Samsung loses another enterprise channel leader

Another enterprise leader has parted ways Samsung Australia, with director of business solutions Todd Lynton exiting after four years at the consumer electronics vendor.

A Samsung Electronics Australia spokesperson confirmed Lynton's departure "to pursue new opportunities".

"During his time at Samsung, Mr Lynton was instrumental in the establishment of several key business units and led the growth of Samsung’s curved monitor portfolio, as well as the memory and solid-state drive (SSD) business in Australia. We wish Mr Lynton every success in his future endeavours."

The spokesperson said Samsung was reorganising "to a vertically aligned structure for LCD monitor and brand storage categories". CRN has requested further detail on this restructure.

Lynton told CRN: "I have been with Samsung for four years – quite a reasonable stint – and done a lot of things. I've launched a lot of categories and products. For me, it was time to move on."

Before joining Samsung in 2012, Lynton had been country manager of Fitbit and also Cisco's ANZ managing director of consumer products.

He said he was now focusing on his family business. Asked if he was eyeing a further career in the sector, Lynton said "Never say never. I do like technology and IT."

Enterprise exits

Lynton's departure follows a series of exits of enterprise leaders from the company, with one channel partner – speaking to CRN on condition of anonymity – saying that he was worried Samsung's enterprise division has been "dismantled". "It is a very brutal political culture," he added.

Several senior Samsung execs have leapt to the channel side. Samsung's southern regional sales manager enterprise, Michael Cefai, departed in June after two years, and has since joined Sydney-headquartered Mobilise IT. National education lead Brett Wilson exited Samsung in November 2015, and has since joined publicly listed IT solution provider CSG. Samsung's partner business manager enterprise, Andrew Charles left in June 2015 and is now national sales manager at Computers Now.

Other exits include a Perth-based partner business manager who departed in August and asked not to be named. Queensland-based key account manager Daniel Coughran exited Samsung in May and has since joined HP Inc. Samsung government sales leader Ben Sheehan moved to Lenovo in March.

One former Samsung Australia exec was scathing of the company's enterprise strategy. "They have sacked the entire channel team."

Samsung employs a number of seasoned former IBM executives in key enterprise positions, including business-to-business vice-president Steve Sherry, who had more than 15 years at Big Blue when he joined Samsung in 2014, sales director enterprise business Paul Sharpe and Dean Evans, director of business development, enterprise business.

Samsung operates in two separate silos, with the mobility business running separately to consumer electronics (CE), which comprises tablets, monitors, large-format displays and SSDs. The company recently appointed a new vice-president of the mobile division, Richard Fink.

Harry Lee was named president of Samsung Australia in January, the vendor's third country manager in three years.