Layoffs Reported At McAfee, Including Channel Account Managers

Todd Barrett, sales manager for CPU Sales and Service, a Waltham, Mass., solution provider, said he is concerned by McAfee's sudden elimination of the channel account manager position in his territory. "This guy has been a pot of gold for us," said Barrett. "He has been our No. 1 quarterback out of all of our channel account managers. In 14 years I have never worked with a more committed and focused channel account manager that has helped us grow our business."

Barrett lamented the timing of the layoffs, noting that he is currently making sales plans for the next quarter and the turmoil makes it difficult to plan. "I'm concerned. ... It's hard to build a strong relationship with constant change and reorganization. This is frustrating."

Barrett said he has not been contacted by McAfee regarding the channel account manager change. The company officially changed its name from Network Associates to McAfee late Wednesday.

One McAfee employee who was laid off said he was informed that his position was eliminated due to restructuring. The former employee, who asked not to be named, said a number of field-account managers also were let go and that he was given a one-page list of their titles and ages.

"Apparently McAfee has some way of covering the channel that doesn't include channel managers," he said.

Sources said McAfee has a top management meeting Thursday and Friday at which executives will discuss the company's future strategic direction.

McAfee employees in the Midwest region also have been laid off, according to McAfee reseller partners. The layoffs include the corporate territory manager for McAfee's north Texas region, Brett Patton, according to a McAfee channel partner who declined to be named.

One of McAfee's tenured engineers in the Midwest region, whose name was not readily available, was laid off after a three-year relationship with a McAfee reseller. The regional director of McAfee's Midwest region is rumored to have also been laid off.

None of these reseller sources said they had been contacted by McAfee regarding the layoffs.

Calls to McAfee representatives were not immediately returned.

CRN first reported the looming layoffs at McAfee on June 21.

Following that first report, McAfee representative Jennifer Keavney did not dismiss the possibility of July 1 layoffs at McAfee, then still called Network Associates. "Network Associates has made a commitment to investors to achieve a 25 percent operating margin by the middle of 2005," she said when asked to confirm or deny July 1 layoffs.