Arrow ECS Veteran Eric Nowak To Retire, Ex-Cisco, Microsoft Exec Rodney Clark To Take ECS Lead

Arrow Electronics Global Enterprise Computing Solutions President Eric Nowak will be retiring, with former Cisco and Microsoft channel executive Rodney Clark being named to take over leadership of the global distribution business.

Eric Nowak, a 22-year veteran at Arrow Electronics and the current president of the company’s Global Enterprise Computing Solutions business, is planning to step down from his role effective Dec. 31 but will stay on in an advisory role for a few months after that date.

In his place, Centennial, Colo.-based Arrow is bringing on channel veteran Rodney Clark, according to a Securities and Exchange Commision filing the distributor filed Thursday.

In the filing, Arrow wrote that Nowak (pictured above left) is planning to retire after 22 years of what it called “distinguished service” with the company.

“In anticipation of his retirement, Mr. Nowak will step down from his position of President, Global Enterprise Computing Solutions, of the Company, effective as of December 31, 2026, at which time his duties will be transitioned to Mr. Clark. Mr. Nowak will continue to serve as an employee in an advisory capacity until his retirement to assist in the transition of his duties. Mr. Nowak is retiring for personal reasons and not as the result of any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to its operations, financial statements, policies, or practices,” the company wrote.

Arrow declined to provide any information about the executive change other than what was provided in the SEC filing. Nowak did not respond to a CRN request for further information by press time.

Clark in August 2025 left Cisco after a two-year stint as the company’s senior vice president of global partner sales after less than two years in that role, during which he led the revamp of the company’s Cisco 360 partner program.

Prior to that, Clark (pictured above right) spent 24 years at Microsoft before he left that company in May 2022. Clark’s last role at Microsoft was corporate vice president of channel sales and Microsoft channel chief, a role he held for under two years.

In between his times at Microsoft and Cisco, Clark served for about one and a half years as chief commercial officer at Johnson Controls.

Nowak is leaving Arrow at a time of change. Arrow ECS earlier this year lost its Dell enterprise relationship because it decided not to carry Dell’s entire product line including its client devices, which did not fit its line card. However, Dell remains both a customer and a vendor to Arrow Electronics’ OEM and components business. Dell and Arrow ECS are also still working together in Europe.

Arrow, meanwhile, is being headed on an interim basis by William “Bill” Austin, who has served as interim CEO since September 2025 after its former CEO Sean Kerins stepped down.

Felise Katz, CEO at PKA Technologies, a Montvale, N.J.-based solution provider, told CRN that Nowak is leaving a great legacy at Arrow ECS.

“Arrow ECS has done a great job supporting enterprise solutions for our customers, and he’s done a phenomenal job navigating through very interesting times, to say the least,” Katz told CRN. “Look how long he’s been doing this. He was there for the changes with Dell, for COVID, for all manner of technology shifts. What’s even more exciting from my perspective is the amount of new solutions that Eric kept adding to their line card.”

Those additions include technology from a variety of vendors, Katz said.

“Those new solutions are so important for us, especially in networking and in security and different things that just open up the door for our customers,” she said.