What’s Fueling Cloud Channel Chief Turnover at AWS, Azure, Google, More?

Turnover among cloud channel chiefs is raising eyebrows.

In the last year, all three hyperscalers and at least three of the smaller or more peripheral cloud providers have installed new channel heads — some with less publicity than others.

Microsoft Azure kicked off the changes last March. That’s when the company replaced Gavriella Schuster with Rodney Clark. Then came Amazon Web Services, when Doug Yeum left for a retail role at Amazon, succeeded by Cisco’s Ruba Borno. Sandy Carter left as head of the AWS public sector channel, as well. After that, a quiet shuffling at Google Cloud, where Kevin Ichhpurani took over from Carolee Gearhart to no fanfare. And then Rackspace saw sudden turnover when Lisa McLin and Michael Stephens both left — again, with no announcements from the vendor itself. Finally, Intel and Red Hat, too, removed and replaced their top cloud channel executives.

No doubt about it, something appears afoot within the cloud channel. Depending on whom you talk to, the factors influencing the comings and goings vary. For sure, there are some constants, some predictable explanations. And then there are some not-so-standard answers.

Let’s dive in.

Factor 1: Leading a Channel Program Is No Picnic

Regardless of the technology (cloud, network, security, hardware, whatever), spearheading a channel program requires boundless tenacity, vision, energy and complete focus. As part of all of that, a channel chief has to juggle demands from two, sometimes (or, often?) opposed, parties: vendor and partner. It’s hard work, punctuated by the inescapable human realities of corporate politics and interpersonal conflicts.

IDC’s Stuart Wilson

“Fundamentally,” says Stuart Wilson, research director, European partnering ecosystems at IDC, “channel leaders are masters of managing controlled conflict: meeting and exceeding the expectations of partners while simultaneously driving forward an agenda that benefits the vendor. That is a challenging remit that can actually become harder – not easier – the longer a channel leader stays in the same role.”

To be sure, partners know attrition among their channel chiefs is nothing short of inevitable.

Forrester’s Jay McBain

“The tenure of these jobs is short – 4.2 years average – due to the heavy stress and workload,” says Forrester’s Jay McBain.

Part of the stress stems from the sheer competitive nature of the job.

“All these companies want channel chiefs who are well connected, well respected, who are going to continue to drive a growth rate that is almost impossible to satisfy,” says Daniel Newman, founding partner and principal analyst at Futurum Research.

Futurum Research’s Daniel Newman

Due in part to those factors, over at Techaisle, the shelf life for channel chiefs falls far short of 4.2 years.

“In the last 10-15 years, the average tenure of channel chief is about 18 months,” says head analyst Anurag Agrawal. “If a channel chief stays in the role for more than 19 months, then that is something extraordinary.”

Factor 2: People Are People

Techaisle’s Anurag Agrawal

Tenure length notwithstanding, the truth is that working as a channel chief, cloud or not, consumes a person. Long hours, sales quotas, travel — it all adds up.

“There’s so much stress on the job,” McBain says. “It’s like the president of the United States who goes gray in those four years. A channel chief is kind of the same thing.”

At some point, burnout happens (sources say that was the case at Rackspace, where a miraculous …