Fresh Blood At HP

When you scroll through the roster of top vendor channel executives in this issue of VARBusiness, you won't find Adrian Jones' name. Likewise, you won't find Jones at the top of any previous channel executive lists or any channel programs. Yet Jones--who's spent nearly two decades managing OEM and direct sales in the storage industry--is now the head of one of the largest channel programs in the business: Hewlett-Packard's Solution Partners Organization America. He's an unlikely choice by some standards, but he's someone in whom HP is placing an incredible amount of confidence.

"He's a consummate sales leader, understands the value and services space, and has great energy and a tremendous work ethic," says Mike Larson, HP's senior vice president and general manager of Personal Systems Group in the Americas.

Lawrence M. Walsh is editor of VARBusiness and GovernmentVAR. He also writes the Tidal Waves blog.

At the end of October, Larson announced the promotion of John Thompson to head HP's Personal Systems Group. Larson promised an extensive candidate search to replace him; HP wanted a leader that employees, partners and customers could rally around. The search took nearly four months, touching dozens of seasoned channel execs and several HP insiders. In the end, HP went with an outsider to both HP and the channel.

In contrast, when Donn Atkins retired as chief of IBM's partner organization just a few weeks before Thompson's promotion, his replacement, Ravi Marwaha, a 35-year Big Blue veteran with extensive channel experience, was in place before the departure was announced.

Is having no channel experience a bad thing? "You don't have to come from the channel or spend your entire life in the channel," Larson says. Agreed. Sometimes fresh blood is good for business. A new perspective--especially from a person with extensive experience in direct and OEM sales--could improve the game. Or an outsider is a safe bet; you can hand over a well-oiled machine and he won't gum up the gears too much.

Chances are HP and its solution providers will get a little of both. As Larson said in the press conference: "Adrian's hiring signals not big change in our channel strategy."

Jones may be a bit of a controversial choice. Picking an outsider for such a high-profile post has some people scratching their heads. Larson is unapologetic. He says the HP search committee was nearly unanimous in choosing Jones. As Larson points out, not all channel chiefs have channel backgrounds; Thompson didn't come from the channel ranks. "I'm not sure we could have found one person who could have satisfied all stakeholders," Larson says.

Jones knows he's got a tough job ahead of him. He expresses admiration for and confidence in HP's PartnerOne program and the Attach Plus effort. His goal is to keep up the growth and momentum he's inherited. It's a tall order, regardless of whether or not you have channel experience.

A seasoned road warrior from his years at McData and Quantum, Jones plans on spending much time on-site with solution providers to hear their challenges, problems and ideas. "Only the paranoid survive, and I know we have a big target on our back and we have to work hard every day," Jones says.

New Faces At VARBusiness

Speaking of new appointments, VARBusiness has added two faces to its team. Carolyn April rejoins VARBusiness as executive editor after a short absence to pursue outside interests. Until last September, April was the magazine's managing editor for technology, overseeing coverage of the software industry, business intelligence research and Tech Innovator Awards. As executive editor, she will oversee editorial operations.

Also joining VARBusiness is David Raikow, senior editor covering security, networking, and wireless technologies and strategies. Raikow is a seasoned journalist whose credits include writing for the defunct Smart Partner magazine.

April and Raikow bring great experience to our team.