July’s Channel People on the Move

Channel Partners Evolution, Aug. 14-17, is rapidly approaching. We’re bound to see a number of new hires on the show floor and in private meeting rooms.

Meantime, July gave us new hires and promotions at such IT giants as Microsoft and Dell, as well as telecom leaders like Birch Communications.

What other companies are featured here? How about ForeScout, RapidScale and Avnet, just to name a few. That’s not to mention the places they used to work: EarthLink, AT&T, Verizon, Intelisys and other big names in the channel.

Our image gallery includes new channel chiefs, other sales leaders and various strategic decision makers from regional managers all the way up to CEOs. Some have a day-to-day impact on the channel, while others make decisions that affect partners more over the long haul.

This list is by no means comprehensive, but it gives you a nice sampling of the new hires and promotions in July. You’re sure to see people you know.

Missed last month’s “people” gallery? Click here to see who was on the move in June.

Follow senior online managing editor Craig Galbraith on Twitter.

Channel People on the Move: Birch’s Shawn Murray

Shawn Murray, the EarthLink vet who led that company’s managed-services unit, is now senior vice president and chief sales officer at Birch Communications.

In his new position, Murray is responsible for overseeing all retail sales channels, including direct sales, telesales, client services, inside sales and prepaid residential. He is focused on an expanded multi-channel strategy to drive organic sales performance.

Read our full story on Murray here.

Channel People on the Move: Microsoft’s Gavriella Schuster

Longtime Microsoft executive Gavriella Schuster is the software giant’s new global channel chief, taking over the helm from Phil Sorgen, who became the corporate vice president of the company’s U.S. enterprise and partner group.

In her new role, she’s responsible for setting the strategy for Microsoft’s partner ecosystem with a focus on driving digital transformation for partners and customers. Schuster has worked at Microsoft since November 1995 when she held the title of program manager for the Certified Technical Education Center (CTEC) program.

This is where to get the full scoop on Schuster.

Channel People on the Move: RapidScale’s Duane Barnes

Duane Barnes is the new director of sales engineering at RapidScale.

Previously, Barnes was a cloud specialist at master agent Intelisys, dedicated to partners in the Southeast region. He also has held positions with Open-Xchange and Windstream Hosted Solutions (now TierPoint).

In his new position, Barnes is responsible for leading a team of pre-sales engineers, building complex cloud computing services, and providing product marketing support to the RapidScale sales and executive teams.

Want to learn more about Barnes? Click here.

Channel People on the Move: LookingGlass’ Laurie Potratz

Security firm LookingGlass Cyber Solutions launching its Cyber Guardian Network and appointed industry veteran Laurie Potratz to lead it.

As vice president of global channels and alliances, she is responsible for delivering a “comprehensive channel program that empowers partners to deliver actionable threat intelligence to their customers.”

Prior to joining LookingGlass, Potratz held strategic positions with VMware, Brocade Communications, Symantec, Veritas Software and BMC Software.

Learn more about LookingGlass and Potratz here.

Channel People on the Move: SproutLoud’s Sean Wisdom

Sean Wisdom, Dell’s former global director for software marketing, joined SproutLoud, the marketing resource management software company, as its vice president of channel marketing.

With Dell, Wisdom built and executed strategies for mobility, cloud, analytics and security across the Americas, EMEA and APAC. He also led the development of AT&T’s indirect distribution strategy, and helped build Global 500 sales and marketing organizations for Verizon and Weblink Wireless.

More on Wisdom and SproutLoud can be found here.

Channel People on the Move: ForeScout’s Todd DeBell

Todd DeBell, formerly of FireMon, is the new global channel program leader at ForeScout Technologies, the network security firm.

There will no longer be a separate person in charge of the North America channel program. DeBell will be charged with consolidating ForeScout’s channel presence in North America and Europe, and expanding into new and emerging markets such as APAC.

Click here for our Q&A with DeBell.

Channel People on the Move: Avnet’s Bill Amelio

Distributor Avnet named Bill Amelio, a member of its board of directors, interim CEO.

He replaced Rick Hamada, who stepped down from his role as CEO and on the company’s board. Amelio was the president, chief executive officer and a director of CHC Group Ltd., an international oil-field services company, from 2010 to 2015.

Click here for the skinny on Amelio.

Channel People on the Move: ServiceSource’s Jack Johnson

In conjunction with Microsoft WPC, ServiceSource, the provider of revenue lifecycle management (RLM) solutions, appointed industry veteran Jack Johnson as VP of channel strategy.

In his expanded role with ServiceSource, Johnson will lead the company’s dedicated channel practice to build and deliver channel-specific RLM solutions, as well as add capabilities that will enhance ServiceSource’s ability to manage, assist and enable the channel on behalf of its clients.

You probably want to know more. It’s here.

Channel People on the Move: Huawei’s David He

Huawei appointed David He president of Huawei Enterprise U.S. He will be based in the company’s U.S. headquarters in Plano, Texas, and oversee the Enterprise Business Group’s American operations.

“In my new role, I look forward to continuing this momentum and expanding our business by raising awareness of Huawei’s state-of-the-art enterprise solutions and getting more partners involved in Huawei’s channel and service programs,” the 18-year Huawei veteran said.

Learn more about He here.

Channel People on the Move: Cloud24x7’s Jacob Thankachen

Cybersecurity startup Cloud24x7 appointed former Cyberoam channel executive Jacob Thankachen as its vice president of Americas business.

Thankachen will head Cloud24x7’s expansion in the Americas region. He will be responsible for driving sales and expanding channels to help the company grow regionally. He previously was Cyberoam’s vice president of North American channel and enterprise business.

Click here to learn more about Thankachen.

Channel People on the Move: Dell’s John Byrne

Dell took another step to reassure partners about its pending merger with EMC by announcing a new channel chief. John Byrne will assume the role of Dell Technologies’ global channel leader.

Byrne worked for AMD for eight years in various positions before coming to Dell in 2015. He also founded and sold off two channel-based companies during the 1990s.

Byrne’s taking on some big responsibilities.

Channel People on the Move: Kaspersky’s Kevin Lozeau

A new face is taking over channel marketing for Kaspersky Lab North America.

Kevin Lozeau left Hewlett Packard Enterprise to serve as director of channel marketing for Kaspersky. The cybersecurity provider says Lozeau will be responsible for finding new partners and executing marketing for current Kaspersky partners.

There’s much more to learn about Lozeau here.

Channel People on the Move: Zerto’s Jason Cowie

Zerto, the disaster-recovery provider, has a new face in charge of expanding its channel presence. The Boston-based company tapped Jason Cowie as its director of global partner and channel sales, citing his leadership experience with other software companies.

Cowie most recently led global channels and alliances for Virtual Instruments. He also has worked for Drive Protected, ITscape, Embotics and Configuresoft.

Learn more about Zerto and Cowie here.

Channel People on the Move: Arcserve’s Scott Petersen

Scott Petersen is the new vice president of global channel and alliances at Arcserve, charged with growing the company’s strategic technology partnerships and aligning its global channel strategies.

He previously was vice president of sales at Sphere 3D, where he grew its global presence and OEM business to 20 percent of worldwide revenue.

Petersen isn’t the only new addition to the Arcserve team. Learn more about Petersen, two more VPs and the company’s CFO here.

July’s Channel People on the Move

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