ViewSonic Hires Former Gateway Exec To Help Drive Expansion

The Walnut, Calif.-based display products vendor on Tuesday said Matt Milne has joined the company as senior vice president of business development and strategy. He previously was senior vice president and general manager of consumer solutions at Gateway, which he left in July following the company's merger with eMachines.

In his new post, Milne will direct corporate strategy, business development and strategic investment efforts aimed at growing sales in business and consumer product lines. He reports directly to James Chu, ViewSonic's founder, chairman and CEO.

Milne said he aims to continue ViewSonic's march into new markets while also ensuring that the company's core display business remains solid. "Without a strong core, it is impossible to grow," he said. "If the core doesn't remain strong, ViewSonic doesn't win, and if new businesses don't emerge, ViewSonic doesn't win. We are looking at doing both."

Milne's appointment comes in the wake of ViewSonic's aggressive push into the SOHO wireless market. Earlier this month, the company unveiled nine new products, including a wireless media gateway and adapter designed to make it easier for users to access digital content such as streaming video, photos and music.

ViewSonic's strategy is to "extend the brand into the inputs that make the [visual display] outputs," said Milne, who spent two years leading Gateway's consumer-electronics charge. "Because we own the visual experience right now, we believe there are adjacent technologies that bring content to that experience that we can participate in," he said. "Some of that is in the digital media space, particularly digital media adapters and gateways. That is clearly a strategic thrust for us, as well as any [new] display technology. We believe the brand is strong and can extend from being the choice of professionals to the choice of consumers. And that is exactly what we are going to do."

ViewSonic's product expansion is good news for VARs, Milne said, adding that the vendor remains committed to being channel-friendly. "These folks touch customers in areas and product lines that we could never think about doing centrally," he said.

Before joining Gateway, Milne spent 10 years at Western Digital, including a stint at Cameo Technologies, a spin-off digital media communication and distribution business. As Cameo's president and CEO, he led the company from product concept to launch. His most recent post at Western Digital was vice president of sales and marketing for the Americas.

Milne's hiring is ViewSonic's third key management change in recent months. In June, the company named Christopher Franey, an 11-year ViewSonic veteran, to the newly created post of president of the Americas. And earlier this month, ViewSonic hired Greg Avera, formerly vice president of channel sales at wireless vendor D-Link.