Overland Hires New Channel Chief

Overland Storage this week said it has hired Jillian Mansolf as its new vice president of worldwide sales and marketing, where she will be working with solution providers to expand the company's channel business.

Mansolf joins Overland Storage from Data Robotics, where as senior vice president of sales and marketing she also managed the channel.

At the same time, Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Ravi Pendekanti was appointed to a new role as vice president of business development and solutions. In his new role, Pendekanti will be focused specifically on developing new products and solutions.

Mansolf and her new boss, Overland Storage CEO Eric Kelly, have a long history. Kelly and Mansolf were part of the original team that purchased Snap Appliances from Quantum in 2002, making it into an independent company until it was acquired in 2004 by Adaptec. At Snap, Mansolf served as vice president of worldwide sales.

Overland Storage acquired Snap from Adaptec for $3.6 million in June of 2008.

Kelly, who as a member of Overland Storage's Board of Directors at the time of the acquisition, took over as CEO in January.

Mansolf said she came to Overland because of her ties to the Snap business and the strong channel focus that Overland has maintained. "There's a good storage channel business here," she said. "Overland has loyal partners, and loyal customers."

Both executive appointments are good f news, said John Zammett, president of HorizonTek, a Huntington, NY-based solution provider and Overland partner.

Zammett praised the move to have Pendekanti focus on new products and solutions such as Overland's new Business Continuity Appliance, or BCA, which was introduced earlier this month.

"The BCA is the first new product we can sell," Zammett said. "I hope Ravi will continue on his mission to develop new products."

Zammett also aplauded the decision to split Pendekanti's workload. "It's nice to have a new person come in and let Ravi focus on new product development," he said.

Zammett talked with Mansolf earlier this week, and said she seemed comfortable working with Pendekanti and with Raya Hosseini, vice president of Americas sales. "I don't see any disruption in the change in command," he said. "And I'm comfortable with that."

Overland also recently hired Andy Walsky as its new vice president of EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) sales.

Data Robotics promoted Malissa King to the position of vice president of North American sales in the wake of Mansolf's departure. Prior to her departure, the company had also just hired Jim Sherhart as its new senior director of marketing.

Earlier this year, Overland said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it had cut its workforce by 53 employees, or about 17 percent. The company also implemented a companywide pay cut of 10 percent for all its salaried employees, including its executives. That pay cut is slated to last until the company returns to profitability, the company said.