VARs Give Their Take On New Tech Data Chief

Solution providers are walking around the new Tech Data CEO, kicking his tires to see how he responds. So far they like what they see, but they're not ready to buy until they see what's under the hood.

"I don't know anything about him. My concern—as always—is their focus on the smaller resellers, to help us be as competitive as we can," said Bob Parsons, president of Automated Office Solutions, an Evansville, Ind., solution provider. Dutkowsky is the man tasked with succeeding Steve Raymund, the face and brains behind Tech Data for more than two decades. Understandably, the new guy will be under considerable scrutiny when he takes the reins at the $20 billion company Oct. 2. He knows that, and it's OK.

"I need to spread out and talk to customers, employees, vendors and partners, listening carefully to why customers do business with us [and] why they don't do business with us, why employees chose to work with Tech Data," said Dutkowsky, the current chairman, president and CEO of Egenera, a Marlboro, Mass.-based maker of enterprise data center architecture.

"I also will talk to our important vendors to make sure they think of Tech Data first when they bring out a new product or service," he said. "We need to solidify those important relationships. The [final] thing you want to focus on is the senior management team, the people leading the company every single day. How do I help them do their job better? I want to be ultra-hands-on for the first 100 days."

Parsons and other solution providers took notice of Dutkowsky's long career at IBM while reading about the man chosen after an eight-month search. And they see that much of his experience is with enterprise-focused companies, but not SMB. And that two of the three companies for which he's been CEO were sold during his tenure. So they're watching carefully.

"With his IBM background and training, he's probably very process-oriented," said Dave Gilden, partner and COO at Acuity Solutions,Tampa, Fla. "He'll probably go in there and take a hard look at what's going on and try to shake things up a little bit."

Is that a good thing?

"Change in executive management is inevitable and it's a good thing as long as you pick the right person," he said.

Only time can answer that question, he added. But Raymund and the Tech Data board feel they have the right man after a search initially expected to take three to six months.

"As you might imagine, we developed a fairly comprehensive list of attributes we were looking for to help guide our search. Among them would be: relevant experience, particularly in IT. To the extent that IT experience was buttressed by specific channel experience and capability, so much the better. Global experience with a larger company was a real asset," Raymund said. "Looking at the quality of the individual, somebody who's a clear leader, who is good with strategy and at the same time also with execution," Raymund said. "Which also means on one hand can work with the board or business partners in crafting strategy and then work with our management team in executing it effectively. Bob has an outstanding record in both those regards."

Dutkowsky takes over a company coming off a $155.5 million loss in its most recent fiscal quarter, albeit mainly due to a writedown for its European unit, and one facing further internal restructuring, heated competition and a middling economy.

Before Egenera, Dutkowsky was J.D. Edwards' chairman, president and CEO and led its 2003 sale to PeopleSoft for $1.7 billion. Prior to that, he served as president and CEO of GenRad, where in August 2001 he orchestrated a $260 million sale to Teradyne. Dutkowsky also has a long track record of channel partnerships during a 20-year career at IBM and three years at EMC, where from 1997 to 2000 he was executive vice president of markets and channels.

At IBM, he was regional vice president of product marketing for the RS/6000, S/390 and AS/4000 product lines; vice president of distribution for IBM Asia-Pacific; and executive vice president of worldwide sales and marketing for the RS/6000. At one time, he reported directly to former IBM Chairman and CEO Lou Gerstner.

Raymund and Dutkowsky did not know one another prior to the CEO search, but found they had enough mutual acquaintances to gather information about the other.

"It wasn't too hard to check out Bob, not with 20 years at IBM. He made a great name there and from our point of view, that lowered the risk and increased our comfort level," said Raymund. "He [worked at] one of the best-run companies in the world in IBM and had considerable executive and industry experience."

Dutkowsky has helped two companies through acquisitions, but he and Raymund said that experience didn't land him the job at Tech Data.

"Steve asked me early on, 'Is your skill set just buffing up companies and selling them?' My response was that I analyze the skill sets of companies and put them in the best position from an operating and performance point of view," Dutkowsky said. "The next thing is to create shareholder value. In those two cases, it just so happens that the right thing to do was [to sell theMandAmp;#93;. I'm not certain that's the right thing to do for Tech Data, a $20 billion company that has a position of leadership in the industry. My job is to come here and improve performance and improve shareholder value."

Added Raymund: "If I wanted to sell the company, I would have hired Goldman Sachs, not Bob Dutkowsky."