30 Notable IT Executive Moves: January 2026

Comcast, Conduent, Frontline Managed Services, Okta, Intel and Cato Networks were among the tech companies making key executive hires and moves in January 2026.

New CEOs at Comcast, Conduent and Frontline Managed Services were among the biggest executive moves of January 2026.

Taking those spots, respectively, were Michael Cavanagh, formerly with JPMorgan Chase; Harsha Agadi, formerly of Crawford & Co.; and Timothy Britt, formerly of Synoptek.

[RELATED: The 10 Biggest IT CEO Moves Of 2025]

January 2026 Tech Executive Moves

Okta, Intel and Cato Networks were among other tech giants to make significant executive moves during the month as companies invested in talent for overseeing sales, technology and partners. Those executives, respectively, were:

Official U.S. jobs data for January is delayed, but payroll software company ADP reported this month that private sector employment increased by 22,000 jobs in January and pay was up 4.5 percent year on year. In 2025, private employers added 398,000 jobs, down from 771,000 in 2024.

Read on for more of the 30 notable IT executive moves in January 2026.

Harsha Agadi

Conduent made Harsha Agadi its new CEO in January, succeeding Cliff Skelton.

Agadi joined the board of the Florham Park, N.J.-based company–No. 29 on CRN’s 2025 Solution Provider 500–last year. His resume includes serving as president and CEO of insurance claims management firm Crawford & Co. from 2015 to 2020, according to a regulatory filing.

He also served as chairman and CEO of Friendly’s Ice Cream from 2010 until 2012 and president and CEO of Church’s Chicken from 2004 until 2009.

Michael Cavanagh

Michael Cavanagh started in January as co-CEO of Comcast, serving alongside Brian Roberts, the son of founder Ralph Roberts.

Cavanagh joined the Philadelphia-based telecommunications company in 2015 as chief financial officer. He was promoted to president in 2022, according to his company bio.

Before coming to Comcast, he spent more than 20 years in the financial services industry, including time as co-CEO of JPMorgan Chase’s Corporate & Investment Bank from 2012 to 2014.

Comcast’s top channel goals for the year include increasing the overall percentage of company revenue that comes through the channel and encouraging partners to sell a broader part of the portfolio, according to CRN’s 2026 Channel Chiefs.

Timothy Britt

Timothy Britt took on the top job at Frontline Managed Services in January, becoming its CEO.

Britt joined the St. Louis-based legal-focused MSP after about 24 years leading Synoptek––No. 167 on CRN’s 2025 Solution Provider 500–as CEO, according to his LinkedIn account. He co-founded Synoptek in 2001.

Under his leadership, Synoptek “achieved sustained 20% annual growth, expanded to 15 locations across North America and India, surpassed 1,100 employees through 15+ strategic acquisitions backed by private equity partners,” according to his LinkedIn account. He led Synoptek through its sale of a majority stake to private equity firm Quad-C Management in 2022.

Laura Padilla

Okta hired Laura Padilla in January as its channel chief and senior vice president of global partners and alliances.

Padilla joined the San Francisco-based identity vendor after about two years with Freshworks, according to her LinkedIn account. She left Freshworks with the title of SVP of global channel and emerging market sales.

Her resume includes about four years with Zoom, leaving the video communications vendor in 2022 as head of global channel, platform sales and business development.

Okta has about 3,000 partners worldwide. Its top channel goals for this year include the increase of overall percentage of company revenue that comes through the channel and enabling partners to develop an AI strategy and sell AI solutions, according to CRN’s 2026 Channel Chiefs.

Annie Shea Weckesser

Annie Shea Weckesser joined Intel in January, taking on the role of chief marketing and communications officer.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker hired Weckesser after she spent about five years with Uniphore, leaving the business AI platform vendor with the CMO title, according to her LinkedIn account.

She previously served as CMO at semiconductor company SambaNova Systems for about a year.

Intel has more than 100,000 partners worldwide, according to the vendor. Its top channel goals for the year including increasing the overall percentage of company revenue that comes through the channel and enabling partners to develop an AI strategy and sell AI solutions, according to CRN’s 2026 Channel Chiefs.

Jaime Romero

Cato Networks hired Jaime Romero in January as its chief marketing officer.

Romero joined the Tel Aviv-based security vendor after about six years with Fortinet, according to his LinkedIn account. He left Fortinet with the title of executive vice president of marketing.

His resume includes about six years with MRP. He left the firm in 2019 with the title of global head of marketing. MRP is now called PharosIQ.

Cato’s top channel goals for 2026 include enabling partners to develop an AI strategy and sell AI solutions plus increasing the amount of recurring revenue going through partners and the amount of net new accounts coming through partners, according to 2026 Channel Chiefs.

Scott Manchester

Scott Manchester joined Nerdio in January, taking on the role of chief product and technology officer.

The Chicago-based Microsoft cloud products management vendor brought on Manchester after he spent about 25 years with Microsoft, according to his LinkedIn account. He left Microsoft with the title of vice president of Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop.

He came to Microsoft in 2001 as a lead program manager and technical evangelist for home networking in the Windows Client Networking Group. In this role, he helped design and develop the Network Setup Wizard, Windows Connect Now, Internet Connection Sharing, Home Networking Guide and many other networking features.

Nerdio has about 3,000 channel partners worldwide, according to CRN’s 2026 Channel Chiefs.

Kevin Kennedy

Kevin Kennedy was made channel chief of Red Hat in January after serving on an interim basis following Stefanie Chiras’ move into a different role.

Kennedy has been with the Raleigh, N.C.-based open-source enterprise software vendor and IBM division for about four years, according to his LinkedIn account. He started in 2022 as vice president of North America commercial sales. His new official title is vice president of global ecosystem.

He previously worked at Tech Data and its successor TD Synnex for about five years. He left the company in 2022 as senior vice president of advanced solutions. Tech Data and Synnex merged in 2021.

Red Hat’s channel goals this year include enabling partners to develop an AI strategy and sell AI solutions, improving partner profitability and increasing the amount of net new accounts coming through partners, according to CRN’s 2026 Channel Chiefs.

Jigar Thakkar

In January, Amazon Web Services hired Microsoft Teams’ founding member and longtime Microsoft innovator Jigar Thakkar as the leader of its new Amazon Quick Suite product.

Thakkar came to the Seattle-based AI and cloud products giant after about seven years with MSCI. He left the financial services company with the title of chief technology officer and head of engineering, according to his LinkedIn account.

Before MSCI, he worked at Microsoft for about 20 years, leaving in 2018 with the title of corporate vice president of Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business Engineering.

Ben Fallon

In January, Ben Fallon succeeded Gordon Mackintosh as channel chief of Juniper Networks.

Fallon has been with the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based networking vendor for about three years, starting in 2022 as vice president of global partner and commercial sales, according to his LinkedIn account. Juniper sold to Hewlett Packard Enterprise in July.

He previously worked at Cisco for about 20 years, leaving the networking giant in 2022 as a senior director of global sales with the Meraki division.

Gordon Mackintosh

Gordon Mackintosh joined Equinix in January as senior vice president of global partner sales.

Mackintosh came to the Redwood City, Calif.-based digital infrastructure company after about six years with Juniper Networks, according to his LinkedIn account. He left Juniper with the title of senior vice president of the partner organization and commercial sales. Juniper sold to Hewlett Packard Enterprise in July.

His resume includes about four years with Extreme Networks. He left Extreme in 2020 with the title of vice president of worldwide channels and partner-led sales.

Equinix’s top channel goals this year include increasing the overall percentage of company revenue that comes through the channel and enabling partners to develop an AI strategy and sell AI solutions, according to CRN’s 2026 Channel Chiefs.

Christine Gassman

OpenText made Christine Gassman global director of partner success in January.

Gassman joined the Waterloo, Ontario-based cybersecurity and business technology vendor after about three years as vice president of community at Mailprotector, according to her LinkedIn account.

Her resume includes about a year as director of channel engagement at Blackpoint Cyber. She left the company in 2023.

OpenText has about 16,000 partners worldwide, according to CRN’s 2026 Channel Chiefs.

Gos Hein van de Wouw

Gos Hein van de Wouw became senior vice president of Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Extreme Networks in January.

Van de Wouw came to the Morrisville, N.C.-based cloud networking vendor after four years at Juniper Networks, including time as the company’s EMEA vice president, according to his LinkedIn account.

Prior to that, he spent seven years at NetApp, having most recently served as vice president of global and strategic accounts for EMEA and APAC for the infrastructure provider. Van de Wouw also spent five years at Cisco Systems.

Extreme Networks has about 11,000 channel partners worldwide, according to CRN’s 2026 Channel Chiefs.

Avery Moon

Pax8 brought on a new chief technology officer in January–Avery Moon.

Moon joined the Greenwood Village, Colo.-based distributor and cloud marketplace after about five years with Indeed. He left the jobs board website with the title of vice president of engineering. At Indeed, he helped lead Indeed Plus from $0 in revenue to $1 billion-plus in 13 months, among other accomplishments, according to his LinkedIn account.

His resume includes about five years with The Climate Corp. He left the company in 2021 with the title of vice president of engineering.

Pax8 has about 47,000 partners worldwide, accordingto CRN’s 2026 Channel Chiefs.

Kyle Houser

Fluence brought on Kyle Houser in January as vice president of global sales, channels and partnerships.

Houser came to the Arlington, Va.-based energy storage company after about four years with Qualcomm, accordingto his LinkedIn account. He left Qualcomm with the title of senior director and head of commercial sales.

His resume includes about 12 years with Apple, where he served in multiple sales and strategy leadership roles, delivered more than $250 million in revenue growth with Apple’s top U.S. partner, closed enterprise deals with Fortune 500 companies, grew enterprise Mac sales by 32 percent year-over-year through the Mac Employee Choice program and built the iPad services growth program

Jennifer DiRico

In January, PTC brought on Jennifer DiRico as chief financial officer.

The Boston-based industrial technology vendor hired DiRico after she worked at Commvault for about two years as CFO, according to her LinkedIn account.

Her resume includes about eight years with Toast. She left the restaurant software company in 2024 as senior vice president and general manager of international.

PTC’s top channel goals this year include increasing the overall percentage of company revenue that comes through the channel and increasing the amount of net new accounts coming through partners, according to CRN’s 2026 Channel Chiefs.

Sunil Frida

Zscaler hired Sunil Frida in January as its new chief marketing officer.

Frida came to the San Jose, Calif.-based security vendor after about two years at CrowdStrike as senior vice president of product marketing and analyst relations, according to his LinkedIn account. Among his accomplishments at CrowdStrike were managing global crisis messaging during the July 2024 Falcon sensor outage and driving sustained 20 percent to 35 percent year-over-year growth in revenue and annual recurring revenue (ARR) over seven consecutive quarters through differentiated positioning and go-to-market execution.

His resume includes about seven years with Amazon Web Services. He left AWS in 2024 with the title of general manager of product marketing. His accomplishments there include leading product marketing for a $20 billion portfolio spanning analytics, databases, machine learning, internet of things (IoT), quantum computing and robotics and helping to scale AWS from an $18 billion company to more than $100 billion, according to his LinkedIn account.

Zscaler has about 3,000 partners worldwide, according to CRN’s 2026 Channel Chiefs.

Fachtna Keohane

Fachtna Keohane took on the role of chief financial officer at General Datatech in January.

Keohane joined Dallas-based GDT–No. 51 on CRN’s 2025 Solution Provider 500–after about 11 years with Ingram Micro, accordingto his LinkedIn account. He left Ingram with the title of senior vice president of acceleration and transformation.

His resume includes about seven years with Flextronics, now called Flex. He left the manufacturing company in 2014 with the title of head of worldwide corporate financial planning and analysis (FP&A).

Sasidhar Nayudu

Sasidhar Nayudu joined Alithya in January with the title of senior vice president of business engineering.

In this role, he “will be key to strengthening our enterprise approach and driving innovation to create real and lasting impact for our clients,” Alithya CEO Paul Raymond said in a post on LinkedIn.

The Montreal-based company–No. 102 on CRN’s 2025 Solution Provider 500–brought on Nayudu after he worked at CGI for about 33 years, according to his LinkedIn account. He left CGI with the title of vice president and commercial sector lead.

Richard Johanning

In January, Richard Johanning joined Future Technologies Venture as vice president of government solutions.

In this role, he will “lead strategy and execution to deliver mission-critical connectivity to the Department of Defense and Federal agencies,” with a focus on replacing “fragile, legacy networks with Private 5G, LTE, and Integrated Sensing (ISAC) architectures that guarantee data transport in the most contested environments,” according to his LinkedIn account.

Johanning came to the Suwanee, Ga.-based private network systems integrator after about 12 years with AECOM and the Amentum business formed in 2020 after AECOM sold its management services business to affiliates of Lindsay Goldberg and American Securities.

He left Amentum as a solutions architect, “leading solution development for proposals ranging from $50 million to over $1 billion” and collaborating “with capture teams, technical leads, and business leaders to create winning proposals that support national security missions,” according to his LinkedIn account.

Marty Mackey

CMA Technology Solutions promoted Marty Mackey to the role of chief revenue officer in January.

Mackey has been with the Baton Rouge, La.-based company–a member of CRN’s 2025 MSP500–since 2007, according to his LinkedIn account. He worked his way up from an account executive.

His previous role with CMA was vice president of sales and marketing. Before that, he was director of sales.

Matthew Condro

ThunderCat Technology promoted Matthew Condro to the role of senior vice president of sales and marketing in January.

Condro has been with the Reston, Va.-based company–No. 82 on CRN’s 2025 Solution Provider 500–since joining in 2018 as director of business development, according to his LinkedIn account.

His resume includes about 12 years with World Wide Technology. He left WWT in 2018 as a Department of Defense and intelligence sales manager.

Evan Brown

In January, CloudScale365 brought on a new vice president of sales–Evan Brown.

In this role, he will be “responsible with spearheading revenue growth, shaping go-to-market strategy, and leading a high-performing sales organization that retains clients,” according to his LinkedIn account.

Brown joined the Nashville, Tenn.-based MSP after about eight years with Dataprise–a member of CRN’s 2025 MSP500. He left Dataprise with the title of associate vice president of business development and sales.

His resume includes about eight years with AvePoint, leaving the vendor in 2017 with the title of director of sales for East Coast midmarket.

Paul Brecht

Paul Brecht joined Limestone Digital in January, taking on the role of vice president of sales.

Brecht came to the Prague-based artificial intelligence consultancy after about 10 years with Chetu–a member of CRN’s 2025 MSP500. He left Chetu with the VP of sales title. During his time with Chetu, he “led the strategic partnership team, to open new business opportunities with Oracle, SAP, Salesforce, UKG, Workday, and others,” according to his LinkedIn account.

He joined Chetu in 2015 as a national account manager after about 13 years with Safelite AutoGlass, leaving the windshield repair and replacement company in 2013 as an area sales manager.

Carlos Creus

Carlos Creus became vice president of mainframe services at Ensono in January.

Creus joined the Downers Grove, Ill.-based company–a member of CRN’s 2025 MSP500–after about 16 years with Kyndryl and IBM, according to his LinkedIn account. He left Kyndryl with the title of vice president of delivery operations for the U.S. health care and government market. IBM spun Kyndryl off in 2021.

In this role, he worked on the “cost optimization and staffing of key projects” and “drove actions to deliver annualized savings of $25m (15%). Staffed projects on time driving revenue delivery maximization (5-7% growth/year).”

Andrew Bacon

ePlus tapped Andrew Bacon as its new vice president of pre-sales engineering and solutions in January.

Bacon joined the Herndon, Va.-based company–a member of CRN’s 2025 MSP500–after about 16 years with C1, according to his LinkedIn account. He left C1 with the title of executive vice president of sales engineering.

He came to C1 through the 2010 acquisition of Empire Technologies, where he worked as a professional services manager.

Steve Athaide

In January, AVI-SPL brought on Steve Athaide as vice president of strategic sales development.

In this role, he will elevate the company’s “global sales capabilities via advanced solution design, vertical positioning, and coaching competency model and development programs” and “lead immersive training experiences, produce ongoing content, and serve as sales training subject matter expert across the organization,” according to his LinkedIn account.

He came to the Tampa, Fla.-based company–a member of CRN’s 2025 MSP500–after about 23 years with Diversified. He left Diversified with the title of vice president of sales training and development.

Shawn Kitzmiller

Pomeroy hired Shawn Kitzmiller in January as president of U.S. sales in January.

Kitzmiller came to the Hebron, Ky.-based company–No. 82 on CRN’s 2025 Solution Provider 500–after about 15 years with SoftwareOne, according to his LinkedIn account. He left SoftwareOne with the title of president of North American operations.

In that role, he drove “strategic direction with full P&L oversight and market strategies” and managed “direct and indirect teams, including global delivery centers, while building and executing the regional go-to-market initiatives.”

He started at SoftwareOne in 2011 as a senior inside sales executive, according to his LinkedIn account.

Ted Tanner Jr.

Ted Tanner Jr. succeeded Jim Carlini as chief technology officer of Leidos in January.

Tanner joined the Reston, Va.-based company–No. 10 on CRN’s 2025 Solution Provider 500–after about two years as CTO of BigBear.ai.

At BigBear, he “spearheaded the technical strategy development and integration of ConductorOS, an edge-first AI inference and orchestration operating system that enabled a distributed containerized approach to the company's assets now moving into general availability,” according to his LinkedIn account.

His resume includes serving as the CTO and chief architect at IBM’s Watson Health business, even serving in executive roles after Francisco Partners bought the business unit in 2022 and relaunched it as Merative. He started at IBM in 2019 and left Merative in 2023.

Michael McDaniel

Kyndryl brought on Michael McDaniel as a new senior vice president in January.

McDaniel came to the New York-based company–No. 11on CRN’s 2025 Solution Provider 500–after about two years with Conduent. He left Conduent with the title of executive vice president and group president of commercial solutions, according to his LinkedIn account.

In that role, he led “the global commercial solutions portfolio, including Customer Experience Management, Automated Document Solutions, Finance, Accounting and Procurement, Commercial Healthcare and Bank and Lending offerings.”

His resume includes about four years with DXC Technology. He left the solution provider with the title of president of the modern workplace business.