migliorini has been appointed as acting regional managing director of AWS commercial sales for APJ.

Adam Beavis also updated his LinkedIn profile the same day to reflect that he’s taken over the managing director role.

Check out the original story here.

Over The Wire names new CEO

19 February

Telecommunications provider Over The Wire (OTW) appointed Scott Smith as its new chief executive, with Michael Omeros retaining the Group CEO role in a supporting capacity.

Smith was promoted from general manager of Comlinx, a managed service provider OTW acquired in 2018. Scott founded Comlinx in 2006 after working at Avaya in a number of leadership roles.

OTW said Omeros will be supporting Scott and the management team and have increased focus on the company’s longer-term growth aspirations.

Check out the original story here.

Avaya ANZ managing director Peter Chidiac departs

20 February

Avaya’s Australia and New Zealand managing director Peter Chidiac left the company.

Chidiac revealed the move on LinkedIn, saying he finished his stint at Avaya in February 2020 and is now looking for new opportunities.

He said on LinkedIn that he is “Currently taking a well deserved break after leading a major transformation in one of the world's leading customer engagement, digital transformation and collaboration software vendors.”

Check out the original story here.

Riverbed appoints new ANZ regional vice president

20 February

Network technology vendor Riverbed appointed Frank Ong as its new regional vice president for Australia and New Zealand.

Ong replaces Keith Buckley, who left Riverbed in January to join Citrix as its new ANZ managing director.

In his new role, Ong is responsible for leading the direction of the Australian and New Zealand teams and driving the strategic operations, planning and growth of Riverbed in the region.

Check out the original story here.

Extreme Networks names new ANZ channel chief

25 February

Extreme Networks appointed Stefan Compagnoni as its new channel manager for Australia and New Zealand.

Compagnoni took over from Julian Critchlow, who was promoted to ANZ general manager in August 2019 following the departure of Chris Georgellis.

As channel manager, Compagnoni has been tasked with helping partners to build incremental business with Extreme’s offerings in the ANZ region. He will also be working with partners on the development and execution of strategic plans, technology enablement and certification programs, sales and marketing activities, as well as supporting partners on key accounts, sales opportunities and contract negotiations.

Check out the original story here.

SXiQ bolsters management team with third CTO

27 February

Melbourne-based cloud integrator SXiQ appointed a third chief technology officer to bolster its technical leadership team.

Stefano Tempesta is the new appointment and will cover digital and product development, heading up SXiQ’s offerings in intelligent workplace, application modernisation, data and AI.

Tempesta sits alongside cloud CTO Simon Heath and implementation architecture CTO Mike Young.

Check out the original story here.

Perth's R-Group restructures management team

28 February

Perth-based Microsoft partner R-Group International restructured its senior leadership team, bringing in former Schneider Electric executive Kim Harmer as its first CEO.

R-Group specialises in Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams and other communications solutions, as well as IT consulting, managed services, project management, networking, digital signage and more.

Managing director Josh Newton moved to the new role of operations director.

Check out the original story here.

HPE Australia hires new channel chief from NTT

2 March

HPE has hired former NTT executive Julie Barbieri to lead its South Pacific channel as general manager, partners, alliances and service providers.

Barbieri brings more than 30 years’ experience to the role, including 20 years working for companies that partner with HPE. She was most recently NTT’s general manager for technology solutions from 2013 to now, and before that was director of national sales & general manager of infrastructure. Prior to that, Barbeiri was the head of alliance for Frontline Systems responsible for developing its alliances strategy.

She replaced former channel chief Marina Fronek, who abruptly left the vendor in November 2019 to pursue a new role outside HPE.

Check out the original story here.

Canon Australia recruits new exec from global headquarters

5 March

Canon Australia appointed Masayuki ‘Mike’ Murase into a partner-facing role as senior director, business information solutions.

Murase brings more than three decades with Canon to the role, working for the vendor’s Office Imaging Products group in the US and Japan. He has relocated to Australia for the new role.

In his new role, Murase was tasked with growing Canon Australia’s business products and services. A spokesperson told CRN that he will also be responsible for overall leadership and engagement with Canon’s channel partners.

Check out the original story here.

ERP vendor IFS appoints first Aussie channel chief

9 March

Swedish-headquartered enterprise software vendor IFS appointed Greg Robinson has its first head of channels and alliance for Australia and New Zealand.

IFS’ solutions include enterprise resource planning, enterprise asset management and service management software catered to manufacturing, distribution and other service-focused operations. Its targeted industry verticals include aerospace & defense, telecommunications, energy, utilities & resources, engineering and manufacturing.

The company said in a press release said the appointment of an Australian channel chief came as a response to IFS’ 20 percent net revenue growth in the region.

Check out the original story here.

Konica Minolta boss Dr David Cooke exits

9 March

Dr David Cooke will leave his role as managing director and chairman of print vendor Konica Minolta after close to 15 years with the company.

He will remain with Konica until mid-July, marking the end of the Japanese financial year, to oversee the transition to a new leader.

A Konica Minolta press release said Cooke had been instrumental in leading the company’s transformation from an office and production printing vendor to becoming an IT and technology business partner, including venturing into 3D printing and robotics, software and services.

Check out the original story here.

CheckPoint boss Scott McKinnel jumps to Tenable

10 March

CheckPoint Software’s former managing director Scott McKinnel jumped to Tenable to take on the role of country manager for Australia and New Zealand.

He replaced former country manager Bede Hackney, who left in November 2019 for a role at unified analytics platform provider Databricks.

In his new role, McKinnel will be responsible for expanding the “cyber exposure” company’s presence in the enterprise market as well as providing overall support for channel partners.

Check out the original story here.

Rubrik's country manager Luke McGoldrick steps down

11 March

Rubrik’s country manager Luke McGoldrick stepped down from his role after close to four years due to a family matter.

He’ll stay on board with the data protection upstart, and recently updated his job on LinkedIn to “Alliance Driven Sales.”

“I want to thank Rubrik for their understanding and support and look forward to assisting the new leader moving forward (which will be announced pretty soon,” McGoldrick wrote on LinkedIn.

Check out the original story here.

iiNet founder Michael Malone steps down from Superloop

12 March

iiNet founder Michael Malone stepped down as chairman of network infrastructure operator Superloop after close to three years in the role.

He was replaced by Superloop founder Bevan Slattery, who will resume the role as non-executive chairman.

Malone founded Perth-based ISP iiNet in 1993 and led the company as chief executive until 2014, when it was acquired by TPG. He joined Superloop’s board of directors in April 2015, and was appointed chairman two years later.

Check out the original story here.

Runecast taps Andre Carpenter to lead new local channel push

16 March

Runecast appointed Andre Carpenter to lead its channel sales in Asia-Pacific.

The London-based company’s flagship product, Runecast Analyser, is a tool for monitoring VMWare instances and also works with those hosted on AWS.

Carpenter joined the company from AvePoint where he was also the channel chief. Prior to this he spent over two years at Oracle as principle technologist. He was also previously alliances manager for the region at Veeam.

Check out the original story here.

Schneider taps former Woolies IoT engineer to lead Edge computing drive

16 March

Schneider Electric has appointed Rajesh Thangaraj to drive Edge technologies sales in its Secure Power division in Australia.

In the newly created role of Edge Solutions Evangelist, Thangaraj will be responsible for working with the company’s partner network to push Schneider’s Edge solutions.

Thangaraj joined the company from Woolworths Group where he was the lead consultant for IoT and AI product solution engineering.

Check out the original story here.

CyberArk ANZ boss Matthew Brazier departs, names Thomas Fikentscher as successor

17 March

Privileged account security vendor CyberArk appointed Thomas Fikentscher as its new regional manager for Australia and New Zealand.

Fikentscher replaced Matthew Brazier, who left CyberArk in January to join Amazon Web Services Australia as senior manager for digital native business.

Based in Sydney, Fikentscher is responsible for driving customer and partner engagement while also expanding CyberArk’s cloud business in the region.

Check out the original story here.

Ex-Capgemini CEO joins Innovo

17 March

Former Capgemini CEO Paul Thorley has joined Innovo Technology Solutions as its chairman and executive director.

Innovo Technology Solutions is a testing and software development consultancy.

In his new role, Thorley will work with the Innovo board to set effective strategy and deliver on commitments, while focusing on future-proofed solutions that are customer centric.

Check out the original story here.

BlackBerry reorganises APAC leadership

20 March

BlackBerry reorganised its Asia-Pacific leadership team after the vendor consolidated its security divisions under BlackBerry Spark.

BlackBerry Australia, New Zealand and India managing director David Nicol takes the new role of BlackBerry IoT Solutions APJ managing director, while Cylance ANZ boss Jason Duerden was named BlackBerry Spark ANZ managing director.

Cylance APAC channel chief Joe McPhillips will also join BlackBerry Spark as APAC director of channel sales.

Check out the original story here.

Informatica ANZ boss Nick Smith departs, names Richard Scott as successor

20 March

Enterprise cloud data management vendor Informatica hired Richard Scott as its new managing director for Australia and New Zealand.

Scott replaces Nick Smith, who left in November 2019 to join customer communications vendor Smart Communications as its APAC vice president and general manager.

In his new role, Scott is expected to help Informatica grow its share of the enterprise cloud data management market across the region. He reports to APAC general manager for sales and operations Tony Frey.

Check out the original story here.

Ex-Google Cloud ANZ boss joins Salesforce

25 March

Former Google Cloud Australia and New Zealand country director Colin Timm has joined Salesforce.

According to LinkedIn, Timm assumed the role of senior vice president for strategic advisory services at Salesforce effective March 2020.

Timm left Google Cloud in February 2020 after more than two years as ANZ country director. He was replaced by former Salesforce APAC GM and vice president Mark Innes.

Check out the original story here.

Nick Savvides joins Forcepoint

26 March

Symantec veteran Nick Savvides joined cyber security vendor Forcepoint as its senior director of strategic business in Asia-Pacific.

The move marks a seismic shift for the cyber expert who was at Symantec for over 14 years and was once fondly referred to as “Mr Symantec” by colleagues.   

“The last 14 years have definitely been wonderful and exciting,” Savvides told CRN. “I had the opportunity of working with some great people and on some very tough projects, and I saw a lot of change through all the M&A, business evolution, threat changes and more. “

Check out the original story here.

Ex-Nutanix ANZ boss jumps to Rubrik

26 March

Former Nutanix ANZ managing director Jamie Humphrey has joined backup and data management vendor Rubrik.

Humphrey assumes the vacant ANZ country manager and GM role, after Luke McGoldrick stepped down to a new role of Account Executive for Alliances earlier this month.

Based in Melbourne, Humphrey will report directly to Rubrik APJ vice president Kamal Brar.

Check out the original story here.