Channel People on the Move: Windstream, Broadvoice, T-Mobile
Windstream, T-Mobile, Ujet and Ivanti were among the many channel vendors and partners reporting new hires and promotions in October.
As the coronavirus pandemic has dragged on, at least one thing has returned to some normalcy — channel people on the move.
The gallery below features 20 personnel moves at companies that do business in the channel. They are your friends, your colleagues — even your rivals.
The headliner in the group is probably the new channel chief at Windstream, whom many of you know from his days at Birch. Ujet, the CCaaS provider, also got a new chief.
But you’ll find more than just channel chiefs here. We’ve got other executives on the move, including those at security providers Mimecast and Avast, as well as Logicalis, a global MSP.
Those are just a few of the new hires and promotions; be sure to look at our previous edition featuring Intrado, Fusion Connect and Telesystem, to see those you missed. Also, you don’t have to wait for our monthly recap to keep up. Investigate our webpage dedicated to the topic 24/7.
Follow executive editor @Craig_Galbraith on Twitter.
Windstream's Brad Smith
A third channel chief in three years took the helm of Windstream Enterprise's partner program.Windstream announced the appointment of Brad Smith to head of strategic channels. He previous was vice president of indirect sales, while Matt Milliron led channels. Smith in his previous job helped spur a channel integration initiative that developed into a nationwide program. The channel also knows him well from his days at Birch Communications, which sold to Fusion Connect.
Learn more about Smith, his prior gigs, as well as the fate of his predecessor.
Mimecast's Jonathan Corini
Mimecast hired Jonathan Corini as its new senior vice president of global channel sales.The email management provider tapped Corini to lead its channel partner program. Mimecast's chief revenue officer said the company needs the channel in order to grow its enterprise and SMB customers.
The new hire brings over a wealth of experience from his days as Forescout Technologies' channel chief. Corini worked at the device visibility and control provider for three years.
Read about Corini.
Ujet's Karen Bowman
The CCaaS solutions provider shored up its channel leadership.Karen Bowman, who most recently worked for Five9, assumed Ujet's vice president of channel position. She has also worked for Serenova and HPE.
She'll look to scale the channel efforts following the company's $55 million Series C funding round.
Edward Gately reported on the hire.
T-Mobile's James Kirby
The carrier set a single figure over its indirect and direct sales. James Kirby, senior vice president of T-Mobile Business, will supervise and work to eliminate channel conflict.“Now we have one sales leader who can eliminate the friction between our two businesses,” Kirby said.
The shift also entails the departure of Tim Acker, who had been working as channel chief of T-Mobile for Business.
Read about the supplier agreement and the virtual conference.
CX Effect's Andrew Pryfogle
Andrew Profygle, a long-time fixture in the agent channel, is starting his own company.Pryfogle announced his partner firm — a customer experience integrator named CX Effect. He departed from Pax8, which he joined with the intention of converging the agent and MSP channels.
Pryfogle also worked for several years at Intelisys.
Learn about his career change.
Broadvoice's Robert Sanchez and Joseph Galluzzi
The Northridge, California-based UCaaS vendor bulked up its regional partner support.
The company hired two regional channel managers who will help partners in their sales efforts. Robert Sanchez Ileft) and Joseph Galluzzi, who now handle the Mountain West and Northeast, respectively, bring their experience to Broadvoice.
Read about the hires.
Axis Security's Kimber Garrett
Garrett is the new head of channel sales at Axis Security, which has a 100% channel model. Her job is to develop the company's North American partner strategy and programs. Axis' partner roster includes VARs, system integrators and MSSPs, as well as original equipment manufacturers.The news comes following the close of Axis' $32 million funding round.
Garrett says helping partners meet customers' demand for work-from-anywhere solutions is a big focus. Most recently, she built a channel program for network security company Corelight.
See what else she has up her sleeve for Axis Security.
Avast Business' Mark Botham
Avast, the business security provider, hired Botham seven months ago as regional director for the U.K. and Ireland. The company has already promoted him to VP of worldwide channel and alliances for Avast Business.Botham's background includes stints at big names such as Microsoft and Symantec. Immediately before joining Avast, he was managing director of U.K. and Ireland at Quest.
Read our Q&A on Botham's plans for the Avast Business channel.
Sophos' Erin Malone and Kevin Isaac
Sophos added Erin Malone and Kevin Isaac to its leadership team.Malone, who has been at Sophos for five years, previously was VP of North America channel sales. Now she's senior VP of sales for Americas. Isaac is new to the company, coming from Forcepoint, where he was chief revenue officer. Isaac is Sophos' new senior VP of sales for EMEA.
Get the full scoop on what Malone and Isaac bring to the Sophos leadership team.
Vertiv's Pete Klanian
Vertiv, the data center solutions provider, formally introduced its new channel chief to its partner community last month. It happened at the company's digital partner summit, several months after Klanian officially took the reins.His job is to drive strategy and sales, mainly for the North America channel community. You might know him from his 13 years at Dell, with much of his career working with partners.
Get to know Klanian better.
Skybox Security's Tom Gleason
Say hello to Tom Gleason, Skybox Security's new VP of North America sales and field operations. His 30 years of experience includes his last gig, area VP for western and central North American sales at Riverbed.Skybox says Gleason increased subscription licenses by 60% at Riverbed. Before that, he was VP of sales at Motorola Solutions.
Gleason explains why he wanted to work for Skybox.
TIBCO's Rani Johnson
Johnson is the new chief information officer at TIBCO Software, which specializes in application integration, analytics and more. She will work with customers, partners and the TIBCO management team to connect "business, infrastructure and sustainable innovation."
Johnson most recently was CIO at SolarWinds, where she was directly involved in the development of new technologies. She also drove the company's GDPR transformation. Moreover, Johnson led the enterprise business applications, IT infrastructure, DevOps and information security teams.
Axcient's Charles Tomeo
Tomeo (pictured), whom the channel knows from his days at Webroot, is the new chief revenue officer at Axcient. Axcient provides business availability software to managed service providers.The company also named Tim Sheahan VP of U.S. sales, Jim D'Espinoza as director of OEM and licensing, and Phillip Seigenfeld as director of partnerships.
“As we continue to simplify the experience for our partners with our award-winning technology, this team will empower us to scale as an organization, maximize the sales performance, and drive us to succeed," said Axcient CEO David Bennett.
Ivanti's Melissa Puls
Ivanti, the IT and security automation provider, hired Melissa Puls as senior VP and chief marketing officer. As CMO, she will lead Ivanti's global marketing effort to drive expansion and adoption of the company's enterprise software.Her last job was at Avid, where she led the company's global marketing strategy.
“Melissa is the ideal leader to enrich and expand the Ivanti marketing footprint as we actively grow, both organically and through acquisition,” said Jeff Abbott, president of Ivanti.
YourSix's Ken Worcester
Worcester brings both telecom and physical security experience to the channel chief role at YourSix. YourSix is a physical security-as-a-service provider.Worcester will oversee YourSix's channel sales strategy and execution. His last job was VP of indirect sales, commercial and residential programs at WOW Internet, Cable & Phone.
ASCII Group's Jessie Devine
Devine is the new director of channel development for the ASCII Group, which is a membership-based community of independent North American MSPs, MSSPs, VARs and solution providers.In this role, she is responsible for developing key alliances while creating new channel strategies for ASCII's vendor partner program.
Devine recently held a customer-facing role with MSPs as Quoteworks' community engagement manager.
Infoblox's Scott Jacobs
Infoblox promoted Scott Jacobs to senior director, worldwide channel strategy and operations.In his two-plus years as a director, he has led the development of the foundation for reporting and metrics that enables Infoblox to monitor the success of its business operations. He has also played a key role in supporting the integration of Infoblox's channel organization with the idea-to-offer process, which helps to ensure channel visibility, readiness and drives successful product launches.
Logicalis' Mick McNeil
Logicalis, the IT solutions provider and MSP, appointed Mick McNeil to the position of VP for business development. It's a new role to lead the "evolution" of Logicalis' digital transformation business leveraging Microsoft's technologies.McNeil will relocate from Microsoft's Seattle-area headquarters to Europe. He held several global roles within Microsoft's commercial partner organization.
