Former HPE Exec Dan Belanger Has Landed At AWS

‘AWS continues to build out the sales organization,’ says Pinnacle Technology Partners’ Managing Partner Ethan Simmons. ‘Adding people like Dan Belanger that have relationships with large enterprise accounts is going to be key for them. Selling in business is all about relationships. You buy from people you trust.’

Dan Belanger, a 30-year veteran of Hewlett Packard Enterprise who stepped aside as HPE North America managing director in August, is now heading up enterprise accounts at Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Belanger, who boosted HPE’s U.S. partner offensive during his three years at the helm of the HPE North America business, posted the new job title on LinkedIn. He said in the post that he has been working for AWS since September.

AWS confirmed Belanger’s hire in an email but did not comment on who he reports to or what his formal responsibilities are as enterprise accounts chief.

Belanger joins former HPE Hybrid Cloud President Phil Davis and former Hewlett Packard Chanel leader Jeremiah Jenson who both joined AWS in May. Former HPE UK Managing Director Andy Isherwood moved to AWS in 2018.

Former Oracle and HPE top Americas sales executive Rich Geraffo, meanwhile, just last month joined AWS as the new vice president of Americas sales.

Belanger’s hire is another example of AWS’s aggressive bid to break into large enterprise accounts, said Ethan Simmons, a managing partner for Pinnacle Technology Partners Inc., an AWS managed service provider with an impressive life sciences customer base.

“This is part of a continued push by AWS to add executives that have enterprise relationships,” said Simmons. “AWS continues to build out the sales organization. Adding people like Dan Belanger that have relationships with large enterprise accounts is going to be key for them. Selling in business is all about relationships. You buy from people you trust. AWS is bringing Belanger on because he has the trust and mind share at enterprise companies. It does AWS well to have a trusted person like that on the team.”

Just as important, Simmons said is that new hires like Belanger have significant channel experience. “Getting people on board that know how to work with the channel is key,” he said. “The AWS leadership teams see that for them to continue to grow, scale and to compete against Microsoft and Google they need channel partners that are willing to be AWS first partners.”

Simmons said he is looking forward to strategizing with Belanger on enterprise accounts especially in the life sciences area where Pinnacle Technology Partners has a strong installed base.

Simmon said he sees AWS continuing to see the value of channel partners. “The channel allows AWS to scale the business faster,” he said. “This is the same model that Cisco and HPE used when they were growing the business.”

Belanger came to HPE as a Compaq global sales leader in 2002 after HP acquired Compaq. HPE partners credited Belanger with driving tight engagement between the HPE direct sales force and HPE partners.

Among Belanger’s achievments cited on his LinkedIn profile are that he was the first North America leader in five years to over-perform on the top and bottom line and double digit growth in key product categories.

In addition, Belanger was a major proponent of diversity in the North America organization exceeding diversity goals, hitting a 40 percent mark for the North America leadership team

A top executive for an HPE partner, who did not want to be identified, said Belanger’s hire is a coup for AWS. “Dan has a really strong combination of technical and sales smarts,” said the executive. “Dan is a proven entity that has worked with and has the respect of enterprise customers. It’s a big catch for AWS.