Now There's A Switch

There were no less than three leadership switch-ups last week at three key software companies. All are intriguing, but perhaps none more so than McAfee's appointment of former Software Spectrum president Roger King as executive vice president of worldwide sales.

HEATHER CLANCY Can be reached via e-mail at hclancy@cmp.com.

What gets me really excited about King's appointment is the spirit in which it has been made—cooperation.

When CRN spoke with McAfee President Kevin Weiss about the hire last week, he freely admitted that he changed his criteria for the recruitment along the way, which was especially difficult since he was essentially hiring his own replacement. "When you replace yourself in a job, you want to make sure you don't hire someone who is exactly like you," Weiss said. Two examples of fresh thinking that King can bring include the ability to think about how McAfee's products will play a role in multilayered solutions as well as how to operate in an environment with razor-thin margins, he added. We have yet to hear from King but are eager to learn his plans.

Weiss suggested more vendors will look to partners to help form their channel strategy. "It's clear to me there are a lot of very, very talented executives in all forms of the reseller channel," he said.

There are positive precedents, interestingly enough, both in the software industry: I point to former Microsoft U.S. channel chief Margo Day and current Sage Software channel leader Taylor Macdonald, both of whom were VARs in previous lives.

I'm not suggesting vendors begin poaching willy-nilly from their channel partners, but this sort of cross-pollination can only result in some great hybrid strategies in the future.

What do you think of your vendor's channel leadership? HEATHER CLANCY, Editor at CRN, appreciates feedback at hclancy@cmp.com.

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