IBM Australia's top channel execs depart

Senior IBM Australia channel exec Leo Lynch has joined Huawei, just weeks after Phil Cameron's departure to Westcon.

Lynch, Big Blue's former ANZ distribution sales manager, started as Huawei's channel Enterprise Business Group channel director in Sydney two weeks ago.

"Leo will be responsible for the direction and growth of Huawei’s enterprise channel team," said a Huawei spokesperson. "We will be making an official announcement in the coming days."

Last month, CRN reported that IBM's top channel exec, Phil Cameron, had also departed the company – to join Westcon as its new ANZ director of vendor alliances.

Industry sources told CRN that Cameron and Lynch were the highest-ranked channel executives at IBM's Australian arm.

One source, who did not wish to be named, said Paul Richardson, IBM Australia CSI [computer systems integrator] sales manager, had been appointed acting ANZ director of business partner organisation in place of Cameron.

IBM was contacted for comment but had not responded at the time of writing.

The channel turbulence comes soon after IBM appointed a new managing director for its Australian operations, Kerry Purcell.

This week, IBM was forced to deny reports that it would globally terminate a staggering 112,000 staff as part of its recent restructure. The computing giant had more than 431,000 employees at the start of last year.

Lynch joins Huawei after more than three years as IBM's ANZ distribution sales manager. According to LinkedIn, he also served stints as EMC mid-market channel sales manager, EMC national distribution manager and Hewlett-Packard channel sales manager.

His achievements at HP included redesigning its channel from one-tier to two-tier, resulting in $150 million growth in five years, Lynch wrote on LinkedIn.

Huawei racked up more than $407 million of revenue in Australia in 2013, while the global body is expecting 15 percent growth for 2014, taking sales to US$46 billion.