30 Notable IT Executive Moves: December 2015

Start It Off

As 2015 came to a close in December, companies were keeping busy trying to squeeze just a few more executive moves in before the holidays. In the past month, we saw an executive shuffle at Apple, top-level executive departures at Kaspersky Lab and a new position for former Cisco Chief Technology Officer Padmasree Warrior. December also saw the sudden departure of F5 Networks' CEO, a new chief marketing officer for Check Point Software Technologies and many more shifts. With 2016 already underway, take a look back at some of the new faces that will help shape some of the biggest companies in technology over the next year.

Jeff Williams

Filling a spot left open since the 2011 ascension of Tim Cook to CEO, Apple named longtime company veteran Jeff Williams to the role of chief operating officer. Williams is a 17-year Apple veteran, most recently overseeing the supply chain and service and support segment for the Cupertino, Calif., giant. Williams played a notable role in Apple's jump into mobile, including most recently overseeing the development of the Apple Watch. Before Apple, Williams worked at IBM.

At the same time as the appointment of Williams, Apple trumpeted the promotion of Johny Srouji to senior vice president for hardware technologies and an expanded role for Phil Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide marketing, to include oversight of Apple’s App Store across platforms.

Christopher Doggett

CRN learned last month that Christopher Doggett, Kaspersky Lab North American managing director and president, had left the company. Doggett left the security vendor to take a position as senior vice president of global sales at Carbonite, starting Dec. 14. In his new role, Doggett looks to leverage his strong channel background to help the Boston-based backup and disaster recovery company transform to a channel-first sales model. That's an area in which Doggett has experience: Before joining Kaspersky he served as vice president of global channels at Sophos, where he helped the security vendor transform its business model into its current 100 percent channel model. He has also held a variety of roles at consulting companies and solution providers.

In the interim, Kaspersky said Chief Business Officer Garry Kondakov would supervise the management of North America.

John Murdock

Also last month, Woburn, Mass.-based Kaspersky lost channel chief John Murdock (though Murdock told CRN that his departure was unrelated to that of Doggett). Murdock held the title of vice president of SMB and channel sales at Kaspersky and now serves as vice president of sales at Centage, a Natick, Mass.-based cloud software company that focuses on the finance industry. Before joining Kaspersky in 2014, Murdock held roles at Juniper, where he most notably served as senior director of worldwide channels. Murdock has been replaced at the security vendor by Leslie Bois, who will now serve as vice president of channel sales. In his new role, Murdock is responsible for running Centage's growing sales organization, with a particular focus on growing the company's channel in 2016.

Padmasree Warrior

After leaving her position as San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco's chief technology officer earlier this year, Padmasree Warrior landed a new role last month as chief development officer of electric car startup NextEV, Shanghai, China. Warrior also took on the titles of U.S. CEO and head of software development. Warrior was one of many Cisco executives who left the networking giant after the ascension of now CEO Chuck Robbins. Partners were not surprised by the move, saying they know the popular executive would land a CEO or other significant role at a large technology company.

Manny Rivelo

Partners were shocked last month by the sudden resignation of F5 Networks President and CEO Manny Rivelo. F5, Seattle, was vague on the reasons for Rivelo’s departure, saying only that it was "not due to any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company's operations, policies or practices." Rivelo had held the position for less than six months, replacing longtime CEO John McAdams on July 1. McAdams, who is also chairman of the board, has resumed the CEO role in the interim until a permanent replacement is found. Before taking the CEO role, Rivelo served as executive vice president of strategic solutions. He joined the company in 2011 from Cisco, where he spent 19 years in a variety of roles.

Julie Parrish

After leaving NetApp in September, Julie Parrish landed a new role last month as chief marketing officer at Check Point Software Technologies. Parrish served as chief marketing officer at Sunnyvale, Calif.-based NetApp from 2012 until September. She has also held top channel executive roles at Symantec and Veritas. She fills a vacancy at Check Point, San Carlos, Calif., that has been open since June, when former CMO Marie Hattar took a similar role at Calabasas, Calif.-based Ixia. In her new role, she will be responsible for product solution marketing, brand recognition development, campaign development, demand generation, global public relations, digital strategy management and channel marketing. She said she also hopes to broaden the Check Point brand and make it more recognizable in the market.

Jared Wray, Jonathan King

Two of CenturyLink's top cloud executives -- Jared Wray, senior vice president of platform, and Jonathan King, vice president of platform strategy and business development -- left the company last month, not long after the telecom giant said that it would be selling its data center and colocation assets. CenturyLink said the moves don’t indicate that it is moving away from the cloud. The company said Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Aamir Hussein will lead the cloud business. The Monroe, La.-based company said it also had formed a technology advisory board to guide its product innovation and road map.

D.J. Koh

Samsung named a new head of mobile last month, a move that had partners cheering. As part of a year-end restructuring, the Seoul, South Korea-based company named D.J. Koh to lead the company’s new mobile division, responsible for boosting the company’s struggling smartphone sales and driving mobile innovation. He replaces longtime director of mobile products J.K. Shin. Before his new role, Koh was responsible for the development of Samsung’s Tizen mobile operating system and Samsung Pay.

Mike Mansbach

Cloud-based video specialist Blue Jeans Networks landed a key executive hire last month, naming former Citrix executive Mike Mansbach to the newly created role of president. In an interview with CRN, Mansbach said he joined the Mountain View, Calif.-based company because he saw an opportunity to create the "next generation of video." Mansbach joins the company as the company gears up for a "major expansion" on the heels of $76 million in new funding. Mansbach spent 10 years at Citrix, most notably helping drive the development and growth of the company’s GoTo product line, including GoToMeeting. He most recently served as CEO of SaaS specialist PunchTab in 2014.

Alan Amrod

The first of three executive moves made by Aerohive Networks last month was the appointment of Alan Amrod as vice president of worldwide systems engineering. Amrod joins Aerohive, Sunnyvale, Calif., from Cisco, where he served as senior director of global enterprise networking, responsible for the company’s wireless business. He has also held top executive positions at Xirrus, Ixia and Alcatel.

Michael O’Brien

In the second of a series of executive moves, Aerohive Networks also named Michael O’Brien to the position of vice president of global channels, a newly created position. He has more than 20 years of channel experience, most recently as executive director of global channels and alliances at Dell. He joined Dell in 2011 as part of the company’s acquisition of Force10 Networks. O’Brien is the second channel executive appointment in recent months, coming on the heels of the appointment of Johnna Bowley as channel chief.

Michael Lin

The last major executive move by Aerohive Networks last month was the hire of Michael Lin, who was named as vice president of product management. Lin is now responsible for the company’s product line management and cloud networking solutions. Lin joins Aerohive from Symantec, where he was vice president of product management for enterprise security, responsible for the security vendor's enterprise security product management and mobile products development and strategy.

Jessica Couto

In its second major executive move of the month, Carbonite named company veteran Jessica Couto to the role of channel chief. She had previously served as director of worldwide channels at Waltham, Mass.-based Bit9. Her new title is vice president of North American channel sales at Boston-based Carbonite. In an interview with CRN, Couto said her mission is to now help the company focus and grow its partner base, which serve mostly SMB clients.

Michael McAndrew

In one of the bigger channel executive moves last month, Black Box Network Services CEO Michael McAndrew said he would be resigning from the Lawrence, Pa.-based company. The news came on the heels of a rocky sales force restructuring and drastic drop in the company’s stock price in the past year. Black Box is No. 34 on the CRN 2015 Solution Provider 500 list. McAndrew will stay with the company until a successor is named, a search that the company said is already underway. McAndrew had been CEO since April 2013, before that serving as president and chief operating officer as well as vice president and CFO.

Alex Pinchev

Rackspace nabbed former Red Hat executive Alex Pinchev last month as executive vice president and president of global sales and marketing. Starting on Jan. 1, Pinchev will be responsible for the Windcrest, Texas-based cloud company’s sales and marketing organizations, with particular emphasis on growing the company's managed cloud services business. Pinchev comes to Rackspace from Capri Ventures, where he was CEO. He also served as president and CEO of Acronis as well as leading sales, services and marketing for Red Hat from 2003 to 2012.

"Alex joins Rackspace at a transformative moment, as we help businesses tap the power of multiple cloud platforms and technologies," said Taylor Rhodes, president and CEO of Rackspace. "Our job now is to turn these investments into growth. Alex is the experienced leader that can help us make that happen."

Renee James

After leaving Intel’s top executive spot in July, Renee James has a new role as a board member at Redwood City, Calif.-based Oracle. Starting Dec. 16, James joined 12 other members on the board for a one-year term. In addition to her 25 years of experience leading Intel, James also brings experience as vice chair of the president’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee and director of Vodafone Group PLC and Sabre Corp. She has also served as a director of VMware.

"We are pleased to have Renee join our board as an independent director," said Larry Ellison, chairman of the board of directors and chief technology officer. "She will bring a unique perspective and tremendous depth of experience and knowledge of the technology industry to our board."

Sean Valcamp

Avnet made a big investment in its security posture last month, naming Sean Valcamp as the Phoenix-based distributor's first chief information security officer. Reporting to Chief Information Officer Steve Phillips, Valcamp will be responsible for driving the company’s IT security strategy and planning, as well as improving its enterprise architectures. Valcamp is a longtime Avnet executive, joining the company 16 years ago. During that time, he helped drive Avnet's internal security strategy, including launching education initiatives and growing the company's security team.

DLT Solutions Executive Shakeup

Last month, DLT Solutions made multiple executive changes that it said would help better position the federal solution provider based in Herndon, Va., to improve the ease of doing business and innovate. As part of those changes, David Blankenhorn, formerly vice president of engineering and chief cloud technologist, to chief technology officer. He will now be responsible for driving the company’s technology portfolio. Kristin Oelke also joined the company as vice president of marketing from Micro Focus, where she was head of marketing for North America. Gary Danoff was named senior vice president of the company’s cloud division, joining DLT from Microsoft, where he was a senior account executive. DLT also promoted Kim Boarts to vice president of the enterprise applications division and Jim Propps to vice president of the enterprise platforms and enterprise data management divisions.

Dan Warmenhoven, Steve Mullaney

Cohesity landed some major talent to its executive lineup last month. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based startup, founded by Nutanix co-founder Mohit Aron, named Steve Mullaney as an independent adviser and Dan Warmenhoven to its board of directors. Mullaney is the former CEO of Nicira, the software-defined startup acquired by VMware in 2012. Warmenhoven is the former CEO and executive chairman of NetApp, a role he held until leaving in September 2014.

Jeffrey Benck

Internet of Things and M2M company Lantronix named a new CEO last month, appointing Jeffrey Benck to the role. Benck joins the Irvine, Calif.-based company from Emulex Corp., where he was CEO until its acquisition by Avago Technologies in May. He replaces Kurt Busch, who resigned in November to "pursue other opportunities," the company said at the time.

"We are pleased to have a proven, successful leader of Jeff's caliber joining Lantronix," said Bernhard Bruscha, chairman of Lantronix's board of directors, in a statement at the time. "The board is confident that Jeff's deep operational skills and extensive technology industry experience make him the right person to strengthen Lantronix's leadership in the marketplace and take it to the next level."

Unisys Executive Changes

Unisys made a series of executive changes last month. To start the month, the Blue Bell, Pa.-based solution provider named Michael Thomson as vice president and corporate controller. Thomson joined Unisys in November from Towers Watson, where he was controller. Less than a week later, Unisys also named Kelly Cook as global head of Unisys Commercial, where he is responsible for managing the company’s commercial clients, which account for 34 percent of overall revenue. At the same time, Unisys named former Dell Services executive Michael Morrison as vice president and general manager of enterprise solutions for the U.S. and Canada and former Adobe Systems executive Tony Windever as vice president and general manager of enterprise solutions for Asia Pacific.

Joseph Schramm

BeyondTrust, a Phoenix-based security company focusing on visibility solutions, expanded its channel executive lineup last month, naming Joseph Schramm as vice president of strategic alliances. In his new role, Schramm is responsible for overseeing BeyondTrust’s channel program and partner relationships. He joins BeyondTrust from Core Security, where he was vice president of North America sales and global alliances. He has also held channel leadership roles at Endeca Technologies, Oco, Nexaweb Technologies, BusinessObjects and SAP.

Eric Berry

Another company making channel additions last month was Tintri, which named Eric Berry as vice president of global channel operations Dec. 3. Berry joins the VM-aware storage company from Avnet, where he served as vice president of new partner acquisitions.

"As we extend our reach into the global marketplace, we’re constantly strengthening our channel programs and our go-to-market model," said Michael P. McGuire, chief sales officer at Tintri, Mountain View, Calif., in a statement at the time. "Eric's expertise complements our current position and our aspirations. He has more than 26 years of experience in channel sales and has earned numerous awards for continually reaching and exceeding sales goals. Tintri is extremely pleased to have Eric join the team."

Daniel Wilbricht

LogRhythm landed a former Dell executive last month to lead its U.S. federal sales business. The Boulder, Colo.-based security intelligence company named Daniel Wilbricht to the role of senior director of federal sales, responsible for leading product, go-to-market and support around the public sector. Wilbricht joins the security company from Dell, where he was senior director of the Department of Defense and national security programs. He has also held positions at Red Hat, Appistry, Autonomy, Stellent and Eprise.

"[Wilbricht] will be a critical voice as we continue to strengthen our partnerships with government agencies who are working to defend their networks and stay ahead of an ever-changing landscape of compliance requirements and cyber security threats," Jon Bickford, vice president, Americas sales at LogRhythm, said in a statement about the appointment.

Michael Pickett

Talend expanded its channel leadership lineup last month with the creation of a new position for vice president, business development and partner ecosystems. It named Michael Pickett to the role. Pickett joins the Redwood City, Calif.-based big data intelligence software company from Informatica, where led alliance management and helped transform multiple sales and product divisions. He has also held channel-related roles at Tibco Software and Mercury Interactive. In his new role, Pickett will be responsible for helping Talend grow its partner ecosystem, including focusing more on partner development and support, expanding its VAR programs and infrastructure and forming new embedded and commercial use programs, the company said.

Tod Tompkins

Unified cloud software company Metalogix added Tod Tompkins to lead its public sector sales business. Tompkins' title will now be vice president, public sector sales. He joins Washington, D.C.-based Metalogix from Microsoft partner Planet Technologies, where he was federal business development and operations leader. He has also held federal sales roles at Microsoft and EMC.

Amanda LeBlanc

Buffalo, N.Y.-based solution provider CTG named Amanda LeBlanc as its vice president and chief marketing officer, responsible for overseeing and growing the company’s marketing efforts in North America and Europe. LeBlanc joined CTG in 2012. She has also held marketing positions at Encore Health Resources, Red Dog Communications, Healthlink and Insource Management Group.

Mark Seaman

Cloud backup and disaster recovery company Zetta has brought on Mark Seaman to lead the charge as it looks to drive new channel initiatives. Seaman will now serve as vice president of sales for Zetta, Sunnyvale, Calif., responsible for leading the company’s sales teams and pushing forward into the MSP and SMB markets. Seaman joins Zetta from Soonr, where he was also vice president of sales. He has also held sales leadership roles at SugarSync, Demandbase, WebCollage, Channel Intelligence, Nextron Communications and Creative Associates.

Jeffrey Wells

As InnoVacient looks to grow its cybersecurity practice and introduce new programs, the consulting company has hired new executive Jeffrey Wells as partner, security and capital. Wells brings more than 25 years of cybersecurity experience to the new role, including his most recent role as Maryland’s executive director of cyberdevelopment.

"We are delighted to welcome Jeffrey to the InnoVacient team. His unique background and deep experience within the most complex levels of civilian and military cybersecurity strategy adds a new dimension of global insights to InnoVacient's existing strategy services and the solutions we provide to our domestic and international clients," said Kenneth Ferderer, founder and managing partner of InnoVacient, San Jose, Calif., in a statement at the time.

Catherine Kelly

Security startup AlienVault, which offers a crowd-sourced UTM offering, nabbed former FireEye executive Catherine Kelly as its new vice president of Europe, Middle East and Africa sales. In her new role, Kelly is responsible for driving the company’s business in the EMEA region, particularly around the company’s partners.

"With her unique expertise in both global sales and network security, we're excited to have Catherine join our team during this tremendous period of growth," said Justin Endres, senior vice president of worldwide sales at AlienVault, San Mateo, Calif., in a statement at the time. "We’ll look to her to build on our momentum and expand our presence in the EMEA region as we continue to help our customers prioritize the threats that put their business at risk."

At FireEye, Kelly was vice president of worldwide commercial sales. She has also held positions at ServiceSource, Dell and EMC.