Former Synnex manager to head Ingram Micro consumer sales

Local distribution giant Ingram Micro has announced the appointment of Reymond Chapman as head of Consumer Sales. According to John Walters, sales director at Ingram Micro Australia, Chapman’s reputation among his peers motivated the move, not the fact he was an employee of Synnex.

“You’ve got to get the right people in the leadership roles to take any ship forward … and the majority of the people I spoke to said I should be talking to Reymond,” he said. “The fact that he was at Synnex is a coincidence. It’s certainly not an Ingram Micro strategy to attack Synnex – it’s purely the profile, leadership skills and personality of Reymond that I went after.”

Walters commented that he did not approach Chapman until the recent agreement between Synnex and Microsoft to distribute Xbox consoles in Australia, effectively ending the exclusive arrangement with Ingram Micro, had concluded.

“We decided not to contact Reymond until the tender had been finalised and announced. For integrity reasons I wanted to wait,” said Walters.

The last 12 months have witnessed somewhat of a lull in the retail division of Ingram Micro Australia, claimed Walters. Consequently, the new appointment along with two others is expected to provide much needed leadership of the consumer sales team.

“I think maybe we’ve lost our way slightly in the last 12 months and we needed some fresh leadership, ideas and approach to go to market,” he said.

Regarding the recent Microsoft tender win by Synnex, Walters declined to comment on whether misdirection on the part of Ingram Micro affected the decision. He did say, however, that the distributor was implementing a simplified business approach.

“People can draw their own conclusions about winning or losing tenders, but I think we just need to get back to basics, provide some value and service levels the market is looking for,” he stated.