The 25 Blockbuster Channel Executive Moves Of 2012

Channel Check-Ins, Check-Outs

There were attention-grabbing channel chief moves throughout 2012, and that continued right up through the end of December. Here's a look at some of the biggest moves specific to the channel in the last 12 months, from Cisco and HP to Ingram Micro, VMware and Symantec.

Also be sure to check out CRN's roundup of the 25 Blockbuster IT Executive Moves of 2012.

Keith Goodwin/Bruce Klein

Keith Goodwin's exit as head of Cisco's Worldwide Partner Organization (WWPO) was major not just because Cisco has one of the best-known and most-respected partner programs out there, but also because Goodwin had been in the role for seven years -- a long run for a channel chief. Bruce Klein, who succeeded Goodwin, has pledged consistency and transparency to partners.

Greg Spierkel/Alain Monie

The big dog in IT distribution changed CEOs in 2012 in what'll be remembered as one of the smoother C-level transitions of the year. Greg Spierkel had been CEO since 2005 and yielded to Alain Monie, who had returned to Ingram Micro as COO in November 2011 following a brief stint as CEO of April Management.

Frank Rauch

HP has had a hell of lot of executive-level change in the past 18 months, and that's included channel leadership. Frank Rauch, a longtime HP executive, packed up his tent in June and became vice president of VMware's America partner organization ...

Meaghan Kelly

... while Meaghan Kelly, HP's former vice president of channel strategy, also fled HP in June to become vice president of global channel marketing for SAP.

Rich Hume/Mark Hennessy

Big Blue, too, had a major channel chief change right at the beginning of 2012. With new CEO Ginni Rometty taking the reins, Mark Hennessy succeeded Rich Hume (pictured far left) as general manager of IBM global business partners. Hume relocated to Madrid, where he now manages IBM's European operations.

Randy Cochran/John Eldh

Yet another major vendor with a boatload of 2012 executive changes was Symantec, which parted ways with former Vice President of Americas Channel Sales Randy Cochran (pictured) in March. Cochran still hasn't turned up in a new channel role, but at Symantec he was replaced by John Eldh, who'd previously run sales for Symantec's cloud products.

Alex Thurber/Gavin Struthers

Still another changing of the security channel chief guard happened at Intel-owned McAfee, with Alex Thurber (pictured far right) exiting as SVP of worldwide channel operations to take over the top sales post at Tripwire. Gavin Struthers now runs McAfee's channel.

Jim Sherriff/Wendy Bahr

For Wendy Bahr (pictured), it was a return: She was named senior vice president, Americas partner organization, the Cisco role she'd had -- though without oversight of Latin America channels -- until 2010. Bahr, who'd spent the last few years running Cisco's global and transformational partnerships, replaced Jim Sherriff, who moved into a chief-of-staff role under Cisco President, Sales and Development Rob Lloyd.

Jeremy Butt

Jeremy Butt ran global channels at Avaya during two of the UC vendor's seminal evolutions: the acquisition of Nortel's enterprise assets and the revamping of the Avaya program into the more streamlined Connect. Tom Mitchell, who was recently named to head up Avaya's global sales, took on the global channel chief function, while Butt left Avaya and later took a position at distributor Westcon Group in charge of EMEA operations.

Nancy Reynolds

Nancy Reynolds has been a bit of a channel nomad, what with Trend Micro, Palo Alto Networks, Dell and Kaspersky Lab all having dotted her resume in the last four years. Reynolds was confirmed to be exiting Kaspersky in October, next destination as-yet-unknown.

Barbara Spicek/Regan McGrath

Brocade posted some impressive channel growth in 2012, and it heads into the new year under new management at several levels. Now heading channels is Regan McGrath (pictured), who took over as global channel chief for Barbara Spicek in May 2012.

Julie Parrish

NetApp's Julie Parrish keeps moving on up. Most recently the storage company's channel chief, Parrish in November was named chief marketing officer. She's been with the company since 2008.

Keith Bradley/Paul Bay

Another big change at Ingram Micro came in November, when North America President Keith Bradley announced his exit and was succeeded by Paul Bay (pictured). Bay, who'd originally been with the distributor from 1995 to 2006, returned to Ingram in 2010 as an EVP.

Tom LaRocca

The path from HP to Oracle was well-tread in the last two years, and Tom LaRocca, a well-known channel executive and 12-year HP veteran, was another example. Back in January, LaRocca joined Oracle as vice president of worldwide product strategy.

Mike Parrottino/Scott Dunsire

HP executive changes were fast, furious and frequent throughout 2012, and they included the odd re-shuffling of players like Mike Parrottino (pictured) and Scott Dunsire, who were given each other's jobs in June 2012. Dunsire is vice president and general manager of HP's Printing and Personal Systems (PPS) group channel sales. Parrottino, who saw three re-assignments in nine months, is now vice president of U.S. SMB channel sales.

Rich Long/Theresa Caragol

As Extreme Networks continued to restructure, it also continued to remake its management team. Veteran executive Theresa Caragol

Dave Roberts/Tracy Balent

In a number of odd executive changes at CA Technologies this past year, well-known channel chief Dave Roberts was ousted as part of a restructuring of CA's data management business. Joining Roberts, VP of Americas sales for data management, on his way out the door was Tracy Balent (pictured), vice president of Americas channel marketing, data management.

Bob Bruce/Jim Harold

Aruba Networks made some big gains in the wireless LAN channel in 2012, but it also changed channel chief. Networking veteran Bob Bruce exited the company in August, and he was replaced by Jim Harold (pictured), former Blue Coat global channel chief, who became vice president, channel sales at the end of August.

Nigel Williams

It was a big year for telecom channel chief changes, and those included Nigel Williams, well-known in the channel for his previous chief roles at Cisco and Level 3. Williams in June moved to the channel chief job at Ciena, where he is now VP of global channels and strategic alliances.

Laurie Usewicz/Barry Davis

Blue Coat Systems saw significant changes in the last 18 months, having fired its former CEO and agreed to a private equity takeover. Along the way, former Americas channel chief Laurie Usewicz (pictured) opted out, leaving the Blue Coat channel job vacant until November, when former ArcSight and Citrix executive Barry Davis joined the company. Usewicz has stayed in the security channel, having recently been named to the channel chief role at SafeNet.

Chris Doggett

Chris Doggett, who joined Kaspersky as channel chief this year, was promoted to succeed departing executive Nancy Reynolds. Doggett came to Kaspersky in March from Financial Recovery Technologies, but he was well-known in the security channel already for his years as channel chief of Sophos.

Dan Sterling

More telco channel chief changes. When Windstream acquired Paetec in 2011, it was clear there would be executive consolidation, and Windstream, in a series of management-level layoffs, cut ties with Dan Sterling, who'd been VP of indirect sales at Windstream since its 2010 acquisition of NuVox. Jeff Howe, president of Windstream's central region, is now also its national channel chief.

Kevin Hooper

Kevin Hooper, well-known for his channel executive days at IBM and then HP, left HP in October after a five-year stint. He turned up in November as the new SVP of enterprise platform solutions at NEC, a newly created role at the largest of the Japanese company's American business units.

Joe Vitalone

The gradual makeover of ShoreTel's management team included a return: Joe Vitalone, who had originally left the company in 2009 to take over Americas sales at LifeSize and came back to ShoreTel in May 2012 as vice president, channel management. Vitalone now runs ShoreTel channels outright following the departures of former channel managers like Annette Lorenz and Tom Hamilton.

Amanda Jobbins

The last major change in Cisco channel management in 2012 was the departure of Amanda Jobbins, vice president of global partner marketing. Jobbins exited in August citing family reasons and sought a return to her native United Kingdom, where she was named chief marketing officer of Sage Group plc in October. Cisco hasn't yet filled Jobbins' role, which as of mid-January was being handled by Karen Walker, global vice president, segment, services and field marketing.