Tag: appointments

Blackberry calls in the Cisco kid

Posted on July 14, 2015 by - Moving People, News

hqdefault (2)Troubled smartphone maker BlackBerry has named former Cisco Kid Carl Wiese as head of global sales – a move which is expected to shake-up the company’s channel.

Wiese has spent the past 12 years at Cisco, first heading advanced technology sales and later its collaboration-product sales efforts. Those teams focus on aspects such as security and web conferencing, areas that BlackBerry is trying to expand within.

Wiese, who has previously worked with Apple, Avaya, Lucent and Texas Instruments, will be responsible for driving its go-to-market strategy and global sales efforts.

BlackBerry Chief Executive John Chen said in a statement said that Wiese had extensive experience in enterprise software and emerging technology solutions, which will be instrumental as BlackBerry moves toward stabilising revenue. Or in English, making money again.

The move comes less than three weeks after BlackBerry posted weaker-than-expected sales growth from its software business in the first quarter.

Chen, who set a software revenue target of $500 million for the current fiscal year, has built his turnaround plan around a software growth strategy, hoping sales from device-management software and fledgling areas like the Internet of

Things can replace BlackBerry’s traditional service fee structure and falling revenue from smartphone sales.

BlackBerry declined to comment on whether Wiese’s appointment, which followed his successor John Sims’ exit was tied to weaker-than-expected software revenue growth. But it is expected that he will look to the channel to improve the company’s bottom line.

BlackBerry is also widely expected to debut a new Android-based smartphone this year in an attempt to boost its hardware sales.

Seagate clears out salesfolk

Posted on May 23, 2013 by - Moving People, News

seagate-longmontSeagate has shaken up its sales and marketing organisation in EMEA.

The company says that it has made the changes to ensure that it was “optimally positioned” to work with its customers to best address evolving market opportunities across the region. In particular, it wants to take full advantage of its potential in areas such as cloud computing, solid state drives and branded storage solutions.

Joe Fagan has been appointed senior director, Cloud Initiatives, EMEA. In this newly created position he will be responsible for shaping Seagate’s Cloud strategy and engagement in the region.

Fagan joins Seagate from UK storage distributor CMS Peripherals where he was responsible for shaping and delivering the company’s B2B and enterprise storage strategy Seagate said that here he developed and launched the company’s cloud initiative “Cloud Made Simple” in 2009.

He previously held EMEA-wide sales and marketing positions at Maxtor and Adaptec. Fagan will report to Mark Whitby, Seagate’s vice president of EMEA Sales & Marketing and Global Channel Sales.

Bernd Breinbauer has been appointed to the newly created role of director of EMEA SSD Sales with responsibility for developing sales of the company’s comprehensive solid state drive portfolio across the region. Breinbauer was previously sales director for Seagate’s Central Europe region and has also held positions in OEM sales management. Prior to joining Seagate, he worked with Hitachi.

Henk van den Berg, sales director, will take on leadership of Seagate’s Central Europe region in addition to his existing responsibility for Northern Europe in a new combined Northern and Central Europe region.

The company has also named Dimitri Galle as senior director of Sales and Marketing, Branded Products, EMEA. In his new position he will be responsible for sales and marketing of all Seagate-branded retail products across the region. He was previously senior manager, Sales and Marketing, for branded products in the central Europe region.

Separately, Mark Whitby, Seagate’s vice president of EMEA Sales and Marketing since 2009, has also been charged with responsibility for the company’s global distribution channel sales, developing and leading strategy and delivery of the business worldwide.

In his new role as vice president, EMEA Sales & Marketing and Global Channel Sales, Whitby leads a matrix team spread across sales, marketing, product management, pricing and finance to deliver on Seagate’s goals, as well as working to define longer term business planning.

Invotec hires new sales guy

Posted on May 20, 2013 by - Moving People, News

John Fitzpatrick HeadshotInvotec Group has announced that it has appointed a new sales account manager.

The European manufacturer of time critical, high technology PCBs has said John Fitzpatrick will join its payroll and will be responsible for the South East region.

John apparently has over 25 years’ experience working with OEMs and CEMs as well as  an in-depth understanding of customer requirements, from component to complete system level, across a range of market sectors, including automotive, aerospace, defence, security, rail and electronic manufacturing.

As he is based in West Sussex, John is also said to have an extensive local knowledge of the South East area.

Matt Bowman, Invotec Group Sales Director, said John had just the kind of knowledge and experience that the company was looking for to “strengthen” its sales and account management function.

Ingram Micro names new finance VP

Posted on April 18, 2013 by - Moving People

IMIngram Micro has appointed Gina Mastantuono as executive vice president of finance.

Mastantuono will now be responsible for the company’s financial planning, analysis, controllership, SEC reporting, treasury and tax and will report directly to Bill Humes , chief operating and financial officer at Ingram Micro.

Prior to joining Ingram Micro, Mastantuono was at Revlon for six years, serving most recently as senior vice president, chief accounting officer, controller and international chief financial officer.

Before Revlon, she held various finance executive roles, including four years with InterActive and four years with Triarc Companies,

She is also a Certified Public Accountant and has 21 years of finance experience.

Mastantuono attended the State University of New York, where she earned a bachelor’s of science degree in accounting and business administration.

Acronis makes Craig Dynes the head beancounter

Posted on March 20, 2013 by - Moving People, News

AcAcronis has taken on Craig Dynes as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
Dynes will join the data company from his previous role as CFO and SVP of Pegasystems, bringing 30 years of experience to his new role.

Dynes will be responsible for directing Acronis’ long-term strategic growth investments and providing global leadership for financial planning, administrative and business planning, accounting and budgeting requirements.

Acronis said that Dynes’ “extensive background in all aspects of finance”, including treasury, strategic planning, acquisitions and business model transformation made “him a key member of the senior management team”.

Dynes joined Pegasystems in 2006. From 2004 to 2006, he served as CFO of Demandware, at that time a venture-backed enterprise software firm. Prior to that he served as President and CEO of Narad Networks, a manufacturer of equipment for the cable television industry from 2003 to 2004.

From 1997 to 2002, Dynes served as CFO of SilverStream Software, an application development software company. He is also claimed to have held senior financial positions at Sybase and Powersoft.

PEER 1 Hosting makes King a Channel chieftain

Posted on March 12, 2013 by - Moving People, News

PeerPEER 1 Hosting has appointed Mark King its EMEA Channel Executive.

The global IT hosting provider has said that Mark will lead the EMEA channel programme, with his efforts focused on nurturing PEER 1 Hosting’s existing partnerships as well as bringing on board new partners who can join in building on its rapid growth.

Mark worked with  companies like Avnet in the IBM Business Unit. He says he is now keen to “drive dialogue between PEER 1 Hosting partners to ignite collaboration and enable them to develop intrinsic skills to advise, build, sell and integrate solutions together”,

The appointment follows a recent announcement by PEER1 Hosting, which has
expanded its strategic alliance programme. It claims that its partners who consult, build and deliver business critical services to medium and large organisations are vital to PEER 1 Hosting.

Infoblox appoints Henk Jan Spanjaard as EMEA veep

Posted on March 4, 2013 by - Moving People

Hands across the waterInfoblox has appointed Henk Jan Spanjaard as Vice President of Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

The immediate appointment means that Spanjaard will be responsible for leading the automated network control company’s  EMEA team in helping enterprises and channel partners prepare for the networking needs of the future.

In the second quarter of Infoblox’s fiscal year, EMEA revenue increased 35 percent year-on-year.  The company recently opened new offices in Russia, Turkey and the UAE. Last month, it also launched a suite of new products that it claimed handed customers greater control of their corporate IT networks with increased security and availability.

Infoblox said it was fortunate to have Henk on board and would put him to work
“educating the market on how Infoblox can help organisations better manage the demands put on their networks”.

He will also be tasked with promoting the value of the Infoblox suite of automated network control services to prospective and existing customers, as well as the Infoblox pan-European channel.

Spanjaard,is multilingual and has experience in network storage, network management and security market segments. He has held senior managerial positions in the EMEA networking industry for 20 years, including with vendors like NetApp, Mu Dynamics and Imperva.

VIP Computers shirks “rough conditions”

Posted on January 31, 2013 by - Interviews, News

VIP_square_CMYK Despite “rough conditions” in the channel, VIP Computers has said it will continue to push on with its channel strategy and look to hire more senior management in the future.

Speaking with ChannelEye, the distie said channel partners will also continue to see support.

The comments follow an announcement earlier in the week where it said it had appointed two new team members, showing that even in times of economic hardship it continued “to buck the trend”.

The appointments follow the company gobbling up sister company Realtime and unveiling a £1.6 million warehouse expansion.

Frazer Hamilton joins as a product manager and it is hoped his previous record of dealing with major accounts such as Samsung, Sony and LG where he had a similar role within the distribution sector, will help boost business at VIP.

Also joining the ranks is Amanda Baxter, who has taken a position in the company’s accounts department after working for businesses such as Morrison’s and Yorkshire Bank.

“These two new appointments are fully in-line with our plans moving forward,” a spokesperson said, speaking with ChannelEye.

“The appointment of Fraser to look after 600 products was vital for VIP to continue its focus on components and deliver on two key areas for the business, focus and flexibility. Having Fraser in place gives us the focus we need for this product sector, but also much needed flexibility to deliver what our vendors and customers need.”

The spokesperson added that channel partners will be given the “support they need” to get products out to end users.

Speaking about its future, VIP hinted that it would be hiring again in the coming months as well as branching out other parts of its business.

“We will continue to bring on product managers as we expand our vendor base in the PC gaming peripherals market,” it said.

“We’re also continuing to keep a close eye on the cloud services market and will be appointing employees to this market once we have determined a clear route to market for our existing channel partners.”