Gilroy Named SVP of Sales, GM At OnForce

Two months after joining ComputerRepair.com as a strategic consultant, HP veteran channel chief Kevin Gilroy has taken on a senior-level executive position with the company, which recently renamed itself OnForce.

OnForce bills itself as an e-marketplace for in-site IT service, boasting a current network of 12,384 service providers whose offering include computer repair, virus protection and removal, rollouts, upgrades, software installation, wireless LAN rollouts and printing services for SMBs.

The OnForce business model is similar to eBay's, collecting fees for connecting buyers and sellers. At the time he first hooked up with OnForce, Gilroy was tasked to help the company build out a sales and service organization, and expand its channel focus by creating a VAR network. Gilroy is now senior vice president of sales and general manager at the company.

Earlier this month, OnForce procured an initial round of A Series venture funding of $15 million from General Catalyst, and says its patent-pending platform provides direct control over the procurement process, which reduces management costs while improving service levels.

Gilroy, who spent 24 years at HP and was regarded as its most visible channel advocate, left the company in August as a casualty of CEO Mark Hurd's slashing of approximately 15,000 positions, or 10 percent of its workforce. The last position he held, as senior vice president of HP's worldwide SMB segment, was eliminated after the company absorbed its Customer Solutions Group into other business units.

Gilroy will be based in New York, where OnForce is headquartered, as well as his home area of Philadelphia.