30 Notable IT Executive Moves: January 2016

Start It Off

It's a new year, which means companies are ready for new executive lineups. The January changes are significant because, for many companies, the leadership changes will shape the much of the direction they head in this year. Throughout the month, the channel saw big changes in partner leadership at FireEye, Intel Security, Dell and more. Companies such as VCE and Citrix also kicked off the year with new top-level leadership, announcing a new president and a CEO, respectively. For more insight into these moves and the others that occurred last month, check out the CRN monthly roundup of the top 30 executive moves in the channel.

Chad Sakac

Chad Sakac is the new president of VCE, the Richardson, Texas-based EMC division said in January. Previously, he was president of global systems engineering. Partners praised the move by EMC and VCE, now the EMC Converged Platforms Division, saying that Sakac is a "partner-friendly" executive and that he will "bring incredible structure and order to all the current VCE processes." Sakac replaced Praveen Akkiraju, who had run VCE since 2012. Akkiraju will remain with EMC as an adviser to President of EMC Information Infrastructure David Goulden.

J onathan Chadwick

When VMware reported its earnings late last month, it also revealed that COO and CFO Jonathan Chadwick would be leaving the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company. Chadwick had been with the virtualization vendor since 2012. He will be replaced by Zane Rowe, who has been CFO of EMC since October 2014. Prior to joining VMware, Chadwick held CFO roles at Skype at McAfee.

Kirill Tatarinov

Citrix Systems named a new CEO in January, ending a six-month search with the appointment of former Microsoft executive Kirill Tatarinov to the role. Tatarinov left Microsoft in June after 13 years, where he most recently served as executive vice president of the Business Solutions division. Tatarinov officially started in the role at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Citrix on Jan. 25. He replaces longtime CEO Mark Templeton, who announced his retirement in July. Partners were skeptical of the appointment, saying Tatarinov was a "safe choice," but more of a business manager than a visionary leader.

Steve Pataky

Dell Security had a major executive win, naming FireEye's former global channel chief to lead its worldwide security sales business. Steve Pataky joined Dell Security as vice president of worldwide security sales, replacing Marvin Blough. Until January, he had served as vice president of worldwide channels and alliances at FireEye since August 2013. Dell, Round Rock, Texas, said it was "thrilled" with the appointment, saying it was a "proof point" of its ramped-up investment in security.

Marvin Blough

After leaving Dell Software in the middle of January, where he was group channel chief, Marvin Blough took a position at StorageCraft as vice president of worldwide sales. Blough joined Dell as part of the company's 2012 acquisition of SonicWall, where he helped grow the company from $90 million to $450 million. Partners said his departure was a huge loss for Dell, as Blough was a "huge channel proponent" and "instrumental in helping many channel partners succeed." At StorageCraft, Blough will now be responsible for expanding the Draper, Utah-based company's channel sales and building distributor relationships, the company said.

Fernando Quintero

As part of a multi-executive shuffle at Intel Security, Vice President of Americas Channel Sales and Operations Fernando Quintero now has a new role as head of Latin America. Quintero joined McAfee in 2002, and Intel Security, Santa Clara, Calif., in 2011 when Intel acquired the company. He was replaced by longtime company executive Ken McCray.

Lisa Matherly

The second in a series of changes Intel Security: Lisa Matherly, formerly vice president of worldwide partner programs, marketing and operations, will now serve as head of content marketing. The move is part of a bigger push by new CMO Allison Cerra to put more emphasis on content marketing. Matherly was replaced by Regan Ogner, who previously served as senior director of channel marketing for North America. Matherly joined Intel Security in 2002, then McAfee, from 3Com.

Ken McCray

Finally, Intel Security named a new Americas channel chief last month, replacing Fernando Quintero, who assumed a role as head of Latin America. Longtime executive Ken McCray will now serve as head of channel sales and operations for the Americas. McCray most recently served as senior director of the Americas Channel team, overseeing corporate resellers, distribution partners and the inside channel account team. With a strong reputation in the channel, McCray told CRN at the time that he believes he will be a stabilizing force for partners, as the company works to transform its strategy to one centered on the pillars of protect, detect and correct.

Matt Medeiros

Alongside a $187 million investment from private equity firm TA Associates, StorageCraft named Matt Medeiros its new CEO. He replaces co-founder and CEO Jeff Shreeve, who will retire, the company said. Medeiros comes to StorageCraft after six months with TA Associates, though he is best known for his 13 years at Dell SonicWall, where he most recently served as president and CEO. Partners said they hope Medeiros will continue the company's strong support of partners and invest in providing a full end-to-end offering.

Doug Bowman

As Apple looks to go head-to-head with competitors Microsoft and Samsung in the budding virtual reality market, the Cupertino, Calif., company has reportedly hired esteemed virtual reality and augmented reality researcher Doug Bowman. The report came from the Financial Times. Bowman most recently served as a computer science professor at Virginia Tech before taking a sabbatical. Partners at the time said the hire would be a good opportunity for Apple to boost its level of user experience.

Nick Tidd

Videoconferencing specialist Polycom got a big channel boost last month, naming channel veteran Nick Tidd as the new vice president of its Global Partner Organization. Tidd joins Polycom from Condusiv Technologies, where he was senior vice president of global sales. He has also held channel roles at D-Link and 3Com. Partners were "thrilled" with the news, saying Tidd will help the San Jose, Calif., company drive a clearer direction for its go-to-market strategy.

Barry Mainz

During its earnings call last month, MobileIron announced a new president and CEO in Barry Mainz. The executive comes to the company from Wind River, which he was president. He replaces Bob Tinker, who served as CEO for the past eight years. Partners said they were surprised by the news but that the shuffle would help MobileIron, Mountain View, Calif., remain competitive in a crowded mobile and security marketplace.

Nick Noviello

At the beginning of the month, NetApp revealed that CFO Nick Noviello would be leaving the company to pursue another opportunity. That other opportunity was quickly revealed, as Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Blue Coat Systems announced shortly after that Noviello would be the security vendor's new CFO. Noviello had been at NetApp for eight years. He will be replaced by Jeffrey Bergmann, formerly NetApp vice president of corporate finance and a six-year company veteran, on an interim basis.

Simone Brunozzi

After serving as vice president and chief technologist for hybrid cloud at VMware for nearly two years, Simone Brunozzi has taken a position as chief technology officer at MosaixSoft, a San Francisco-based cloud computing startup. Brunozzi left Amazon Web Services to join VMware in February 2014, a move that was hailed as a major coup for the vendor, who charged the executive with boosting its hybrid cloud business. Brunozzi said that the parting with VMware was amicable and that he wanted to "pursue something that really excites me."

Steve Mills

After more than 40 years with the company, Steve Mills retired from IBM last month. Mills most recently served as executive vice president of software and systems, but had held a variety of positions in the company's software division since joining Armonk, N.Y.-based IBm out of college in 1973. He officially retired on Dec. 31.

Wendell Black

Five9, San Ramon, Calif., launched its inaugural partner program last month and named industry veteran Wendell Black to lead it. Black will now serve as vice president of channel sales. Black most recently served as executive vice president and general manager of Vocalcom North America, but has also held positions at Oracle and Bright Pattern. In an exclusive interview with CRN at the time, Black said he would focus on incentivizing and training partners, particularly around helping them evolve from the "legacy contact center space" to a cloud-based sales approach.

Matt Collier

As Lifesize undergoes a split from parent company Logitech, the videoconferencing company has named a new channel chief to lead its partner investments. Matt Collier will now be vice president of worldwide channels at the Austin, Texas-based company. In an interview at the time with CRN, Collier said the company is planning on investing in partner marketing, sales programs and sales incentives for the channel. Prior to taking the role, Collier had a position as senior vice president of voice applications at Level 3 Communications. He has also held senior roles at Telverse Communications, Polycom and ViaVideo.

Tracy Pallas

Security startup Illusive Networks dove headfirst into the channel last month, naming longtime channel executive Tracy Pallas as its first channel chief. Pallas joins the Israeli deception technology startup from Extreme Networks, where she was senior director of Americas channel sales. Prior to that, she held channel leadership roles at Palo Alto Networks, Cisco Systems and IronPort Systems. Pallas officially started in November and said she has been working hard since then to push toward a 100 percent channel model. She said she plans to invest in a formal channel program, partner portal, training and enablement support, investments she said she expects to start rolling out in the next 90 days.

John Donnelly

John Donnelly was named the first channel chief at hot cloud startup Velostrata, which offers a way to decouple storage from cloud resources. Donnelly had spent a few months consulting for the Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup and has previously held positions as senior vice president of sales at MobileIron and before that vice president of sales at Symantec. In an exclusive interview with CRN at the time, Donnelly said he wants to create new opportunities for partners around the hybrid cloud, removing interdependence of storage and compute, which can sometimes be a barrier to client adoption. The product is not yet generally available, but Donnelly said he has already started hiring channel salespeople to start educating partners on the technology.

Devin Archer

ForeScout Technologies, a Campbell, Calif.-based security company, lost its channel chief last month. Devin Archer, who had served at the company as Americas channel director, took a job as head of channels at Warren, N.J.-based risk management and cyberthreat intelligence vendor Prevalent, where he will be responsible for recruiting more channel partners around the globe. In an interview with CRN at the time, Archer said he appreciated his time at ForeScout, where he helped develop the company's channel program, but was ready to help another company build its program from scratch.

Tom Evans

ForeScout Technologies lost a channel chief last month, but it also gained a new one. Tom Evans was named as the Campbell, Calif.-based company's new vice president of channels. Evans joins ForeScout from F5, where he served as senior director of channel sales and distribution. In an exclusive interview with CRN at the time, Evans said he plans to invest in partner profitability, with initiatives around training tools, distribution partners and certifications.

Anthony D'Angelo

AlienVault is investing more in its channel, with the San Mateo, Calif., security startup naming its first worldwide channel chief in January. Anthony D'Angelo joined the up-and-coming UTM and threat intelligence vendor as vice president of worldwide channel sales. He joined AlienVault from Westcon, where he served as vice president of global partner management for emerging technologies. He also held a position as vice president of worldwide channel sales and distribution at HP from 2009 to 2013. In an interview with CRN, D'Angelo said he hopes to engage more with partners as well as invest in partner program improvements and develop more partnerships with distribution and high-growth partners.

Adrian Jones

After leaving a position at Symantec late last year, Adrian Jones landed a new position as president and COO of SLAP Company, a San Francisco-based sales and branding consultant. Jones had previously served as executive vice president of sales for Symantec. In an interview with CRN, Jones said the move is part of his passion to help develop leadership and employee culture.

"This is leading a company, which is what I wanted to go do," Jones said. "I have a lot of sales transformation DNA. For me it is an opportunity to do more in a space I love."

Tom LaRocca

A second former Symantec executive landed a new role in January. Tom LaRocca, who had served as vice president of global channel programs and sales until November, started his own consulting firm, called Executive Channel Consulting, LLC. In an email, LaRocca said the new company will focus on providing services to both vendors and partners, with a focus on growth through go-to-market strategies, programs, program integration and consolidation, compensation and demand generation.

Eric Mann

Varonis, a New York-based enterprise data software company, created a new position for a chief operating officer last month, naming Eric Mann to the role. Mann will be responsible for driving the company's field operations and customer success programs, the company said. Mann joins Varonis from Fortinet, where he was vice president of Americas sales. He also held roles at NetApp and EMC.

Mike Convertino

F5 Networks expanded its security leadership team last month, naming Mike Convertino as its first chief information security officer. Convertino will be responsible for the Seattle-based company's security product road map. He joins F5 from CrowdStrike, where he was chief information security officer. He has also held positions at Microsoft and in the U.S. Air Force.

Scott Skidmore, Jeff Hines

Guidance Software, a Pasadena, Calif.-based endpoint data security company, made two executive additions last month, naming Scott Skidmore (pictured) as vice president of global channel sales and Jeff Hines as group vice president of sales for the Americas region. Skidmore comes to Guidance from Permabit, where he served as vice president of worldwide sales. Hines joins Guidance from Oracle, where he was a regional sales manager. Skidmore will be responsible for growing the company's channel organization and Hines will be in charge of the direct sales team, the company said.

iboss Cybersecurity

San Diego-based data breach prevention company iboss Cybersecurity announced a rapid expansion of its executive lineup last month. David Ruggiero will now serve as senior vice president of worldwide sales; Pete Elmbren will be senior vice president of worldwide channels; Sean McCaffery will be vice president of enterprise sales for the West region; Greg Prindle will be vice president of enterprise sales for the East region; and Stephen Clemons will be vice president of products.

"We've built the industry's most effective defense against cyberattacks and now are focused on rapidly expanding global adoption of the critical tools that we exclusively offer," said Paul Martini, co-founder and CEO of iboss, in a statement at the time. "The addition of these immensely talented leaders will prove invaluable as we grow globally."

Mike Desai, Rohit Khanna

Fresh off a year of strong growth, in which it saw 70 percent year-over-year growth and landed $10 million in funding, SecureAuth has named two new leaders to its executive lineup. Mike Desai will join the Irvine, Calif.-based company as senior vice president of business and corporate development. He joins the access control company from xMatters, where he was vice president of global business development and channel sales. Rohit Khanna has also joined SecureAuth as senior vice president of customer success. He joins the company from big data and analytics company Tax, where he was chief customer success officer and global services head.

Andrew Bryant

Arrow Electronics said at the end of the month that COO Andrew Bryant would be retiring from the Englewood, Colo., distribution company. Bryant has served as COO of the company's global components and global enterprise computing businesses since 2014. He joined Arrow in 2008.

"Andy has been an instrumental part of driving the growth and success of Arrow, and further advancing our sales and marketing teams," said Michael J. Long, chairman, president and CEO of Arrow, in a statement at the time. "He has been a valuable member of our leadership team, and we wish him all the best in his well-deserved retirement."