Panasonic Federal Exec Exits in Wake of Restructuring

Following buzz over the past month or so, Jan O'Hara officially announced her plans to leave her post as senior director for Panasonic's federal region at the end of July. This comes after 10 years with the company. <P> In an email correspondence, O'Hara indicated that she would spend some time with her family before deciding her next move. "Since I plan to be back in the industry shortly, I would say to the resellers - 'thanks for your support in helping making Panasonic a household name in the rugged PC market and I will see you soon!'" <P> That is encouraging, given the fact that O'Hara played a large role in improving Panasonic's program over the last few years. While the vendor has long been channel friendly, it improved access to its Toughbook line a year ago by expanding its federal distribution channel to include Synnex and Tech Data, rather than GTSI only. That, combined with generous support and resources provided to partners, earned Panasonic 5 stars from GovernmentVAR for its government program. O'Hara deserves some credit for that. <P> But should her departure cause some worry? The news comes in the wake of a restructuring at Panasonic that folded channel management for both the federal and commercial markets under one umbrella. This is an interesting move, given the clear differences that exist between the two markets and how vendor and solution provider alike targets them. I reserve judgment for now, and will likely form more of an opinion after I talk to Panasonic next week about the strategy and how resellers are reacting. <P> One thing is certain, however -- with any major change, there is often a transitional period. A lot of eyes will be on Panasonic to see how it's handled, and more departures -- whether related to the restructuring or not -- could rattle the channel. With that in mind, management should make a big effort to keep the dialogue open.