HPE Chief Sales Officer Phil Mottram Is Adding More Sales Reps, Leaders In North America To Capture $100B Market Opportunity

HPE Chief Sales Officer Phil Mottram is adding more sales reps and sales leadership in North America to help partners drive sales growth in 5,000 underpenetrated enterprise midmarket accounts.

HPE Executive Vice President and Chief Sales Officer Phil Mottram has told partners he is investing significantly more in sales talent, leadership and resources in North America to help partners capture the $100 billion total addressable market (TAM).

Mottram (pictured above) made the comments during a candid session with enterprise partners at HPE Discover where he called out the astronomical North America TAM compared with other countries and committed to adding more sales reps and sales leadership in North America.

The additional investment is aimed at addressing what Mottram called a top priority, namely helping partners drive sales growth in 5,000 underpenetrated enterprise midmarket accounts.

Mottram was unavailable for comment, but HPE Vice President of North America Channel and Ecosystem Jeremiah Jenson in an interview with CRN confirmed the “net-new” North America investment.

“What this means is we recognize there is an opportunity in North America specifically, and we’re making investments with real dollars with people to capture that opportunity,” said Jenson. “This is a net-new investment to put partners in the sweet spot to win in markets that have massive upside. And so the goal is more opportunity, stronger alignment, more partner-led opportunity, more partner-led pipeline in specific markets, and those markets, to be clear, are what we call enterprise and SLED [state, local and education].”

The big takeaway for partners, said Jenson, is “now is the time to invest with HPE because we are making those investments.”

In fact, Jenson said, HPE has already made investments, hiring a “broad number” of new sales reps. He said some of those new reps were in training just last week and that there is a “clear road map” of training sessions for additional sales reps.

“We've already hired dozens of salespeople across several teams in North America, and that also includes a channel-specific SLED team,” he said. “We have a road map to continue to invest in specific large TAM segments. So the timing is now. It is not the future or something we’re thinking about or something we’re planning on. The timing is right now.

“I think the power of the portfolio really comes through in North America,” he said. “The growth that we are experiencing in North America shows that AI is here and it’s real. You can see that coming through in our results. Customers are voting with their wallets.”

Partners said they see Mottram, a hard-charging, no-nonsense leader who took the top global sales job nine months ago, driving a cultural transformation aimed at turning HPE—hailed for its engineering and technology innovation prowess—into a more sales-driven company. They said the stepped-up North America investment is driving them to invest more in the HPE partnership.

“It is really refreshing to have a dynamic sales leader who understands selling and who has taken the time to identify critical needs and critical fixes so that HPE itself can become a better sales company,” said Rob Schaeffer, president and CRO of e360, Concord, Calif., No. 156 on the 2026 CRN Solution Provider 500. “This is going to empower us in the partner community to be a better selling entity that aligns with customer challenges to create strong partnerships and happy customers.”

Schaeffer said Mottram’s commitment to put more “investment” in North America—the “largest available” market—gives e360 “comfort and confidence” to invest more in the HPE partnership.

Mottram’s stepped-up investment in North America is sure to create more sales opportunities with senior executives in North America including CIOs and CEOs, said partners. They said Mottram’s additional investment is not only a big boost to partners but also to the entire North America organization headed by HPE North America Managing Director Paul Hunter, who is celebrating his sixth year heading up the North America market.

“We’re going to see Paul Hunter getting a lot more support and a lot more investment and tools that will make its way into the organization,” said Schaeffer.

As for Jenson, Schaeffer praised him for driving a more aggressive sales-oriented approach to the North America market with partners since rejoining the company after nearly seven years at Amazon Web Services.

“Jeremiah brings a fantastic history … with his learning as a global VP at AWS,” said Schaeffer. “This means he is going to get more tools in his bag. This is going to add fuel to the fire of all the good things he is already doing for us in the channel. He is inspiring us to want to do more business with HPE.”

Mike Vencel, president of Comport Consulting, Ramsey, N.J., No. 309 on the 2026 CRN Solution Provider 500, said he is “enthusiastic” about Mottram’s intensely competitive sales drive that is fueling the North America investment. “I feel like he is the hard-charging general that is shaking things up,” he said.

Vencel said he expects the incremental head count to make a difference in the field, helping partners close more deals in those 5,000 midmarket accounts.

“The only way to target those accounts is through partners,” he said. “It means getting more account intelligence and aligning with partners. What I took away is Phil’s desire to get more in market coverage on the ground and not just on the sales side but on the leadership side. He wants more HPE leaders living and working in these markets.”

The additional North America investment couldn’t come at a better time, said Vencel. “The HPE portfolio is the strongest I have seen in a decade,” he said. “The HPE Juniper and Aruba networking story provides both Aruba and Juniper customers with investment protection. It’s a really strong, clear story. We hosted 27 clients and the two biggest things customers wanted to talk about was Juniper Mist and the VM reset story with Morpheus VME.”

For the first time in decades, customers are looking for an alternative to market leader Cisco, said Vencel. “The combined Aruba-Juniper story is taking on the 800-pound Cisco gorilla head on,” he said.

Comport has a three-year plan to double its networking business based largely on HPE Juniper sales growth, said Vencel. “That is going to happen with HPE Juniper-Aruba networking,” he said. “That is our path to double the business. Ultimately, at the end of the day partners want to know they can win share, bring on new logos and predictability in partner programs. Juniper-Aruba checks both those boxes. As a partner, that makes you want to reinvest more in bringing on more technical staff, doing more enablement, increasing your go-to-market and making more investments collaboratively with HPE. We came out of HPE Discover the most optimistic we have been about the quality of the portfolio and the direction HPE is going.”

Vencel said he is also excited about HPE’s decision to extend price validity from 14 days to 30 days along with a drive to be more “competitive” on certain deals. “Both of those things are music to my ears,” he said. “The 14-day validity was really challenging for clients. Most clients are not set up operationally to execute significant purchases in a two-week window. It is totally outside their business practices. It is definitely a relief to get out of this emergency sales motion we have been in.”

Vencel said he feels like HPE is firing on all cylinders coming out of HPE Discover. “I feel like HPE has brought all the pieces together,’ he said. “The sheer volume of action items and follow- ups with the 27 clients we had with us is great. We have tons of work to do, which means tons of opportunity.”

Pat O’Dell, the head of HPE’s North America Partner Advisory Council and managing partner at CPP Associates, Clinton, N.J., No. 356 on the 2026 CRN Solution Provider 500, said he is absolutely “pumped up” and “excited” by Mottram’s plan to invest more in sales and sales leadership in North America.

“Phil gets it,” said O’Dell. “He definitely understands the potential of the North America market and the benefit of having more HPE sales and executive presence in markets like New York City. I love it. I have felt for years HPE could do much better if they had more executive presence in the New York metro area.”

O’Dell said Mottram’s sales leadership is exhilarating for North America partners. “Phil is talking like a man who knows he’s in a street fight and wants to win, and he knows what he needs to do to win,” said O’Dell.

O’Dell said he expects the additional sales presence to have a big positive impact on helping partners win more business in the intensely competitive North America market. “Clients in the larger markets in North America appreciate having more local sales resources,” he said. “Every level of customer management from CIO on down appreciates meeting with and developing relationships with HPE peers at their own level. This should result in better and stronger relationships on a local level between HPE, the partner and the client.”

O’Dell said Mottram’s 35-year career focused on networking, including starting his career as an AT&T sales rep in 1991, is also a big plus for partners. “Phil grew up in sales with a focus on the network,” he said. “That’s important given that the HPE-Aruba- Juniper in business accounts for more than 50 percent of HPE’s profit.

O’Dell said Mottram’s experience in the North America market is also a big advantage for HPE partners. “It makes total sense to bring a sales leader in who has experience in the North America market, which is by far the biggest TAM,” he said.

Bob Panos, president of American Digital, Schaumburg, Ill., No. 362 on the 2026 CRN Solution Provider 500, said Mottram studied the global market data and realized that North America was underfunded in terms of sales reps and senior sales leadership.

“It’s a big pivot to North America based on the data,” he said. “It made me very happy that HPE finally realizes that the company has to go where the TAM is. It’s all about going to where the biggest total addressable market is, which is North America. It’s not abandoning other areas. It is adding more head count to North America. It’s a smart business decision and a super positive move. This is huge for us. I am very excited.”

Panos said customers want more senior HPE leadership time and commitment. “What we are going to see is a lot more HPE executive leadership in front of our customers,” he said. “Both partners and customers want to see HPE showing up more in front of customers.”

Panos said he expects the additional North America investment to result in increased sales growth for partners and HPE. In fact, Panos said, he expects double-digit HPE sales growth in his business in the wake of the North America sales charge and what he called the strong end-to-end HPE product portfolio.

“I have been working with HPE for 40 years and this is the best and most complete portfolio the company has ever had,” he said. “HPE can essentially supply an enterprise with every major technology they need. We have never been more excited about the opportunity ahead.”

C.R. Howdyshell, CEO of Advizex, Independence, Ohio, a Myriad360 company, said the increased investment shows HPE is becoming a much more sales-driven company. “That starts at the top with sales leadership like Phil Mottram,” he said. “It’s up to leadership to set the tone and expectations. I compliment HPE for making that North America sales investment.”

Advizex, No. 144 on the 2026 CRN Solution Provider 500, has already experienced the benefits of a more aggressive sales effort by HPE’s Networking business, which Mottram headed up for four and a half years before becoming the head of global sales. “I’m looking forward to Phil instituting the same kind of cultural change throughout the whole organization,” said Howdyshell.

The current enterprise market opportunity is “unprecedented” in terms of the opportunities and challenges facing technology vendors and partners, said Howdyshell. “Whoever steps up and wins the enterprise is going to win the long game,” said Howdyshell. “This is the time to make an investment and make a bet. Advizex and Myriad are investing more in sales and presales. That is because we recognize the opportunity in front of us.”

Jenson, for his part, said with the investments HPE has made and the strength of the HPE portfolio now is the time for HPE partners to step up and work hand in hand with partners to accelerate sales growth.

“We have made the move,” he said. “We have hired the people. This is a net incremental investment. Now is the time to get on the front foot with HPE. We’re already there. Come join us. The opportunity is there. It’s real. We have the data. Let’s go to market together.”