Mike Sakalas is the new chief executive of Southern Cross Computer Systems (SCCS - 2011 CRN Fast50 No.30) He joined the company in 2012 as general manager for commercial, and has been responsible for expanding the company to over 130 employees, as well as launching new offices in NSW, SA and Queensland.
“Mike has already made an enormous impact … and we have great faith that this is the right time to insert new leadership at the top,” said SCCS executive director, Chris Palmer, in a statement.
Sakalas has previously held positions at EMC, National TechTeam, and most recently at NetApp, where he was responsible for enterprise, government and commercial sales in Australia.
Sakalas steps into the role vacated by Mark Kalmus, who was previously SCCS managing director. Kalmus joined SCCS in 2003 as national manager for sales, and was appointed managing director in 2007. He’s been shifted upstairs, and is now an executive director, with the responsibility for business development, and a particular focus on the development of the managed services side of the organisation.
At the end of 2012 SCCS ended a five-year run of 20 percent year on year growth, with an 8 percent jump in revenue, but with flat net profit.
The company also launched a $6 million innovation centre in Melbourne, with the goal of better servicing clients such as Tabcorp, with which it won a five year, multi-million dollar IT support deal during 2012.
At the time, Kalmus said, ““In managed services it’s been a good year for us. The product side is hurting like everyone else, but we’re starting to reap the reward of investing in network operations. You’ve still got to win the business though.”
SCCA is a member of CRN's Fast50 Channel Elite.
CRN has requested an interview with Sakalas.
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