Whitty exits Cisco to join rivals

Former Cisco UK&I channel boss Angela Whitty has left the networking giant to head Crawley-based IT solutions provider Ampito Group.

Whitty said taking the CEO role at Ampito was a “compelling opportunity” after 29 years at Cisco, the last seven of which were spent as MD of UK&I partner sales.

She said that it intrigued her to see how the other half lived after being part of the vendor space for so long.

The Cisco, Fortinet, Dell and HP partner harbours aspirations to grow revenue billings from a current level of about £100-£250 milling over the next five years, Whitty said.

Founded in 2006 by Manny Pinon, Ampito employs around 70 staff in its Gatwick, New York, Paris, Hong Kong, and Singapore offices. Although it grew from multiple brands including Vanix, Redvue and Appcelerate, the Ampito brand now takes centre stage, Whitty said.

According to the company, Whitty’s background makes her well placed to bring in the kind of experience across sales, operations, and services that Ampito is seeking to help it grow. The emphasis is now on deepening core tier-one vendor relationships and “continuous improvement” of customer service.

Despite suddenly competing against partners she previously managed, Whitty stressed that those she has sounded out have all been “hugely supportive” of the move.

“The great thing about the channel community is that, while everyone competes, there is also a lot of collaboration. It was a tough decision to leave, but it was such a compelling opportunity.”

Running Cisco’s UK&I channel was “by far my favourite role at Cisco”, Whitty added, emphasising that the focus was not just on sales but also working with a community built on trying to do good stuff.