Insight CEO Joyce Mullen To Retire: ‘Leading Insight Has Been The Pinnacle Of My Career’

‘This was a personal decision I made earlier this year, and the board and I have been working together to make sure we handle this transition the right way. I’m incredibly proud of how this team has positioned Insight as a leading AI solutions integrator,’ says Joyce Mullen, president and CEO of Insight Enterprises, on her upcoming retirement.

After more than two decades building her career in technology, including a 21-year run at Dell Technologies and four years at Insight Enterprises, Joyce Mullen, the president and CEO who reimagined Insight as a global solutions integrator, has announced that she will retire once her successor is named in early 2026.

Mullen announced her retirement plans during the solutions provider’s third-quarter earnings call on Oct. 30, explaining that she and Insight’s board of directors have been planning next steps since earlier this year.

“We began the process of preparing for an orderly transition in earnest earlier this year when we engaged a search firm,” she said during the call. “Our next step is to begin a public external search for my successor given the AI opportunity in front of us and the transformation required. I fully expect that between now and when we name the next CEO of Insight, we will continue to make progress towards delivering on the promise of becoming the leading AI solutions integrator.

“I will ensure a smooth transition and then will continue on as an adviser to the new CEO,” she added. “I want to thank our teammates for their unwavering commitment to our clients, partners and each other, our clients for trusting Insight to help them with their transformational journeys and our partners for their continued collaboration and support in delivering innovative solutions to our clients.”

In a statement provided to CRN, Mullen said, “The last five years leading Insight have been the pinnacle of my career.

“This was a personal decision I made earlier this year, and the board and I have been working together to make sure we handle this transition the right way,” she said in the emailed statement. “I’m incredibly proud of how this team has positioned Insight as a leading AI solutions integrator.

“The strategy is solid, the momentum is real and I’m fully committed to seeing this through until we name my successor,” she continued. “We aren’t slowing down. The AI opportunity in front of us is enormous, and we’re uniquely positioned to help our clients move from experimentation to real business outcomes. I’d rather have our hand right now than anyone else’s in this industry. We have the partnerships, the capabilities, the client relationships and the team to win. Our future is bright.”

Mullen’s tenure as Insight CEO, which began Jan. 1, 2022, marked a bold transformation for the company. She had joined Tempe, Ariz.-based Insight in October 2020 as president of North America and told CRN at the time of her CEO appointment that she felt “very lucky … very honored, very humbled and super, super excited” to lead the company.

Under her leadership at Insight, the company pivoted aggressively toward becoming a “solutions integrator,” consolidating its services arms, broadening its cloud and AI offerings and leaning into M&A. Earlier this year, she articulated a vision of building a more AI-first Insight, telling CRN, “We need to enable our people to deliver on the promise of AI … every day we’re building new knowledge, trying new tools and applying them with real clients.”

Mullen’s appointment in 2021 drew attention not only because she was succeeding longtime CEO Ken Lamneck, but also because she was one of relatively few women leading a major public technology company. “It’s a tremendous honor and a great privilege,” she told CRN at the time.