25 Blockbuster Channel Executive Moves of 2013
Channel Changes
Some of the most experienced and widely recognized channel chiefs found new homes last year, which was full of executive departures and hires between competing vendors. Here's a look at the 25 biggest channel executive moves of 2013.
Judson Althoff
Microsoft snagged Oracle's channel chief last March in a major coup against its rival. Judson Althoff, a 14-year Oracle veteran who most recently served as senior vice president of worldwide alliances and channels, was named as Microsoft's new president of North America sales and marketing. In addition, Althoff was named a corporate vice president and will report to Microsoft COO Kevin Turner.
Frank Vitagliano
After stepping down as senior vice president of Americas partner at Juniper Networks in March, veteran channel executive Frank Vitagliano joined Dell a few weeks later. Vitagliano was named vice president of channel sales at Dell and given the responsibility of all regional SMB and specialty solution provider sales at the company. Vitagliano spent seven years at Juniper Networks in various channel roles, and before that spent more than 30 years at IBM.
Michael Valentine
Sophos last year nabbed two top executives from rival Fortinet, starting with Michael Valentine, formerly vice president of Americas sales and support at Fortinet. Sophos named Valentine as its new senior vice president of worldwide sales, where he'll lead the security vendor's global sales and channel organization. Before his tenure at Fortinet, Valentine served as vice president of Americas sales at SonicWall.
Kendra Krause
Sophos also named former Fortinet executive Kendra Krause to the role of vice president of North American channel sales in April. Krause previously served as vice president of channel sales and operations at Fortinet, where she spent more than five years. She also worked at SonicWall and WatchGuard Technologies in sales roles. Sophos' hiring of Valentine and Krause, as well as other ex-Fortinet employees, led to bad blood between the two companies, as Fortinet filed a lawsuit against Sophos last month over allegations of employee poaching.
Mike Parrottino
Longtime Hewlett-Packard executive Mike Parrottino took on a new role at the company last spring. Parrottino, who had served as vice president and general manager of Americas channel marketing and SMB, was named as HP's new vice president of enterprise group channel volume sales, where he'll concentrate on building up partner sales in the enterprise market. Parrottino also has served as vice president of U.S. Channel Sales for HP's Personal Systems Group (PSG) and vice president of Direct Response Channel and Agent Sales for HP.
John Spiliotis
Avaya's loss was Palo Alto Networks' gain. John Spiliotis, formerly vice president of global channels at Avaya, left the company to become vice president of Americas sales at Palo Alto Networks. Spiliotis first joined Avaya in 2010, after serving as head of IP sales at Ericsson. He also spent time at Redback Networks (acquired by Ericsson in 2007) as vice president of Americas sales and operations, and vice president of Americas sales at Extreme Networks.
Greg Davis
It was the end of an era for Dell as longtime channel chief Greg Davis, who led the computer maker's first partner program efforts, moved to a new role at the company in November. Davis, who was named as vice president of software and peripherals at Dell, spent nearly seven years as vice president of global channels, helping Dell shed its direct sales model and embrace channel partners. Before that, he served as president of Dell Canada and first joined the company as vice president and general manager of Dell's imaging business.
Cheryl Cook
Taking over for Greg Davis as Dell's vice president of global channels and alliances is Cheryl Cook, who previously served as vice president of enterprise solutions for the company. Cook joined Dell in 2011 and most recently served as senior vice president of sales at Nuance Communications. She also spent more than a decade at Sun Microsystems, during which she worked as senior vice president of global accounts and industries, and senior vice president of North America.
Bob Skelley
As part of Dell's 2013 makeover, the company made a major change to its indirect sales business last summer by combining two of its channel teams into one organization. As part of the change, Dell named Bob Skelley as the new executive director of Dell's Global Certified Partner Program. Skelley previously served as head of Dell's Channel Programs and Enablement division, which was combined with Global Channel Marketing and Programs division. Skelley came to Dell in the company's 2008 acquisition of EqualLogic, where he served as vice president of global channels.
Jon Roskill
In addition to shaking up its top leadership, Microsoft also shifted gears with its channel team. Jon Roskill stepped down from his post as corporate vice president of Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Group in August. Roskill had served as Microsoft's global channel chief since 2010; prior to that, he worked as corporate vice president of Microsoft's Business and Marketing division, plus general manager of Microsoft's Server and Developer Tools division. He first joined Microsoft in 1999.
Phil Sorgen
Phil Sorgen was named as Jon Roskill's successor in August. Microsoft's new corporate vice president of the company’s Worldwide Partner Group is a 17-year veteran of the software giant. Sorgen most recently served as corporate vice president of Microsoft's U.S. Small and Midmarket Solutions and Partners Group. But he's better known to some North American solution providers as president of Microsoft Canada, a post he held for three years.
Sue Barsamian
In September, Hewlett-Packard bolstered its channel team with the appointment of Sue Barsamian to the newly created role of senior vice president of worldwide indirect sales for HP's Enterprise Group. Barsamian joined HP in 2006 and most recently served as senior vice president and general manager of global sales and operations for HP's Enterprise Group. She also served as vice president of global operations at HP's software division, among other roles at HP. Before that, she held executive posts at Critical Path and Verity.
Eric Martorano
As part of Microsoft's channel team overhaul, the software giant in September promoted Eric Martorano to general manager of U.S. channel sales. Martorano previously served as senior director of U.S. SMB channel sales, focusing on reseller partner relations in the SMB space. He first joined Microsoft in 2008; before that, he spent time at Sage Software, Vision Solutions and Ingram Micro in a variety of marketing roles.
Eric Duffaut
SAP said goodbye to its channel chief when Eric Duffaut, president of SAP's global ecosystem and channels, departed the ERP software maker in September. He first joined SAP in 2005 as senior vice president of channels, and small and midsize enterprises in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Before that, Duffaut spent many years at Oracle in executive roles, including as vice president of EMEA sales, and also spent time at Unisys France.
Sheila O'Neil
Another longtime channel chief departed last fall when Sheila O'Neil left Panasonic. A 16-year veteran of the company, O'Neil previously served as vice president of channel management for Panasonic System Communications Company of North America, the B2B division of Panasonic. She joined the company as a channel manager and worked for several years in Panasonic's indirect sales business. Before Panasonic, she spent several years at MicroAge working in vendor relations.
Emilio Umeoka
Among Juniper Networks' many executive losses last year was Emilio Umeoka, the company's senior vice president of worldwide partners. Umeoka left Juniper in October following a major corporate reorganization that combined the networking vendor's channel and commercial sales into one division. He first joined the company in 2010 after spending several years at Microsoft, where he served as president of the Asia Pacific region and president of Microsoft Brazil. Before that he was president of Compaq Brazil.
Chris Jones
Juniper Networks lost another big-name channel executive in Chris Jones, who replaced Frank Vitagliano (who also left the company last year) as vice president of Americas partner sales. Jones left the company in November to become Avaya's vice president of worldwide commercial and distribution. He first joined Juniper in 2010 and previously served as vice president of worldwide commercial sales before taking over as channel chief. Before Juniper, he spent several years at Cisco in a variety of management roles.
Adam Famularo
CA Technologies has a new channel chief. The software maker tapped Adam Famularo, formerly senior vice president and general manager of CA's AppLogic Business Unit, as its new senior vice president of North American partner sales. Famularo is a 15-year veteran of CA and is probably best known to partners for his tenure as CA's senior vice president and general manager of cloud computing from 2010 to 2012, and for his stint as vice president of CA's global channel strategy and partnerships before that.
Donna Grothjan
Another top executive from Juniper Networks left the building in November. Donna Grothjan, vice president of worldwide distribution for Juniper, took a similar position at Hewlett-Packard. Grothjan held the distribution post at Juniper for three years and also served as vice president of Juniper's global channel strategy and operations. Before joining Juniper in 2004, she spent 15 years with Ingram Micro in a variety of management and executive roles.
Hojin Kim
Hewlett-Packard landed another top Juniper executive in December when Hojin Kim, former vice president of Americas partner development and operations at Juniper Networks, was named vice president of worldwide channel operations for HP's Networking Group. Kim joined Juniper in 2007 and held management roles in business development and channel operations. Prior to that, he spent several years at IBM in a variety of roles and also worked in product management at Merisel.
Roy Taylor
In a year full of companies snagging channel executives from the competition, AMD got into the act last winter when it named former Nvidia executive Roy Taylor as its new global channel chief. A longtime Nvidia executive, Taylor had previously served as Nvidia's vice president of telco relations before becoming AMD's corporate vice president of global channel sales. He joined Nvidia in 2000 and held a variety of executive roles over that time. Before that, he was the founder and CEO of Addtron Group.
Sherri Liebo
Cisco added a new name to its channel team last March with the appointment of Sherri Liebo to the role of vice president of partner marketing. A Cisco veteran, Liebo had most recently served as vice president of marketing for Cisco Services. She first joined the networking giant in 2005 after working at HP for several years, including as director of marketing for HP services.
Marc Dupaquier
IBM named a new global channel chief in December. The company appointed 27-year IBM veteran Marc Dupaquier as its new general manager of Global Business Partners, replacing former General Manager Mark Hennessy, who moved to a new role at IBM. Dupaquier most recently served as vice president of marketing and strategy at IBM's Systems and Technology Group and also has held top positions at Big Blue, including vice president of global marketing for IBM Software Group and general manager of IBM's global midmarket business.
David O'Callaghan
VMware scored a big win with its appointment of Cisco executive Dave O'Callaghan as channel chief last spring. O'Callaghan assumed the role of senior vice president of global channels and alliances, which had been vacated earlier in the year by former channel chief Scott Aronson. O'Callaghan had previously spent several years at Cisco as vice president of worldwide commercial sales and vice president of worldwide distribution. He also founded his own IT consulting firm, O'Callaghan Capital, in 2011.
Scott Aronson
VMware veteran Scott Aronson left the company last February to make a lateral move of sorts to Pivotal, the new big data venture created by VMware's majority stakeholder EMC. Aronson was named as Pivotal's senior vice president of global field operations after most recently serving as VMware's channel chief. He spent nearly 10 years at VMware, with prior sales management stints at Inktomi and Nortel Networks.