Novell Closing In On Vice President Of Channels For North America

Novell

In an interview with CRN at BrainShare 2002, however, Novell's Vice Chairman Chris Stone hinted that he was eyeing some heavy-hitting channel executives outside the company but offered no more details.

Novell executives are actively interviewing candidates for the company's new channel chief and the decision should be made shortly, sources say.

At its partner summit in January, Novell announced it would create a new position--vice president of channels for North America--and would name the new channel chief shortly. However, two months after that announcement was made, the position remains empty--at least publicly.

One Novell spokesman said a final decision has not been made and that newly-appointed executives--namely Stone and Novell's first Chief Marketing Officer, Debra Bergevine--want to participate in the hiring process.

Both of those executives--like Novell CEO Jack Messman--are based at the Cambridge, Mass., headquarters of Novell's Cambridge Technology Partners arm.

Novell's former channel chief, Mark Taylor, left the company in June during an internal restructuring as part of the merger with Cambridge Technology Partners that closed in July. His position as vice president of worldwide channel sales at Novell was eliminated.

In his absence, Ladd Timpson, Novell's worldwide director of channel marketing, is the de facto channel chief. Next in line is Starla Cox, director of North American channel and partnering at Novell.

At BrainShare, Timpson would not say whether he was a candidate for the job but claimed he will stay with the Novell channel group regardless of who becomes channel chief. "I will always be a channel guy," Timpson said, declining to offer any details on the short list of candidates.

It is not clear exactly what the organization chart will look like after Messman signs off on the new channels and partner management structure.

Stone said, for example, that current Novell Consulting and Systems Integrator (CSI) executive Mike Giovia will head up the overall partner program, leaving observers to wonder how powerful the new channel chief will be.

And still others note that the vice president of North American channels will report up to Cambridge Technology executive H. Carv Moore, president of Novell Americas.

During his BrainShare keynote, Stone emphasized that it is a top priority for Novell to "re-engage" channel partners to deliver new solutions and Web services.

When asked why Novell was creating an umbrella partner organization after Microsoft just disbanded a similar approach, Stone said a unified partner organization worked well at Novell in prior years.

"Web services opens up an enormous number of opportunities for the channel. It's a key area for us," Stone said, also announcing that the company will have one unified partner program for ISV, OEM, solution provider, consulting and systems integrators and developer partners. "We need you more than you need us."

Solution providers that have been estranged from Novell are pleased with the new management under Cambridge Technology.

"We have already re-activated our Platinum status for the new year. Our plan is to take it a year at a time," said Charlie Tragressor, CEO of Polar Systems in Portland, Oregon. "I believe the return of Jack Messman and his general retooling of the management team is very positive for Novell. I even think the infusion of some of the [Cambridge Technology managers into the Novell ranks has been great for our relationship with Novell. "