The biggest IT channel job shifts of 2020

Despite the uncertainty around the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the IT channel saw plenty of people changing roles and employers over the past year.

CRN compiled all the jobn shifts we've reported throughout 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

10 January

IBM names Brenda Harvey its new Asia Pacific chief

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

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

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

Check out the full story here.

13 January

Equinix appoints Guy Danskine as new Australian leader

Equinix 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 full story here.

16 January

Zscaler channel chief jumps to security training vendor KnowBe4

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

Appointed in December 2019, Sivalingam has been 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 full story here.

20 January

Nutanix ANZ boss Jamie Humphrey departs

Nutanix Australia and New Zealand managing director Jamie Humphrey resigned.

A Nutanix spokesperson confirmed the move with CRN, and is currently looking for a replacement.

“Nutanix can confirm that Jamie Humphrey has resigned from his role as country manager for Australia and New Zealand,” the spokesperson said.

Check out the full story here.

22 January

Microsoft partner Eighty20 recruits Paul Scott as first MD

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 full story here.

23 January

Backup vendor Cohesity appoints new ANZ boss

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 full story here.

28 January

OKI Data promotes Tony Grima to MD

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

Grima previously served as country managed 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 full story here.

30 January

Citrix appoints new ANZ boss

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

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

Buckley will report 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 full story here.

31 January

IBM CEO Ginni Rometty to step down

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 full story here.

2 February

Wipro CEO steps down, citing family matters

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

Neemuchwala, who is stepping 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 full story here.

7 February

Riverbed names John Milionis as AU channel director

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 full story here.

18 February

AWS Australia names new MD

Amazon Web Services’ ANZ managing director Paul Migliorini 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.

Migliorini joined AWS as MD in September 2015. Prior to that, he was CEO of The Regus Group for Australia and New Zealand, and spent close to eight years working for BT Global Services in Australia.

Check out the full story here.

20 February

Avaya ANZ managing director Peter Chidiac departs

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 full story here.

20 February

Riverbed appoints new ANZ regional vice president

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 full story here.

25 February

Extreme Networks names new ANZ channel chief

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

Compagnoni takes 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 full story here.

9 March

Konica Minolta boss Dr David Cooke exits

Dr David Cooke left 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 full story here.

9 March

ERP vendor IFS appoints first Aussie channel chief

Sweden-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 full story here.

11 March

Rubrik's country manager Luke McGoldrick steps down

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.”

The vendor has commenced a search for McGoldrick’s replacement, and is expected to make an announcement shortly.

Check out the full story here.

16 March

Runecast taps Andre Carpenter to lead new local channel push

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 joins 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 full story here.

17 March

CyberArk ANZ boss Matthew Brazier departs

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

Fikentscher replaces 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 full story here.

20 March

BlackBerry reorganises APAC leadership

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 full story here.

25 March

Ex-Google Cloud ANZ boss joins Salesforce

Former Google Cloud Australia and New Zealand country director Colin Timm 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 full story here.

26 March

Ex-Nutanix ANZ boss jumps to Rubrik

Former Nutanix ANZ managing director Jamie Humphrey 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 full story here.

30 March

Long time SAS ANZ boss David Bowie departs

The long time ANZ boss of analytics software vendor SAS David Bowie left the company.

“After 17 amazing years at SAS, I am about to move into an exciting new role in a different segment of the IT industry,” Bowie posted on LinkedIn.

“It has been a privilege working with a leader and pioneer in the Analytics and Artificial Intelligence space and seeing firsthand the social and business impact of our work.”

Check out the full story here.

30 March

Acronis promotes ANZ boss Neil Morarji to lead APAC business

Security vendor Acronis promoted ANZ boss Neil Morarji to lead its Asia Pacific business as its new APAC general manager.

Morarji replaces APAC vice president Steve Goh, who left in March 2019 to join productivity software vendor Vantiq.

An Acronis spokesperson told CRN Morarji doesn’t directly succeed Goh as the company changed its leadership structure.

Check out the full story here.

2 April

Nutanix appoints ANZ boss out of NetSuite

Nutanix named former NetSuite exec Lee Thompson as its new managing director for Australia and New Zealand.

Thompson replaces Jamie Humphrey, who left the HCI vendor in January to later join Rubrik earlier this month.

Based in Sydney, Thompson is tasked to bring in more customers and continue Nutanix’s expansion across Australia and New Zealand.

Check out the full story here.

7 April

Ingram Micro names Tim Ament as ANZ boss

Ingram Micro’s new local boss Tim Ament has a simple message for the channel: “Partner like you have never partnered before.”

The company’s new chief country officer for Australia and New Zealand warned that complexity in the marketplace, even prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, made it essential for the channel to collaborate.

“There's not really one partner that can do it all,” Ament told CRN.

“It's very hard to be proficient across infrastructures of service, cybersecurity data centre, cloud technologies, edge devices, and IoT.”

Check out the full story here.

9 April

Zscaler hires new channel chief out of Telstra

Security vendor Zscaler named Foad Farrokhnia as its new head of channels for Australia and New Zealand.

Farrokhnia replaces Dilshan Sivalingam, who departed in September 2019 and later joined security awareness and training vendor KnowBe4.

Based in Melbourne, Farrokhnia is tasked to further develop and mature Zscaler’s channel ecosystem in ANZ, as well as growing its existing partner relationships.

Check out the full story here.

16 April

McAfee ANZ chief Gary Denman departs

McAfee ANZ vice president and managing director Gary Denman departed the security vendor to join Google Cloud.

A McAfee spokesperson confirmed with CRN that Denman left in January this year and that the company is still in the process of looking for a replacement.

The search has also gone public with a job listing on LinkedIn posted earlier this month.

Check out the full story here.

17 April

Software vendor New Relic appoints first ANZ boss

Application performance management software vendor New Relic appointed Sharryn Napier as its first regional vice president for Australia and New Zealand.

Based in Sydney, Napier reports to New Relic APJ executive vice president and general manager Dmitri Chen, who had been directly managing ANZ before Napier’s appointment.

“This newly created role is recognition of ANZ’s importance to New Relic and we’re thrilled to have someone with Sharryn’s calibre and experience in our ranks,” Chen said. “She’s a strong, dynamic leader with an impressive track record and will no doubt drive exceptional growth for both our customers and the business.”

Check out the full story here.

21 April

SAP global co-CEO Jennifer Morgan departs

Multinational software vendor SAP announced that co-CEO Jennifer Morgan will depart the company later this month.

This paves the way for Christian Klein to become sole chief executive on 30 April 2020, after sharing responsibilities with Morgan since October 2019.

SAP said the decision to move to a sole CEO model came with the current environment, where companies are required “to take swift, determined action”.

Check out the full story here.

21 April

Forescout names new ANZ boss

Device visibility and control vendor Forescout Technologies appointed Rohan Langdon as its new regional director for Australia and New Zealand.

Langdon replaces Terrie Anderson, who left in February to join RiskIQ as its APAC vice president.

In his new role, Langdon will focus on sales growth and customer engagement, as well as driving channel partnerships across ANZ.

Check out the full story here.

23 April

Lee Welch moves to APAC role at Ingram Micro Cloud

Ingram Micro Cloud ANZ director Lee Welch was promoted to a newly created APAC role to support the platform’s growth in the region.

Welch told CRN his current role would be backfilled and the company is on the lookout for a suitable candidate.

He will be based in Singapore and has been charged with managing Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, India, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Check out the full story here.

27 April

Rackspace's Darryn McCoskery joins Hostopia Australia

Cloud services and hosting provider Hostopia Australia hired Darryn McCoskery as its new general manager.

McCoskery replaces chief executive Terry Maiolo, who left the company in February after a three-year stint.

McCoskery joined the same month following his departure from Rackspace in December 2019, where he was general manager from 2017.

Check out the full story here.

4 May

Outcomex appoints new managing director

Sydney-based integrator Outcomex promoted Michael van Zoggel to managing director as part of a shakeup of its management team.

Van Zoggel, who had been national sales manager since 2016, replaces Marco Delgado, who will assume the new role of chief executive officer.

The changes will see van Zoggel take charge of business operations, while Delgado focuses on technology innovation and business growth.

Check out the full story here.

5 May

Cisco channel chief Tara Ridley departs, joins Salesforce

Cisco’s Australia and New Zealand channel chief Tara Ridley left Cisco to join Salesforce.

Ridley revealed the appointment on LinkedIn, assuming the role of vice president of alliances and channels for Australia and New Zealand.

She is tasked with leading the cloud vendor’s ANZ partner strategy and lead the growth of its enterprise, midmarket and SMB partner sales, account management and ecosystem development.

Check out the full story here.

12 May

Gigamon names new ANZ country manager

Network visibility and analytics Gigamon appointed George Tsoukas as its new country manager for Australia and New Zealand.

Tsoukas replaces Adam Gordon, who left the company in February to join Varonis, where he is currently the ANZ country manager.

Tsoukas joins from load balancing vendor Avi Networks, where he was its first ANZ regional vice president in 2018.

Check out the full story here.

27 May

NTT Australia CEO Steve Nola retires

NTT Australia announced chief executive Steve Nola will retire from his role in September 2020 after 30 years in the IT industry.

The services giant is now on the hunt for Nola’s replacement in time for his departure.

NTT global CEO Jason Goodall said Nola as Australian CEO “has shown incredible insight and leadership over many years, as well as sustaining growth and profitability”.

Check out the full story here.

1 June

Wipro names Capgemini COO as its new global CEO

Global systems integrator and IT services giant Wipro named Capgemini’s chief operating officer, Thierry Delaporte, as its new CEO.

Delaporte, who will take over as CEO July 6, said he expects to create a “new chapter of growth” for the nearly $8.5 billion India-based solution provider giant.

“I am deeply honored to be invited to lead Wipro, an extraordinary company and an exemplary corporate citizen with a deep technology heritage built on a strong foundation of values,” said Delaporte in a statement. “I look forward to working closely with [Wipro chairman] Rishad [Premji], the Board, senior leadership and the hugely talented employees of Wipro to turn a new chapter of growth and build a better tomorrow for all our stakeholders.”

Check out the full story here.

11 June

Telstra partner Calibre One names first new CEO in 20 years

Australian Telstra partner and three-time CRN Fast50 finalist Calibre One named Darren Gore as its first new chief executive in its 20 years of operations.

From July, Gore will assume the role that has been held by Steve Wemyss since the company was formed as GSoft in 1998 in Wemyss humble garage in Adelaide.

Gore, 32, takes on the chief executive title after serving for more than four years as the company’s chief financial officer. He officially joined Calibre One in 2016 when it merged with NexusTel, the telco he had joined as a business technology consultant a year prior.

Check out the full story here.

10 June

Veritec CEO Keiran Mott departs

The chief executive of Canberra-based Microsoft partner Veritec, Keiran Mott, departed the company.

Veritec has confirmed the move to CRN, saying that Mott will be taking a “well-deserved break and will seek out a new challenge”.

The company also confirmed the appointment of general manager for business applications Greg Mace as the company’s new interim CEO.

Check out the full story here.

15 June

VMware names new ANZ boss

Virtualisation vendor VMware appointed Brad Anderson as its new vice president and managing director for Australia and New Zealand.

Anderson replaces Alister Dias, who was promoted to APJ vice president for software defined data centre in April this year.

Anderson joined VMware out of IBM following a 15 year stint at the company, last serving as ANZ vice president of cloud and cognitive software.

Check out the full story here.

16 June

OutSystems names new ANZ boss

App development vendor OutSystems appointed Paul Arthur as its regional vice president for Australia and New Zealand.

The newly-created role is based out of Sydney and will see Arthur report to OutSystems APAC vice president Mark Weaser.

OutSystems said the appointment comes in response to the increasing demand for application development and integration of core systems.

Check out the full story here.

1 July

Hitachi Vantara taps ex-Cognizant exec Gajen Kandiah as CEO

Hitachi Vantara appointed former Cognizant executive Gajen Kandiah as its new CEO, replacing Toshiaki Tokunaga, who took over the global analytics, IoT and storage vendor at the beginning of the year when the company completed a significant IoT-focused reorganisation.

The US-based subsidiary of Japanese industrial conglomerate Hitachi announced the appointment Tuesday, saying that Kandiah will become CEO July 13. Tokunaga, a 30-year Hitachi veteran who became CEO and board chairman of Hitachi Vantara in January, will phase out his CEO responsibilities by 1 October and retain his chairman position.

Kandiah is coming to the company roughly seven months after Hitachi merged Hitachi Vantara with its Hitachi Consulting arm in a move to accelerate its IoT and data-driven solutions.

Check out the full story here.

3 July

Cisco names Luke Power to head ANZ channel

Cisco tapped Luke Power to run its local channel following the departure of former channel chief Tara Ridley in early May.

The networking and security giant confirmed to CRN that it promoted from within to find its new channel chief in ANZ, elevating Power from his previous role as head of small business and distribution.

Power's new title is director, partner organisation and small business, Cisco Australia & New Zealand.

Check out the full story here.

7 July

Melbourne's Cevo names James Lewis as first chief executive

Melbourne-based cloud specialist Cevo named James Lewis as its new chief executive.

Lewis, who has served as the Amazon Web Services integrator and consultancy’s NSW general manager for the past year-and-a-half, joined from his role as the head of Kloud Solutions in March last year. 

Lewis steps into the newly created CEO position, as the key management role, and will report directly to the Cevo board.

Check out the full story here.

9 July

Ingram Micro ANZ taps internal talent pool to lead local cloud business

Technology distributor Ingram Micro completed its search for a new ANZ cloud boss, promoting Trent Gomersall out of its IBM business.

Gomersall will succeed Lee Welch who vacated his post in April to take up an APAC role based in Singapore.

His main task will be to oversee Ingram Micro’s Cloud Marketplace in ANZ which is the largest growing such business unit for the distributor outside the US. Gomersall has also joined the Ingram Micro executive team in ANZ and reports to local boss Tim Ament.

Check out the full story here.

10 July

Dell channel chief Joyce Mullen unexpectedly departs

Dell Technologies worldwide channel leader Joyce Mullen, responsible for roughly half of the infrastructure giant’s $91 billion in revenue, is unexpectedly leaving Dell after 21 years with the company.

“This is obviously a tough decision. I feel like I’m part of the furniture since I’ve been around for 21 years,” said Mullen, who is leaving the company effective August 14. “I’ve been able to contribute to making Dell Technologies the great company that it is. When I stepped back and talked about it with my husband and my kids, it became really clear that I want to go be a member of a very senior leadership team at a smaller company and do it again—make another company really terrific. I’ve had a great opportunities at Dell Technologies, and I’m really grateful for that, but I want to do it again at another company.”

Dell told CRN that the company is currently searching for a replacement for Mullen who has been leading Dell’s channel charge since 2017.

Check out the full story here.

15 July

VMware confirms Flinders is out as global channel chief; former Cisco exec Sandy Hogan takes over

VMware’s global channel chief, Jenni Flinders, unexpectedly and quietly left the virtualization superstar last month after two years leading the company’s restructured channel charge, VMware confirmed to CRN USA.

“Jenni Flinders, VMware’s global channel chief, has made a personal career decision to leave the company, effective June 11,” said VMware in a statement to CRN USA. “Over the last two years, Jenni contributed her expertise to revamping the global partner organization, including the successful launch of Partner Connect. We thank Jenni for her passion and commitment and wish her well. Sandy Hogan, senior vice president of Worldwide Commercial and Partner Sales, will lead the Worldwide Partner Organization.”

The news of Flinders’ departure comes at the same time Dell Technologies -- which owns a majority stake in VMware – announced that its own global channel chief Joyce Mullen will be leaving the company next month.

Check out the full story here.

20 July

Cisco ANZ CTO departs, launches own advisory

Cisco ANZ chief technology officer Kevin Bloch left the role he has held for 21 years on Friday to start his own technology advisory company.

Bloch spent the last 12 years as CTO of Cisco ANZ and prior to that, held other senior roles within the company.

His new venture, Bloch Advisory Pty Ltd, was established to assist startups, telcos and corporates invest in R&D and commercialise their own technology.

Check out the full story here.

28 July

Nick Verykios joins iasset.com as chief strategy officer

Former Arrow ECS ANZ managing director Nick Verykios joined lifecycle management provider iasset.com as its chief strategy officer.

Verykios reunited with Distribution Central co-founder Scott Frew, who founded iasset in 2009 and who left the distie in 2016.

As chief strategy officer, Verykios spearheads iasset’s newly developed LIPS strategy built for the platform’s latest version, version nine. LIPS stands for “land, invest, protect and surrender”.

Check out the full story here.

29 July

Tech Data ANZ boss Wendy O'Keeffe to depart, hires Ricoh's Andy Berry as replacement

Tech Data has announced that ANZ general manager Wendy O’Keeffe left the company.

The distributor has appointed Ricoh Australia managing director Andy Berry as O’Keeffe’s replacement.

O’Keeffe departs from Tech Data after three years as its country general manager, joining the company in 2017. Prior to that, she was the Asia Pacific executive vice president of Westcon Group.

Check out the full story here.

31 July

Cloud comms vendor Twilio appoints Kristen Pimpini as new ANZ boss

Cloud communications vendor Twilio appointed Kristen Pimpini as its new country director for Australia and New Zealand.

Pimpini replaces Richard Watson, who was appointed country manager for Australia in 2018. He will remain with the company throughout Q3 2020 as part of a transition period.

Pimpini announced his appointment on LinkedIn, saying, “It is with great excitement that I join Twilio Inc. as Country Director, ANZ.”

Check out the full story here.

3 August

NTT Ltd names Tania Balcombe as new ANZ chief

Technology services giant NTT Ltd. appointed Tania Balcombe as its new chief executive for its newly merged Australia and New Zealand region.

Balcombe replaces Steve Nola, who announced in May that he will retire at the end of September 2020.

The company also announced that NTT Australia and NTT New Zealand will be “brought together” as a new “ANZ region” operating under the wider APAC region effective 1 October 2020.

Check out the full story here.

3 August

Riverbed promotes ANZ channel chief John Milionis to APJ channel chief

Networking technology vendor Riverbed promoted ANZ channel chief John Milionis to the same role for Asia-Pacific and Japan.

The appointment comes less than a year after he was named ANZ channel chief, after working as senior manager for Riverbed’s Telstra alliance. Riverbed is now hiring a new ANZ channel chief.

The company said the appointment aims to further support its channel partners in the region, with Milionis helping partners with business development and enablement.

Check out the full story here.

3 August

Hitachi Vantara appoints Erin Mikan as ANZ channel chief

Digital data systems vendor Hitachi Vantara appointed Erin Mikan as its channel sales manager for Australia and New Zealand.

Mikan was hired out of Macquarie Telecom, working as cloud services - strategic partner and alliance manager.

Mikan said she was happy to return to a channel-facing role and said Hitachi Vantara is “a vendor that ticks all the boxes.”

Check out the full story here.

12 August

Former NBN Co, Telstra exec Paul Tyler joins Superloop as CEO

Network provider Superloop appointed former NBN Co chief customer officer for business Paul Tyler as its new chief executive officer.

Tyler will replace Drew Kelton on 1 October 2020, with Kelton staying on at Superloop as executive director until March 2021.

NBN Co announced in July that it would slash 800 jobs following the completion of the NBN’s initial build, including Tyler's. His role was made redundant after NBN Co combined the sales and marketing divisions of both business and residential customers into one unit.

Check out the full story here.

18 August

Wendy O’Keefe joins Nextgen

Former TechData local boss Wendy O’Keefe joined rival distributor Nextgen to lead its Asian operations.

O’Keefe takes on responsibility for launching the NEXTGEN ASEAN operation out of Singapore and using ‘her long-term networks to build local teams throughout the region’, Nextgen said in a statement.

“O’Keeffe will work closely with existing NEXTGEN Australian and New Zealand key vendors to expand those businesses in Asia, as well as developing relationships with new vendors wanting to upscale their Asian channels.”

Check out the full story here.

18 August

Dell hires Cisco Canada president as new global channel chief

Dell Technologies has a new global channel chief with the hiring of Rola Dagher, a former Cisco and Dell executive who told CRN USA she is extremely excited to hit the ground running and empower partners unlike ever before.

“I will bring a different culture to the partner ecosystem that is based on purpose-first,” said Dagher in an interview of CRN USA. “Today, it’s all about stakeholders and our partner ecosystem is the biggest stakeholder for us. I want to bring purpose. I want to bring impact. I want to bring empowerment because once you empower your partners and once you inspire them, you get out of their way to let them go out and make a huge impact through Dell Technologies.”

“I have a degree in getting things done,” she said. “And getting things done really quickly.”

Check out the full story here.

19 August

Avaya hires Optus exec as ANZ managing director

Avaya appointed Optus vice president Simon Vatcher as its new managing director for Australia and New Zealand.

Vatcher replaces Peter Chidiac, who left Avaya in February 2020 to work at Sydney-based professional services company Informotion as head of global sales.

Based in Sydney, Vatcher is tasked with expanding Avaya’s market presence and to help increase adoption of the company’s multi-modal, open unified communications (UC) and contact centre software and services.

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19 August

Cognizant names PwC exec Jane Livesey as ANZ boss

Multinational systems integrator Cognizant appointed Jane Livesey as its new chief executive for Australia and New Zealand.

Livesey, who was hired out of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), replaced Cognizant veteran Narayan Iyer, who departed the company after 11 years.

The company said Livesey’s hiring would help Cognizant grow in Australia and New Zealand.

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31 August

Nutanix CEO Dheeraj Pandey announces retirement

Nutanix’s stock soared more than 28 percent following a slew of news announcements from the company, including the upcoming retirement of CEO Dheeraj Pandey, whom many consider the soul and driving force behind Nutanix.

“He’s been the driving force, the face, and really the spirit behind Nutanix since it started,” said Craig Manahan, senior practice manager for RoundTower Technologies, a US-based Nutanix partner. “I’m in shock.”

Nutanix’s stock was up 28 percent to US$28.87 per share on Friday in the US. The hyper-converged and cloud software superstar hasn’t reached such share prices heights since prior to the coronavirus pandemic in February.

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2 September

AV vendor ATEN appoints Tim Hill as new MD

AV and IT connectivity management vendor ATEN  named Tim Hill as its new Australian boss.

Hill joins the company from datacentre infrastructure vendor Raritan and prior to this was country manager at Avocent.

In a statement Hill said the role would see him focus on strengthening the vendor’s relationship with distributors and channel partners, with “the aim of growing ATEN’s image as a forward-thinking KVM, video, and power vendor.”

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3 September

Cohesity ANZ boss Steve Coad jumps to Nutanix

Cohesity Australia and New Zealand managing director Steve Coad took a new role with Nutanix, leading its new Australian enterprise division.

Coad departed Cohesity after eight months in the role.

Nutanix recently underwent a new segmentation of its ANZ business with the aim of capitalising on the growing hyperconverged infrastructure market in the region. Coad’s role will involve leading a team that’s targeting larger enterprise customers.

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8 September

Superloop hires another NBN Co veteran

Network provider Superloop appointed another former NBN Co executive to bolster its leadership team with its hiring of Dean Tognella as head of enterprise sales.

Tognella, who was most recently an executive general manager at NBN Co, follows the hiring of former NBN Co chief customer officer for business Paul Tyler as the incoming Superloop CEO.

Superloop founder and chairman Bevan Slattery announced the hiring over LinkedIn.

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7 October

Fujitsu ANZ CEO departs

Fujitsu parted ways with its Australia and New Zealand CEO Mike Foster after ten years.

The integrator has named Graeme Beardsell as its new local boss. He will assume the role on 5 November.

Fujitsu said it had ‘mutually agreed’ with Foster that he would finish his tender on 31 October.

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12 October

NBN Co parts ways with channel chief

NBN Co parted ways with its channel boss Keith Masterton as part of an organisational restructure, the company confirmed this morning.

NBN Co GM of sales and marketing Angela Lovegrove will take charge of Masterton's duties in an acting capacity.

The company did not indicate that it would be replacing Masterton with another head of channels.

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22 October

Nutanix names David Gage as ANZ channel chief

Hyperconverged infrastructure company Nutanix appointed David Gage as its new Australia and New Zealand channel boss.

Gage moves to the company from distributor Westcon and replaces Andrew Diamond who had led the company’s local channel strategy since November 2017.

Nutanix said that Gage would expand its channel program across the region. He will report to Nutanix APJ channel and OEM boss Jacob Pereira and “work closely with the local ANZ team led by managing director Lee Thompson,” the company said in a statement.

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11 November

Cisco ANZ boss Ken Boal moves up to APJC role

Cisco Australia and New Zealand vice president Ken Boal moved to a new role within the company’s Asia-Pacific, Japan and China region.

Boal, who led the ANZ business for close to eight years, will lead the networking vendor’s APJC software and services function starting January 2021.

In the announcement, a Cisco spokesperson said it would announce the new ANZ lead “in the coming weeks”.

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17 November

Fujitsu appoints Anna Soriano as Oceania channel chief

Fujitsu appointed Anna Soriano to its newly created role of channel sales and distribution manager for Oceania.

Hired out of Dell Technologies’ APJ channel team, Soriano is tasked to grow Fujitsu’s channel business in the region, as well as directly manage the distribution of Fujitsu products.

Fujitsu said the new role is “strategically important” as the company looks to build on its current position in the Australian channel.

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18 November

Brennan IT CEO Stephen Sims departs, founder Dave Stevens steps up as MD

Managed services provider Brennan IT announced the departure of chief executive Stephen Sims after five years in the role.

Stepping up as managing director is founder and chief operating officer Dave Stevens, who started transitioning to the new role in October following a restructuring.

“I would like to sincerely thank Stephen for his 14 years with us, he has been an important part of our journey and a genuine contributor to our business and we wish him all the best in his future endeavours”, Stevens said in the announcement.

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18 November

Cisco appoints Ben Dawson as ANZ vice president

Cisco appointed Ben Dawson as its new vice president for Australia and New Zealand, taking over from Ken Boal.

Dawson will start his new role in January 2021, and has been tasked to lead all aspects of the networking giant's Australia and New Zealand business. Outgoing ANZ VP Ken Boal recently moved to Cisco’s APJC business, leading its software and services function.

Dawson returns from the US after a five-year stint at Cisco, last working as vice president of webscale sales, where he managed the vendor’s relationship with other tech giants like Microsoft, Google, Facebook and more.

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19 November

SAS names new ANZ boss

Software vendor SAS appointed Lynette Clunies-Ross to lead the company in Australia and New Zealand.

The artificial intelligence, machine learning and analytics specialist tapped Clunies-Ross to lead local operations following the departure of David Bowie in March.

The company’s new local boss is no stranger to ANZ after serving as SAS’s head of operations from 2012 to 2017. She rejoined the company in 2019 in an AP leadership role based in Singapore.

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20 November

Former Brennan IT CEO Stephen Sims jumps to NBN Co

Former Brennan IT chief executive Stephen Sims joined NBN Co to lead its channel expansion plans.

In a LinkedIn post, Sims said he joined NBN Co to lead its “channel expansion into the business market”.

CRN understands that Sims will assume the role of general manager of channel expansion, which is a slight pivot from Keith Masterton’s former role as channel chief. Masterton left NBN Co in October and has since joined TasmaNet.

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27 November

VMware ANZ channel exec Kerrie-Anne Turner departs

VMware ANZ head of commercial business and channels Kerrie-Anne Turner left the company after five years.

The virtualisation vendor confirmed Turner’s plans, along with a brief statement on the future of her role:

“VMware is committed to our partners across the business in Australia and New Zealand and our leaders will continue to drive strong engagement with the business,” the statement read.

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10 December

VMware COO Rajiv Ramaswami joins Nutanix as its new CEO

Nutanix has a new CEO and president in VMware’s chief operating officer, Rajiv Ramaswami, a longtime industry veteran who has led VMware’s cloud products and services development for the past four years.

“I have long admired Nutanix as a formidable competitor, a pioneer in hyperconverged infrastructure solutions and a leader in cloud software,” said Ramaswami in a statement Wednesday. “Working closely with the board, the management team, and the more than 6,000 talented Nutanix employees around the world, we will build on Nutanix’s strong foundation of continuous innovation, collaboration and customer delight. Together, we will capitalize on the significant opportunities ahead and deliver on the company’s next phase of growth and value creation.”

Ramaswami served as chief operating officer of products and cloud services at VMware from 2016 to this month. Prior to VMware, Ramaswami was executive vice president and general manager for infrastructure and networking at Broadcom, where he helped establish Broadcom as a leader in data center, enterprise and carrier networking.

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14 December

Micro Focus names new ANZ channel chief

Micro Focus appointed a new local channel chief in Jonty Collins to replace outgoing ANZ channel director Todd Parsons.

Collins joins the enterprise software company from Commvault where he was a partner business manager. Prior to this he was AvePoint’s local channel director.

Micro Focus said in a statement that Collins would “ look to provide a balance of resources across the ANZ region, ensuring a consistency of engagement to make sure there is regular interaction with the channel”.

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17 August

Zscaler names new ANZ boss

Cloud security vendor Zscaler appointed Steve Singer to lead the company in Australia and New Zealand.

Singer replaces Budd Ilic who joined the company in November 2018 and has moved to a new role of regional director for government at Zscaler. The role will see him remain in the company's regional hub in Sydney.

Based in Sydney, Singer will be responsible for “continued growth of the organisation’s purpose-built cloud security solutions among private and public sector enterprises as well as expanding relationships with local partners,” according to a company statement.

Check out the full story here.