Getting The Band Back Together: Another Former Hewlett-Packard Exec Joins Oracle

Bill Swales, former vice president of Hewlett-Packard's industry standard server business in the Americas, has joined Oracle as its new channel chief, sources familiar with the hiring told CRN Friday.

Swales fills a role that has been vacant since last November when former Oracle channel chief Rich Geraffo -- another HP alumnus -- was named senior vice president of North America technology, hardware and public sector sales.

Swales left HP in December 2013 after a six-year run, and joined Seagate last September as senior vice president of worldwide sales for the vendor's Cloud Systems and Solutions group, according to his LinkedIn profile. He previously spent 12 years in sales roles at EMC.

[Related: Here's Why Some Partners Think Oracle Cloud Sales Numbers Are Misleading]

Oracle declined to comment on Swales' appointment. CRN has reached out to Seagate to confirm Swales' departure and will update this story if we hear back.

Swales was popular in the HP channel and two partners described him to CRN as being "very channel-friendly." At least one Oracle partner is similarly optimistic about having Swales on board.

"We are excited to have Bill on board and we are looking forward to having his leadership and involvement with the channel," John Ezzell, executive vice president at BIAS Corporation, an Atlanta-based Oracle partner, told CRN.

During his time at HP, Swales closed "the largest $500 million-plus transaction in HP history for servers," according to his LinkedIn profile. In Oracle, he joins a vendor that is now very focused on selling cloud services, and launched its first cloud channel program last September.

Swales becomes the second former HP executive to join his former boss Mark Hurd at Oracle this year, following Dave Donatelli, who left HP in March and is now executive vice president of converged infrastructure.

Other former HP executives at Oracle include Tom LaRocca, senior vice president of North America sales, alliances and channels; and Adrian Jones, who spent three years as general manager and senior vice president of Oracle's Asia-Pacific business, before leaving for Symantec last June.

PUBLISHED JULY 10, 2015