CRN Interview: Mike Grainger, Ingram Micro

Ingram Micro President and COO Mike Grainger discussed his departure with Distribution Editor Scott Campbell and Editor/News Steven Burke.

CRN: What are the circumstances under which you are leaving?

GRAINGER: I have been talking to [Ingram Micro Chairman and CEO] Kent [Foster] and the board for a while about what I wanted to do. And the board has been working through a fairly methodical succession-planning process, which is good. I have been looking at what we have been doing here as a company and the things we have accomplished. I feel like we have done a good job here. We have re-established our leadership in this business. It just seemed like it is time to move on to what I want to do next. It was a very personal decision, and one you have to sort through and weigh a lot and take a lot of things into account: what I want to do, what the company wants to do, what the board wants to do.

CRN: In the end, what was the deal-killer on why you aren't in line to take the CEO reins?

GRAINGER: That is not particularly relevant, to tell you the truth. You decide what you need to do and where you fit in and how it fits in with what your life is. I am 51. I am young enough that I have enough work years ahead of me, but I am also at an age that if I am going to do something else, I need to do it pretty quickly. I am not somebody who's going to work until I drop. But I ain't dropping right now.

CRN: How quickly could you resurface at a distribution company, particularly in the IT industry?

GRAINGER: In IT distribution, I have a noncompete agreement [with Ingram Micro], which will be in public record. So it will be a while. But there are a lot of IT companies, and there are a lot of distribution companies. There are just a few IT distribution companies. I don't think you'd expect to see me in an IT distribution company anytime soon.

CRN: Solution providers are very surprised and sad to see you go. What would you like to say to solution providers?

GRAINGER: When I go to events that have our customers, one of the best things about those meetings is our customers coming up to me and saying, 'Mike, let me tell you about so and so, my account manager.' They go out of their way to tell me how good Ingram's account manager is. Those guys are still the account managers. We talk about this being a relationship game. And that day-to-day relationship isn't with Mike, and it is not with the senior executives here. It is with the account manager and the people in the field. That is where we are good.

CRN: If and when you decide to land somewhere else, are you looking only to be a CEO, or would you take a different role?

GRAINGER: I am pretty open-minded. The fact that I am pretty open-minded has worked pretty well for me. I don't see any reason to change now. It just depends on the circumstance.

CRN: Any final message to solution providers?

GRAINGER: Keep talking to that great Ingram account manager who works with them. That is how it works.