Ex-BenQ MD ready for new challenge

After six years with BenQ, Phillip Newton, was appointed as director of IT for hardware vendor, Samsung.

He has watched the vendor develop its brand in Australia over the last 20 years to where it is today and wanted to be part of the action.

"To be given the opportunity to contribute to the future growth of the company at a Director level was a career goal and I took it with two hands," said Newton.

"The reseller channel is a key ingredient to the success of Samsung IT.

"I'll be utilising my experience to review Samsung's current position in the market before identifying our forward plan."

He told CRN, a large percentage of the vendor's IT business is managed through resellers.

"I plan to constantly review and identify increased efficiencies to improve our business," said Newton

"As director of IT my prime responsibilities will be to drive brand preference and grow the business by both value and market-share across our product range."

However he asked CRN to "come back to me again in six months" to find out what his channel goals are.

For Newton, BenQ was a great company to work for with a range of high quality products.

"I was simply ready for a change and a new challenge," he said.

"I've always believed that change is as good as a rest - I'm sure I won't have long to rest as the pace at Samsung clocked me already on day two."