30 Notable IT Executive Moves: July 2016

Start It Off

July didn't see a summer slowdown when it came to executive moves. In fact, it was a blockbuster month, with major executive departures at some of the biggest vendors and solution providers in the business. Those changes included top-level departures and additions at Microsoft, Dell, Symantec and more, as well as channel executive moves at ePlus, CTG and Avnet. These companies were just a few of the many that were shuffling their executive ranks going into the second half of the summer. Take a look at who was in, and who was out, across the channel this month.

Kevin Turner

Partners were cheering early in July, as partner channel and worldwide sales head Kevin Turner headed for the exit, taking a position as CEO of Citadel Securities. Turner has been COO of Microsoft since 2005, during which time partners felt his cost-cutting initiatives made it difficult to work with the vendor. He was widely considered a successor for former CEO Steve Ballmer, until Microsoft chose current CEO Satya Nadella in 2014. Turner planned to stay with Microsoft through the end of July, with the dispersing of his responsibilities as COO among several managers, including North America President Judson Althoff into a new role overseeing the worldwide commercial business.

Phil Norton

After 23 years at the head of ePlus, CEO Phil Norton announced in July that he would be stepping down, taking a newly created position as executive chairman. Over the past two decades, Norton has led the company through its growth from $42.8 million of annual revenue in 1996, when the company went public, to $1.2 billion in 2016. As executive chairman, he will remain involved with ePlus, the company said, helping consult around strategy, acquisitions, transacting within the financing segment and engaging with clients. Norton was replaced as of Aug. 1 by longtime COO Mark Marron. Marron has been with ePlus, No. 34 on the CRN SP500, for 11 years. Norton joined ePlus as CEO in 1993 from NetIQ, where he was senior vice president of worldwide sales.

John Byrne

Dell officially named its channel chief of Dell-EMC, appointing longtime sales veteran John Byrne to the role. The announcement puts to rest several months of speculation by partners as to which executive would lead the channel charge after Dell's acquisition of EMC, which is expected to close later this year. Byrne has been charged with bringing together the two channel organizations into one, with a single, unified channel program by the beginning of Dell's fiscal year Feb. 1. That includes making decisions around channel incentives, back-end rebates, front-end incentives, MDF and distribution strategy. Byrne joined Dell a year ago as global vice president of sales strategy and operations from AMD, quietly taking on responsibilities for channels in recent months.

Rick Hamada

Avnet CEO Rick Hamada stepped down, with the board of directors deciding the distributor needed a "change in leadership … to accelerate the progress on Avnet's growth, drive a greater sense of urgency and enhance our focus on execution." The change comes after Avnet announced it planned to cut $25 million in personnel and other expenses. He has been replaced on an interim basis by former Lenovo CEO Bill Amelio. Avnet said it plans to announce a permanent CEO within six months. Hamada had been with Avnet since 1983, when he joined as a technical specialist. He was named CEO in 2011. Partners said they hoped having Amelio at the helm would help drive further investments in the cloud and the Internet of Things.

Cliff Bleustein

Buffalo, N.Y.-based solution provider CTG, No. 65 on the CRN SP500, announced that CEO Cliff Bleustein would be stepping down after only 15 months in the top role, following dropping sales, profits and headcount reductions.

Bleustein was replaced by Bud Crumlish, a 26 year-company veteran and longtime head of the its largest business unit. Crumlish said CTG would now look to expand its revenue and profit contribution from high-volume corporate users of IT talent, as well as expand its business in the European government and financial services markets.

"The board felt that CTG would be best served with a leader that knew our people, our culture, and our customers across all of our industries," a CTG spokesman told CRN at the time. "[It] wanted to appoint a CEO that would allow the organization to move forward immediately and ideally without the ramp-up time required for external candidates."

Michael Fey

Symantec is starting to line up its new executive roster after its merger with Blue Coat Systems, naming Michael Fey as president and COO. Fey had been president and COO at Blue Coat Systems prior to its acquisition by Symantec earlier this year. Prior to that, he served as executive vice president and CTO at McAfee (now Intel Security). Fey officially assumed the role after the closing of the acquisition this month. In the role, Fey will be responsible for spearheading the integration of the two companies' technology and personnel. After the integration, Fey said he will focus on delivering what he called "exceptional performance" around the go-to-market strategy of the combined companies.

Oracle

Oracle laid off multiple sales and channel executives, sources told CRN in July, including Gary Koopman, group vice president of alliances and channels in Oracle's North America sales group; Christine Aumann, director of sales consulting for Oracle's North American hardware alliances; Steve Vakulskas, group vice president of North America technology sales consulting; Anthony Cioletti, a senior sales consulting manager; and Dennis Schurmeier, sales consulting manager in Oracle's public sector business. Sources close to the vendor said the executive layoffs, as well as between 225 and 300 other employees in the group, bolsters the company's plans to push more cloud licensing sales direct.

Maryam Alexandrian

Maryam Alexandrian, vice president of global sales, channels and field operations at Dell Wyse, left the Round Rock, Texas-based company, part of a wider shakeup of the unit underway that will result in an unspecified number of layoffs. Dell confirmed the departure and layoffs, but would not specify the amount of employees involved. The move is part of an effort to wind down Dell's vWorkspace virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) software in order to focus resources on VMware, which sells its own Horizon VDI solution. Dell has replaced Alexandrian with longtime Panasonic Solutions President Rance Poehler, who will serve as head of global sales for cloud client computing.

Todd DeBell

ForeScout Technologies nabbed a partner favorite as its new channel chief, appointing Todd DeBell as vice president of worldwide channel sales. DeBell joined the Campbell, Calif.-based company from FireMon, where he was vice president of worldwide channel sales and distribution until June. DeBell said he decided to move to ForeScout because of the "huge opportunity" he sees for partners around Internet of Things security, a market the company targets with its security solution. He replaces former channel chief Tom Evans, who left ForeScout in April to take a sales and channel leadership role at K2 Software.

Greg Butz

As part of a move to toward the mobile wireless market, Comcast announced that Greg Butz had been appointed as head of the company's brand-new Comcast Mobile business unit. Comcast Cable CEO Neil Smit stated in an October 2015 earnings call that any wireless plans being considered were in "test and learn" mode. A 20-year company veteran, Butz had previously served as executive vice president, sales and marketing operations for Comcast Cable. Partners said a move by Comcast into the mobile wireless space could be disruptive to the company's competitors and could be a big benefit for the company's partners.

Scott Collins

Fidelis Cybersecurity, an advanced threat detection and remediation company based in Bethesda, Md., is making a bigger push into the channel, naming former FireEye executive Scott Collins as the company's channel chief. Collins now serve sas vice president of channel sales, effective July 18. He comes to Fidelis from FireEye, where he served as director of Americas channel sales. He has also held channel roles at Zscaler and IronPort Systems (acquired by Cisco). Collins has been charged with helping Fidelis "accelerate" its efforts in the channel, including growing channel headcount, branding, awareness and making tweaks to optimize the partner program.

Dirk Hohndel

VMware made a big hire around open-source technology, an area the vendor has been criticized for not investing in as much as its competitors. The company hired Dirk Hohndel for the newly created role of chief open source officer. Hohndel spent 15 years at Intel as its chief Linux and open-source technologist. He will now be responsible for leading the company's overall open-source strategy, including getting its business units to work with and contribute to open-source technologies. He will also help VMware foster the use of open-source technologies to speed its own software development. Partners cheered the hire, saying VMware needed to become more compatible with open-source in order to mitigate the competitive threat it poses.

Renee Bergeron

Ingram Micro announced the promotion of Renee Bergeron to take on an expanded role in the distributor's cloud sales and marketing organization. Bergeron will now serve as senior vice president, global sales and marketing for cloud at Ingram Micro. She had previously served as vice president of global cloud. In her newly expanded role, Bergeron will take on added responsibility for the channel sales and marketing around the company's non-platform business and cloud partner management, the company said.

Mitch Breen

Progress, a Bedford, Mass.-based application development company, said on July 26 that it had appointed Mitch Breen as chief revenue officer. Breen joins the company from SimpliVity, where he was senior vice president of global customer operations. He has also held notable positions as senior vice president of North American sales for Oracle and senior vice president of the Americas for EMC. In his new role, Breen will be responsible for helping the company manage its revenue channels, sales, strategic alliances and services.

Dave Cole

Tenable Network Security, a Columbia, Md.-based security monitoring company, announced it had nabbed Dave Cole from Crowdstrike as its new chief product officer. Cole had also served as chief product officer at Crowdstrike, helping the next-gen endpoint security company develop and design its technology. He has also held roles at Symantec, Foundstone and Internet Security Systems. In his new role, Cole will be responsible for helping Tenable continue its technology development.

"As Tenable executes on our long-term strategy to transform security technology for the emerging IT landscape, Dave Cole's history of driving product innovation and his experience building highly scalable systems make him a valuable addition to the Tenable executive team," CTO Renaud Deraison said in a statement at the time.

Juergen Mueller

On July 22, SAP announced it had named Juergen Mueller as the company's new chief innovation officer. Mueller joined SAP in 2013, most recently serving as director for real world performance, according to his LinkedIn profile. Mueller will now be responsible for SAP's innovation efforts, including leading the SAP Innovation Center Network and growing its SAP Labs Berlin.

John McClurg

Cylance landed former Dell Global Security executive John McClurg as vice president in its Office of Security and Trust this month, where he will be responsible for helping the next-generation endpoint security company develop its security and trust programs. McClurg joins Cylance most recently from Dell, where he was vice president and chief security officer. Prior that, he held positions for Honeywell International and in the U.S. government.

"We're thrilled to have John on board to spearhead our operational excellence efforts within the Cylance OST. The launch of the OST and our philanthropic efforts to provide advanced cyber protection to non-profits align well with our goal of protecting everyone under the sun," CEO Stuart McClure said in a statement at the time. "In a world where cyber and physical interdependencies are growing ever more complex, John's expertise at advancing cyber and physical security as one combined effort will be a significant asset within our organization."

Bob Kruger

Tech Data announced on July 19 that it had appointed Bob Kruger to lead its cloud marketplace and integration technologies business as vice president of StreamOne, which is the distributor's suite of cloud marketplace and integration technologies. Kruger joins Tech Data from Apakau, where he was CEO. He has also held leadership positions at DNN Corp, Mimosa Systesms and Mendocino Software. Kruger will be responsible for the management and strategic direction of StreamOne's technical, consulting and development teams, the distributor said.

"I am thrilled to welcome Bob to lead StreamOne, which is the engine of our cloud business and its continued innovation," John Tonnison, executive vice president of cloud computing and chief information officer, said in a statement at the time. "Bob's background is perfectly matched to the success and ambition of Tech Data's StreamOne portfolio of cloud and digital-age subscription, consumption, provisioning, and business management tools to help our partners master their journeys to the cloud."

Ken Barth

Woodcliff Lake, N.J.-based Catalogic Software announced that it has appointed Ken Barth as the company's new president and chief executive officer, effective July 1. Barth was previously a member of the company's board of directors, a position he held since the company was founded in October 2013. He replaces outgoing president and CEO Ed Walsh, who stepped down. Barth has been charged with helping accelerate its growth in the copy data management market.

"Ken is the perfect person to assume the role of CEO and lead Catalogic into the future," outgoing CEO Walsh said in a statement at the time. "As an active and valuable board member, Ken has a deep understanding of Catalogic's operations and the market that will help propel the company forward."

Don H. Liu

As Xerox continues its transformation into two separate companies, the Norwalk, Conn.-based company announced the resignation of Don H. Liu, effective Aug. 5. Liu had served as executive vice president of general counsel and secretary. Assuming the role of general counsel and secretary will be J. Michael Peffer, the company said, who had previously served as senior vice president and general counsel of Affiliated Computer Services, which Xerox acquired in 2010.

Igloo Software

Igloo Software, a Kitchener, Ontario-based cloud-based intranet solutions company, announced on July 20 a revamp of its executive lineup, adding four new top executives. Igloo Software named Tom Kane as vice president of sales, Chris Myers as vice president of alliances, Bob Mathers as vice president of customer success, and Mike Hicks as vice president of marketing. The additions will help position the company for its next phase of growth, the company said.

"Over the past five years, Igloo has been growing at a record pace and we don't see it slowing down anytime soon," said Dan Latendre, CEO and founder at Igloo Software, in a statement at the time. "To support our future growth plans, it was time to add bench strength to our leadership team with seasoned veterans who have experience in high-growth companies."

Rob Peglar

New York-based storage company Symbolic IO announced on July 12 that it had added Rob Peglar as its senior vice president and chief technology officer. Peglar joins Symbolic IO from Micron Technology, where he was vice president of advanced storage.

"My vision when founding Symbolic IO was simple – create a new method to actually solve today's challenges instead of incrementally building on an archaic and flawed approach. … Rob shares the belief that the industry has run its course on today's compute and storage models and it's time to reinvent the way we approach how compute, storage, and networking works," said Brian Ignomirello, founder and CEO, Symbolic IO, in a statement at the time. "We are excited to have an executive like Rob being on the front lines to help further illustrate and educate customers on how to solve real business challenges with IRISTM technology."

Jason Cowie

Just before the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, Zerto announced the addition of Jason Cowie as its new senior director of global partner and channel sales. Cowie joins the cloud and data center data protection, recovery and migration company from Virtual Instruments, where he was vice president of global channels and alliances. He has also held positions at Configuresoft, Drive Protected, Embotics, Microsoft and Mission Critical Software. In his new role, Cowie will be responsible for helping Zerto expand its channel team and support cloud service provider partnerships.

Bill Madison

Software-defined platform company Masergy added more power behind its partner program last month, announcing Bill Madison as its new vice president of strategy partner program. Madison had previously served as director of global channels for the Dallas-based company. He joined Masergy in May 2012 from Alliant Technologies, where he was vice president of channel sales. In his new role, Madison will be responsible for helping the company continue its partner growth through developing global alignment, strategy and growth plans.

Masergy also announced this month the appointment of Kristy Thomas as vice president of cloud communications.

Fred Wilmot

San Diego-based PacketSled announced on July 26 that it had hired former Splunk executive Fred Wilmot as the company's chief technology officer. Wilmot joins the automated cloud-based security investigations and response company from Context Relevant, where he was vice president of solutions engineering. Prior to that, he was the director of the global security practice at Splunk, where he founded and helped the company grow its presence in the security industry. In his new role, Wilmot will be responsible for helping PacketSled develop its technology strategy around engineering, research, development and cloud operations.

Chris Hendricks

Delta Risk, a San Antonio-based security solution provider, announced on July 20 that it had appointed Chris Hendricks as vice president of security operations services. Prior to joining Delta Risk, Hendricks served as a federal criminal investigator for counterintelligence and cybercrime, as well as an advisor for the U.S. Air Force. Hendricks will now be responsible for Delta Risk's monitoring, incident management and response services.

"Chris has a wealth of cybersecurity experience from his background as a criminal investigator and career in the military," said Delta Risk board member Michael Chertoff in a statement at the time. "Delta Risk's clients will benefit from his experience across the cybersecurity domain, including incident response, network security analysis, and digital forensics."

John Connolly, Frank Fanzilli

San Diego-based iboss Cybersecurity, a secure web gateway platform startup, announced on July 19 that it had added former Bain Capital Ventures and Credit Suisse executives to its board of directors. That includes the addition of former Credit Suisse Chief Information Officer Frank Fanzilli and former Managing Director and Lead of the Operating Group at Bain Capital Ventures John Connolly to the board. The two additions will be responsible for helping guide iboss as it leverages its $35 million in venture capital funding to expand its business.

Sean Wisdom

On July 6, Sunrise, Fla.-based SproutLand announced it had landed former Dell executive Sean Wisdom as its vice president of channel marketing. Wisdom most recently served as Dell global director for software marketing, where he helped the software business build strategies around mobile, cloud analytics and security. He has also held positions at AT&T, Verizon and Weblink Wireless.

"Sean has a long history of helping big brands turn technology into a platform for improving revenue performance," said SproutLoud CEO Jared Shusterman in a statement at the time. "His expertise and experience are a great fit here at SproutLoud and a key component in our plans for continued growth and leadership in this space."

Clarence Waldrop

GT Software announced last month that it had added Clarence Waldrop as its new vice president of alliances and professional services. Waldrop joins the Atlanta-based company from IBM, where he most recently served as business unit executive,. Waldrop has also held channel leadership roles at Synechron, OpenScan and Tibco Software. In his new role, Waldrop will be responsible for sales, business development, information technology, marketing and strategic planning for the company's partner network.

Paul Frydman

New York-based solution provider Net@Work announced on July 8 that it had added Paul Frydman as its new chief operating officer, responsible for helping the company streamline its systems, processes and personnel to optimize growth, as well as cultivate an "employee-friendly culture." Frydman joins Net@Work from SWK Technologies, where he was also COO and helped drive "significant growth."

"We are eager to collaborate with Paul and leverage his considerable expertise in streamlining our business processes and making sure we're hitting on all cylinders as we enter an aggressive growth period. … We expect this will serve to affirm Net@Work's reputation of nurturing fluid and effortless business relationships with its vendors, customers, partners and prospects. We look forward to working with Paul, and toward a long and successful tenure," said Edward Solomon, Net@Work's co-president, in a statement at the time.