March’s Channel People on the Move

By now, you know how this works.

But for Channel Partners newbies, every month we publish a litany of faces that are on the move – getting promoted or taking new jobs with companies that do business in the channel.

For instance, this month you’ll find a new channel chief at Verizon. Also here is a well-known industry speaker taking a full-time gig at Salesforce. Add to that the slew of new-hire announcements coming out of the Channel Partners Conference & Expo, and you’ll find no shortage of familiar faces in this image gallery.

This list is by no means comprehensive, but it gives you a nice sampling of the new hires and promotions in March who will have a day-to-day impact on the industry or make decisions that will have a trickle-down effect on the channel.

You’re sure to see people you know.

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

Follow senior online managing editor Craig Galbraith on Twitter.

Verizon Enterprise Solutions named Janet Schijns its new channel chief with the departure of Adam Famularo, who is leaving to head up a software company.

Schijns, a very well-known figure at Channel Partners events, previously was vice president and chief marketing technologist at Verizon Enterprise. Famularo has been vice president of global channels since September 2014.

Salesforce, the cloud computing company, hired Tiffani Bova to fill the newly created position of global, customer growth and innovation evangelist.

Bova. another very familiar face in the channel, previously was with Gartner, where she spent 10 years as VP, distinguished analyst and research fellow. With Salesforce, she will use her knowledge of sales, channels, CRM and industries to help the company’s customers improve sales performance and enhance customer experience.

As part of its entry into the international market with the launch of a European office, Intelisys hired Stephen Hackett to help guide the expansion.

Hackett most recently served as channel sales manager for NFON, a European provider of cloud telecom services. Additionally, he has held senior roles with Gamma Business Communications, Orange Business Services, Level 3 Communications and Telstra Europe.

Channel folks know BCN Telecom‘s latest hires from their days at XO Communications.

The first is Jay McClure (left), who joined BCN to strengthen its commitment to expanding its agent network. McClure was XO’s channel manager and was with that company since March 2010. As a member of BCN’s team of agent sales directors, he will serve select markets, providing direct support to its network of sales partners.

Jeanne Duca is BCN’s new vice president of marketing. Partners will know her as the former head of the channel marketing team at XO.

Testa joins Star2Star Communications from Polycom, where he spent five years as global vice president, Cloud and Service Provider Solutions Group.

TBI added a pair of new national channel managers.

Johnson Tran (pictured), based in Houston, began his career at T-Mobile. After six years with the carrier, he took on various roles within the telecommunications industry including a management position with Clearwire Corp. Before coming to TBI, Johnson served as the director of Marketing & Strategic Initiatives at United Mobile Solutions.

Ash Kakish (not pictured), is based in Chicago. He has more than 10 years of experience in indirect sales and a strong background in business development. Most recently, he was the director of Business Development with Sprint Business Solutions.

Master agent eXemplify Group made a trio of job announcements.

Georgie Zang (top) is the company’s new director of Verizon Enterprise sales. She will develop and lead sales strategy for enterprise markets, provide key partner support, and drive Verizon services and solutions. Zang joins eXemplify Group after leading her own practice, The Zang Group, for almost nine years.

Rob Shelby (bottom left) is eXemplify’s new VP of sales and marketing. In this role, the 8×8 veteran will oversee all aspects of the department, including developing and strengthening strategic relationships, business development, sales partner programs, and ensuring all initiatives align with sales and marketing goals.

Jason Bird (bottom right) is eXemplify’s new VP of operations. He’s been promoted up the ranks since first joining the company in 2009 as an account manager.

Networking services provider Extreme Networks announced the appointment of Cisco’s Gordon Mackintosh as senior director of its worldwide partner program and sales business development.

Mackintosh will be responsible for the ongoing development of the Extreme Partner Network (EPN) to provide the company’s global partner ecosystem with new revenue streams and growth opportunities. Mackintosh previously held a variety of sales – and specifically, the channel – leadership roles at Cisco, where he developed go-to-market strategies for Catalyst Switching and was the head of distribution and SMB in the U.K.

MineralTree expanded its partner program for resellers and business process outsourcers (BPOs), a project that will fall under the reins of new partner development manager Colin Toomey.

Toomey said the company’s channel program has been in place for a year now and it has been working with just under 20 partners. By formalizing and expanding the program, MineralTree is looking to “dramatically grow the number of partners we work with,” he said.

Olson held the position of director of business development at EarthLink from late 2013 until summer of last year.  He also held several senior leadership sales and indirect sales roles at Windstream, XO Communications and Netlogic, serving all market segments from small and midsize businesses (SMBs) to large enterprises.

Also new to Global Capacity is CTO Tony Thakur (right), who most recently was TelePacific’s vice president of engineering and technology. At GC, he’ll head up the company’s One Marketplace platform.

Network security provider Netsurion hired Mark Cornwell as its chief information officer and Rene Gonzalez as its new chief financial officer.

Cornwell (left), the former CTO at Swiss Watch International, said he joined Netsurion because of its appeal to businesses with multiple locations. Gonzalez most recently served as vice president of finance and operations at digital shopping company Joinem. He also was the CFO of Woot, an Amazon subsidiary.

VoIP Supply appointed Don Stefanie to a new channel manager position.

Stefanie has more than 18 years of professional sales experience, with the past 14 in the IT channel. He’s been with VoIP Supply for five years; before that, he spent 14 years at Ingram Micro.

Master agent TeleDomani made three new hires/promotions to enhance back office partner support.

Janine Viverito (left), who’s a 10-year veteran of the company, was promoted to senior manager of Agent Experience and VPP specialist. Jennifer Varenka (center) was appointed chief operating officer of TeleDomani/MPG Management; most recently, she was a consultant for Verizon.

Charlie McElroy (right) is a new marketing coordinator with the company, and Thomas Hamilton – previously an independent agent working with TeleDomani – accepted a full-time gig as Inside Sales Specialist.

Matrix, the 100-percent channel IT and cloud services provider, promoted Scott Lee to the role of executive VP of sales. He has led the company’s channel program since 2014.

In his new role, Lee is responsible for all sales including channels, strategic alliances and alternative forms of revenue for the company.

Master agent Avant Communications appointed Alex Danyluk (left) to the newly created position of chief strategy officer.

Danyluk was vice president of Alliances at Odin since 2011, where he was responsible for building the global ISV and SaaS partner ecosystem from its infancy. At Avant, Danyluk is responsible for leading the company’s strategic growth initiatives, including the vendor partner program, channel expansion and marketing.

Jason Buttner (right) is Avant’s new senior director of channel sales. Formerly, Buttner was national partner director at Windstream, where he was responsible for managing the executive and business-development relationships of some of the largest and best-known national agencies in the industry.