TBI, MetTel Alum Helping Telesystem Agents Sell Services

Telesystem, the provider of networking and collaboration services, just hired TBI’s former senior vice president.

Ken Mercer will work as a channel account executive for the Ohio-based company. He’ll draw from the many years he spent at the master agent to develop Telesystem’s agent community in the Midwest. Mercer works out of Illinois.

Telesystem’s Ken Mercer

Telesystem chief business development officer Bruce Wirt praised Mercer on Tuesday.

“There are not many people better known and respected in the channel than Ken Mercer,” said Wirt. “I’ve known Ken for the better part of 10 years and his addition will make a big impact to the success of our program. Aside from his individual contributions, Ken is a leader on the field and a great fit for the Telesystem culture.”

Telesystem’s Bruce Wirt

Agent Channel Background

Mercer most recently worked at MetTel as director of strategic sales, but he most notably spent 13 years at TBI. He earned honors while working for the master agent, including a spot on the VAR Guy’s (now part of Channel Futures) Top 50 Channel Influencers. TBI grew from nine employees to 250 during his tenure, according to Mercer’s LinkedIn account. He left the company in 2016 to join the TBI-affiliated agent Mason Technologies.

He also worked at Sprint and CenturyLink.

“Telesystem has the positive culture, talented professionals and innovative solutions I have been looking for to provide our partners,” Mercer said. “I am proud to make Telesystem my new home. My future just became really exciting.”

Telesystem earlier this year announced that it was reshaping its channel program to better focus on the agent channel.

We recently wrote about Telesystem’s new agreement with Versa Networks and Telarus. The setup allows Telarus to sell Versa’s SD-WAN solutions and rely on Telesystem to perform deployment and managed services.

Mayka Rosales-Peterson, who works as Telesystem’s channel marketing coordinator, recently penned a blog for Channel Partners about workforce diversity.