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Ingram Micro’s Paul Bay: Platinum Equity Supports Our ‘Excitement Around The Things We Can Accelerate’
Joseph F. Kovar
‘There are always going to be opportunities to look at skill sets to enhance the capabilities we have. When we talk with our partners about what’s important to them, is it vertical markets? Is it specific skill sets and certifications they need? We’re going to look at those opportunities to acquire,’ Paul Bay, president of global technology solutions at Ingram Micro, tells CRN.

Was the decision by HNA to sell Ingram Micro to Platinum Equity a decision by HNA or a decision by Platinum Equity to approach HNA?
I’m not going to go into the details about how the opportunity came. There’s lots of activity, as you’ve said, from the distribution standpoint. But how the deal came about, there are a number of different ways that could have come to fruition.
The good news, as I’ve mentioned, is one of the things I’m very excited about is just Platinum’s approach to the market and what they’ve done with their portfolio of companies. They’ve had some in the technology sector from a vendor perspective, and some small customers in the past. And I think it’s a great opportunity. One of their key things is, how do they empower management and really support and share the vision of how they invest.
We laid out early in the conversation here’s what we’re looking to do, we want to continue to invest in our partners, help them build better businesses, run better, grow faster, and deliver ultimately more to the end users. And here are the ways we want to go invest. Things like modernizing partner processes and systems, which are key as this whole move toward digitalization has come about.