Dell Reorganizes Channel Team
Greg Davis to global channel chief
Before the elevation to global channel chief, Davis served as Dell's North American channel chief. No replacement has been named for that role.
Instead, the Round Rock, Texas-based computer manufacturer has realigned its channel team with three key members who will continue to polish the company's image while deploying a concrete channel strategy on the ground. Bob Skelley joined the company just over a year ago when Dell purchased storage vendor EqualLogic and has served as the director of enterprise architecture. As part of the reorganized channel team, Skelley will expand his role globally, now leading the global enterprise architecture program for Dell.
"Bob led the effort to continue to attract partners and get them registered and certified on [the Americas] side," said Davis. "He will be expanding that role to a global basis."
Pete Kennedy, CEO of Kennedy and Kraft, a New York-based reseller, thinks moving Skelley to a global role is an important move for Dell.
"Having Bob work in a global role is encouraging," said Kennedy. "We have a growing number of clients that operate on an international basis and global procurement and deployment is becoming exceedingly more important."
On the North American front, Davis has put in place two Dell veterans, Paul Schaeffer and Jim De Foe.
De Foe, now area vice president, America channels, has been with Dell for 11 years, but joined the channel team in the past nine months. De Foe will be working with a dedicated sales team focusing on channel partners and channel account managers assigned to certified and large partners.
"Jim will continue to lead channel sales for the Americas. He will continue in that capacity in Canada as well," said Davis.
De Foe won't be a new face to Dell channel partners. De Foe has sat in on Dell partner advisory councils and is an active participant when the group gets together to discuss ideas about the company's channel program, said Kennedy.
Paul Schaeffer takes over as director of global channel marketing, North America programs and operations. His focus, according to Davis, will be handling programs and operations.
"Paul's organization will include working with the online portal and deal registration," said Davis. E-commerce, marketing material and value-add from different product training lines will all be part of his focus."
De Foe, Schaeffer and Skelley will all report to Davis.
In addition to the revamped channel team in North America, Davis and Dell have set up a mirror group to focus on its channel partners abroad. On Tuesday, it became official that U.K. channel director Andy Dow has left the company. In place now are Emmanuel Mouquet, EMEA channel sales director and Kathy Schneider, EMEA channel programs manager.
Having a team in Europe -- and one focused on Asia, Pacific and Japan -- all rolling up to Davis is part of Dell's global channel mandate: "to grow commercial channels on a global basis. We'll do that with presence and offering and innovative value-add in all the countries that we operate in for our partners."
For Pete Kennedy in New York, he sees the reorganization as the channel finally starting to get its just desserts from Dell.
"I don't think [the reorganization] marks any change in Dell's emphasis on the channel," said Kennedy. "Instead, it is a recognition and elevation of the channels to a global level instead of just focusing on North America."