CRN Exclusive: Samsung Channel Trailblazer Richard Hutton Has Departed

Richard Hutton, who has spearheaded the growth of the channel partner program at Samsung Electronics America since its infancy, stepped aside as director of channel marketing at the company last week, sources said.

Hutton joined Samsung Electronics as senior channel marketing manager in 2005, at a time when the company lacked a major indirect sales initiative and had few products focused on businesses.

Samsung now partners with several thousand resellers and has a broad product portfolio for businesses — including a range of large-format displays and work-oriented mobile devices.

Hutton, who was featured a number of times as one of CRN’s Channel Chiefs, declined to comment. A Samsung Electronics America spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

[Related: Samsung Channel Chief Touts Increased Focus On Selling Through Partners]

Traditionally focused on selling to consumers, Samsung Electronics hired Hutton to head its channel program following his tenure at distribution giant Ingram Micro, where he'd worked in purchasing sales and marketing.

While building up the channel program at Samsung, Hutton’s efforts including putting tools in place for sales enablement of channel partners, he said in connection with his selection as one of CRN’s 2015 Channel Chiefs.

"Overall, we've added better resources from a tools and human resources standpoint to achieve what we set out to do with the channel," Hutton said during the XChange 2015 conference, hosted by CRN parent The Channel Company.

"If the channel doesn't sell our products, we don't sell our products," he said at the time.

Hutton had served as director of channel marketing at Samsung since 2012 and had most recently reported to Carmel Coscia, vice president of marketing and demand creation.

Coscia, who previously headed worldwide marketing programs and demand generation for mobile at SAP, joined Samsung in July, according to her LinkedIn profile.

SAP veteran Kevin Gilroy joined Samsung Electronics America in August 2015 as executive vice president overseeing the company’s business-to-business division.

Hutton’s departure follows an evolution of Samsung’s channel efforts as it pushes into generating more business-to-business sales of mobile devices. For instance, Samsung said in June it would make unlocked Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones available through distributors including Ingram Micro, Tech Data and Synnex.