Dell Titanium Partner: COO Jeff Clarke ‘Going To Go Bare Knuckles’ On PC Market

‘He’s going to look at the whole thing and figure out what needs to be done. And again, there’s not a better guy that that you can have doing that then Jeff right now. I’ve known Jeff for a really long time, and, trust me, I’m excited,’ says Bob Venero, CEO of Future Tech, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Dell Global Titanium partner that does business in 37 countries.

Dell Technologies Chief Operating Officer Jeff Clarke has assumed leadership of the company’s Client Solutions Group, a move that partners are praising as a signal to the market that the Round Rock, Texas-based company is going after share in its PC business.

“Jeff is going to go bare knuckles,” said Bob Venero, CEO of Future Tech, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Dell Global Titanium partner that does business in 37 countries. “When you have somebody who’s like, kind of that SWAT leader, that can come in and any aspect of the business and be able to move mountains, they’re a key to the success of it. Especially someone who’s been there as long as Jeff.”

Future Tech is one of Dell’s oldest reseller partners -- and Dell's 2025 Federal Partner of the Year, its third year in a row. As soon as Venero heard the news, he sent Clarke a text message saying he was excited to have him come back to manage PCs.

Clarke is one of the first 150 employees hired by Dell and in addition to creating “nearly flawless” motherboards for its earliest PCs, Clarke led the team that created its first workstation, according to founder Michael Dell’s autobiography “Play Nice, But Win.” In the book, Michael Dell wrote that Clarke possesses “tactical brilliance” and is the closest thing the company has to a co-founder.

“I think, from a partner perspective, he has this definite excitement around how to be able to capture and grow that business,” Venero told CRN. “And that’s going to mean a few things. That’s going to mean innovation. That’s going to be routes to market. That’s going to be streamlining process. He’s going to look at the whole thing and figure out what needs to be done. And again, there’s not a better guy that that you can have doing that then Jeff right now. I’ve known Jeff for a really long time and, trust me, I’m excited.”

Phil Sanginario, CEO of The Redesign Group, which is Dell’s North American Partner of the Year for Storage and a member of CRN’s 2025 Elite 150 MSP, called it a “great” move.

“There is no better leader to ensure Dell capitalizes on the massive AI PC opportunity,” he told CRN. “For such a large company, Dell operates with significant velocity and responds quickly to market demands - that kind of execution isn’t possible at their scale without deep executive engagement, and this is a perfect example of that.”

The move was first publicized on LinkedIn by Vivek Mohindra, who has been with Dell since May 2020 in various roles including leading the chief strategy office and as vice president of Client Solutions Group. Mohindra – a former partner at McKinsey & Company – is now Clarke’s special advisor.

“I am excited to share the news that I am transitioning to the role of Special Advisor to Vice Chair & COO. In this role, I will work closely with our Vice Chair & COO Jeff Clarke and Chair & CEO Michael Dell on select business-critical projects related to growth and AI-driven company transformation,” Mohindra wrote last week. “I will be working closely with Sam Burd - who is stepping into the role of Chief Strategy Officer.”

While Dell holds multiple number one market share positions across its server and storage portfolio, it lags as the number three globally in terms of market share behind Lenovo and HP Inc., according to industry analyst IDC’s first quarter rankings.

During its most recent first fiscal quarter, Dell saw its PC sales grow five percent, year over year on sales of $12.5 billion. That growth was driven by its commercial business, which rose nearly 9 percent, from $10.1 billion in the year-ago quarter to $11.04 billion this year. On the consumer side, however, Dell’s PC sales plummeted 19 percent year over year, dropping from $1.81 billion to $1.46 billion year over year.

Dell declined to confirm the personnel changes, but said it had “no issues” with Mohindra’s LinkedIn post.

“We’re focused on leading the commercial and consumer PC markets and capitalizing on the critical PC refresh cycle – we will continue to evolve our business with that goal in mind,” read an unsigned response from Dell Technologies.