Climbing the Ladder: ScanSource Names New Company Presidents

ScanSource has new leaders for both its barcode and communications segments after promoting two longtime executives and shifting two others to new roles.

The Greenville, S.C.-based distributor has promoted Paul Constantine and Tony Sorrentino to serve as co-presidents of its $2.38 billion barcode, networking and security segment. The man who's been in that role for more than three years – Buck Baker – will become president of ScanSource's $1.16 billion communications and services segment.

Meanwhile, Mike Ferney – who held for the past three years the job Baker is moving to – will himself move over to the newly-created role of innovation architect, where the company said he'll be responsible for developing the processes and structure behind ScanSource's innovation. Baker and Ferney will continue reporting to ScanSource CEO Mike Baur, while Constantine and Sorrentino will report to Baur for the first time.

[RELATED: ScanSource CEO: Intelisys Deal Will Help Partners Weather Changes To Legacy Communications Landscape]

"We are very fortunate to have such an established team of leaders at ScanSoruce," Baur said in a statement. "Their level of experience, knowledge of the business, and depth of relationships are instrumental to the continued growth and success of the company."

The reshuffling comes less than two months after ScanSource announced the acquisition of master agent powerhouse Intelisys for $83.6 million, plus earn-outs, and a little over a year after the distributor purchased Cisco videoconferencing distributor KBZ for $225 million. Overall sales climbed by 10 percent to $3.54 billion in fiscal 2016 (ended June 30), but were essentially flat after factoring out the acquisition of KBZ, Network1 and Imago.

Constantine and Sorrentino will hold dual roles in the company, with Constantine continuing as president of ScanSource's point of sale (POS) and barcode business unit in the United States and Canada, and Sorrentino remaining president of ScanSource's networking and physical security business in the U.S., a role he has held for nearly five years.

The United States is ScanSource's largest region by a considerable margin, accounting for $2.62 billion – or nearly three-quarters – of the distributor's overall sales last year.

Constantine joined ScanSource in 1999, and for many years provided strategic growth and leadership across all service units for the company's value-added service offerings. He sits on the board of directors for both the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA) – which is focused on the POS ecosystem – and AIM North America, which is focused on the automatic identification and mobility market.

Sorrentino has also been with ScanSource since 1999 and serves as vice president of merchandising of ScanSource Security from 2004 to 2008, where the company said he was instrumental in developing the company's line card to include the industry's leading networking and physical security manufacturers. From 1999 to 2004, ScanSource served in merchandising leadership roles for the POS and barcode unit.

The moves also return Baker to the communications side of the business, which he led from 2008 to 2012. Baker joined ScanSource in 1995 and has held a variety of leadership positions within the company.

Executives are now running the areas of the company they're the best fit for, according to Michael Knight, president and chief technology officer of Greenville, S.C.-based Encore Technology Group, No. 376 on the CRN Solution Provider 500. Knight said all four leaders are very personable, engaged with partners and are attentive to aligning offerings and programs with the needs of solution providers.

Knight specifically praised the creation of the innovation architect position, arguing it will help ScanSource leverage the intellectual capital obtained from Intelisys and other recent acquisitions by spreading it across the entirety of the company.

"I know all of these individuals and this is definitely a positive move for the company," Knight told CRN. "ScanSource always does a great job of understanding what partners need to go to market."