30 Notable IT Executive Moves: July 2019

The announcement of Julie Sweet as Accenture's new CEO was among the largest IT executive moves that changed the technology landscape in July.

Sweet Steps In, Ali Steps Out

Accenture made company history in July when the technology services giant announced that Julie Sweet, its top North America executive, would become its new CEO.

The move was among many sweeping executive changes in the technology landscape in July. Other big changes included Mohamad Ali stepping down as CEO of Carbonite, former Rackspace CEO Joe Eazor joining Oracle, and Google Cloud hiring Microsoft veteran Kirsten Kliphouse as its first North American sales leader.

Other companies that saw personnel changes last month included Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Curvature, Amazon Web Services, Palo Alto Networks, Intel, IBM and Avnet.

What follows are the top 30 IT executive moves from July 2019.

Julie Sweet

Technology services giant Accenture—which has been without a permanent leader since beloved top executive Pierre Nanterme passed away earlier this year—announced Julie Sweet will be the company’s new CEO, the first woman to take on that role in the firm’s history.

Sweet has been CEO of Accenture North America, leading Accenture’s business in the U.S., and has been with the company for more than nine years. She is expected to take over in September.

Interim CEO David Rowland—the former CFO who stepped in to lead the company after Nanterme passed away in January—will stay on as chair of the board of directors, act as an adviser to Sweet and be involved in Accenture’s long-term business strategy.

Mohamad Ali

Mohamad Ali stepped down as president and CEO and as a member of the board of directors of cloud data protection vendor Carbonite.

Ali, who spent over four and a half years as head of Boston-based Carbonite, left to join IDG, the Framingham, Mass.-based IT industry research firm, as CEO. Ali joined Carbonite in late 2014 at a time when the company had just rejected an offer by Los Angeles-based cloud services firm J2 Global to purchase the company for about $404 million. The company currently has a market capitalization of over $823 million.

Carbonite Chairman Steve Munford has been named interim CEO and executive chairman. Munford has served as Carbonite's chairman of the board for over five and a half years. He also serves on the boards of directors at several other IT companies, and is chairman of Stockholm, Sweden-based Apica Systems. Munford also served as interim CEO at Vancouver, B.C.-based Absolute Software in 2018, and prior to that spent nine years at Oxford, U.K.-based Sophos, including nearly seven years as CEO.

Pat Byrne

GE Digital appointed Pat Byrne, a former lieutenant of the parent company's chief executive, Larry Culp, to lead the industrial software division.

The San Ramon, Calif.-based digital business of GE announced that Byrne, a former Danaher Corporation executive, will serve as its new CEO. He succeeds Bill Ruh, who led GE Digital from 2015 to late 2018. The business had been run by GE Power executive Steven Martin in the interim.

While Culp was CEO of Danaher—the industrial manufacturer he was widely credited with turning around— Byrne served under him as chief technology officer. From 2012 to 2014, Bryne led mergers and acquisitions efforts as well as new technology initiatives, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Yehia Maaty Omar

Curvature named Xerox veteran Yehia Maaty Omar as its new CEO.

Omar was most recently senior vice president and chief delivery officer for Xerox, leading the company’s worldwide technology and service delivery arm, which included field service as well as global remote support centers. Omar was also president of developing markets at Xerox.

Charlotte, N.C.-based Curvature’s previous CEO, Peter Weber, left in May by mutual agreement “to pursue other opportunities,” the company said in a statement. Weber was named CEO in September 2017 after serving seven months on the Curvature board of directors.

Kirsten Kliphouse

Google Cloud appointed Microsoft veteran Kirsten Kliphouse as president of the cloud service provider's North American business.

Kliphouse was most recently a senior vice president and general manager at Red Hat, where she worked for a year and a half. Prior to that, she spent nearly a year as CEO of Yardarm Technologies after working at Microsoft for more than 25 years, most recently as its vice president of enterprise sales and partners.

Her appointment comes after former Oracle executive Thomas Kurian took over the reins at Google Cloud and brought SAP veteran Robert Enslin and fellow Oracle veteran Amit Zavery into the executive ranks.

Heiko Meyer

Hewlett Packard Enterprise split the chief sales officer role into a separate position and appointed veteran HPE executive Heiko Meyer to the role.

Meyer's appointment to chief sales officer is aimed at optimizing the company's efficiency and scale as it moves to help businesses advance their digital transformation activities, according to Phil Davis, HPE's president of Hybrid IT. Davis is currently also the chief sales officer for HPE. Meyer’s appointment is slated to officially begin Nov. 1.

Meyer has over three decades of history with HPE's European operations, and has for the last 21 months served as managing director of its German operations and senior vice president of global sales for the geography spanning Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Russia.

Doug Yeum

Amazon Web Services’ veteran channel chief of 11 years was replaced by Doug (Dong Hoon) Yeum, the technical adviser to CEO Andy Jassy.

Yeum, who had been Jassy’s chief of staff since December 2017, took over Terry Wise’s role as AWS’ head of worldwide channels and alliances to become its highest-ranking channel executive, the No. 1 cloud provider confirmed exclusively to CRN. Wise is now vice president of worldwide partners and U.S. Western region sales for AWS.

Yeum, who reported directly to Jassy, previously served as general manager of AWS Korea for almost six years starting in 2014. Prior to that, Yeum spent almost seven years with Google, most recently as managing director of Google Korea, overseeing sales and business development operations.

Jean English

Cybersecurity giant Palo Alto Networks hired former NetApp executive Jean English as its new chief marketing officer.

English served as storage vendor NetApp's senior vice president and chief marketing officer for the past three years, after a seven-and-a-half-year stint at IBM where she last served as vice president of global marketing for IBM cloud. James Whitemore, NetApp's vice president of brand and demand marketing, will act as interim CMO in the wake of English's departure, NetApp told CRN.

Palo Alto Networks’ most recent CMO, Rene Bonvanie, decided to step away from his marketing responsibilities to better manage a chronic illness, and going forward will serve as executive vice president of strategic accounts, the company said.

James Etheredge

Accenture appointed James Etheredge as group CEO of the IT services giant's North American business, taking over for Julie Sweet, who was named chief executive of the overall company.

Etheredge, who will start the role in September, currently serves as senior managing director for the company's U.S. Southeast business. Prior to that, he was senior managing director for Accenture's products operating unit in North America.

“Jimmy has distinguished himself as a proven leader during his 33 years with Accenture, and I’m delighted that he is stepping up to run our largest market, helping bring our best to clients every day,” David Rowland, Accenture’s interim CEO, said in a statement. “He is a tireless and passionate advocate for our culture of inclusion and diversity, and has long demonstrated thoughtful engagement as a champion for our people and communities.”

Joe Eazor

Oracle appointed former Rackspace CEO Joe Eazor as executive vice president and chief customer officer, according to a report by The Information and his LinkedIn profile.

The Information reported that Eazor, who departed Rackspace in April after serving as CEO for less than two years, is replacing 21-year Oracle veteran Jeb Dasteel. Prior to Rackspace, Eazor was president and CEO of EarthLink for a little more than three years.

Eazor has also served in executive leadership roles at EMC, McKinsey & Company, Hewlett Packard, EDS, Springbow and A.T. Kearney.

Mark Logan

LogRhythm replaced its top leader with Mark Logan, an executive from outside the cybersecurity industry, a year after being purchased by private equity giant Thoma Bravo.

The Boulder, Colo.-based security information and event management vendor tapped Logan, former president of Attunity, to take over as its next president and CEO. Logan is replacing Andy Grolnick, who had served as LogRhythm's president and CEO since 2005.

"Mark has decades of experience successfully building and leading global enterprises, software and SaaS companies," Thoma Bravo partner Chip Virnig said in a statement. "That experience, combined with his focus on customer success, solution innovation and company culture, makes him the ideal leader for LogRhythm."

Claire Dixon

Intel appointed former VMware executive Claire Dixon as corporate vice president and chief communications officer.

Dixon, who will report to Intel's top sales and marketing executive, Michelle Johnston Holthaus, was most recently senior vice president and chief communications officer at VMware. Prior to that, she served as vice president of global communications at eBay, where she worked with Intel CEO Bob Swan while he was chief financial officer there.

"Claire is a world-class communications leader and team-builder," Swan said in a statement. "She brings with her a wealth of global experience across enterprise technology and consumer industries and will be a tremendous addition to Intel’s leadership team."

Ric Lewis

Ric Lewis, a 32-year Hewlett Packard Enterprise veteran who has overseen a plethora of enterprise server breakthroughs, announced plans to retire.

Lewis most recently was senior vice president and general manager of HPE’s Hybrid IT software- defined/cloud group overseeing the software-defined strategy and road map for the Hybrid IT business. Lewis officially steps down on Oct. 31, the end of HPE’s fiscal year.

Lewis started his career in HPE in 1987 and spent his early years leading design teams in system, chipset, CPU and firmware development for a wide range of products from servers to high end workstations. His long tenure included roles such as vice president and general manager for HPE’s enterprise server business, as well as senior vice president and general manager for Converged Data Center Infrastructure.

David La Rose

David La Rose, the leader of IBM's business in Australia, took over the helm of Big Blue’s entire channel organization.

La Rose replaces John Teltsch as general manager of the IBM Partner Ecosystem. Teltsch will transition to a new position as general manager for IBM Systems Sales, where he will lead go-to-market efforts across IBM's portfolio of storage products, cognitive systems and System Z mainframes.

The Australian started his career at IBM in 1993 in the Australian sales unit for its x86 business. He followed that up with multiyear assignments in Tokyo, China and the Czech Republic. In 2016, La Rose took over IBM's channel leadership in the whole of Europe as a vice president in the Global Business Partner Organization. He then led enterprise sales in Asia before returning to his home country as managing director for Australia and New Zealand.

Yancey Spruill

DigitalOcean appointed former SendGrid executive Yancy Spruill as CEO and former Enernoc executive Bill Sorenson as CFO.

Spruill takes over from Mark Templeton, who had been appointed CEO of the New York-based startup in June 2018 and said in May 2019 that he was stepping down for personal reasons. Spruil was most recently chief operations officer and CFO at SendGrid, where he worked for four years and led the company through its 2017 initial public offering.

Sorenson was most recently CFO at Enernoc, where he guided the company through a strategic sale to Italian energy giant Enel Group. Previously, he served as CFO at Qlik for five years.

Kumar Sreekanti

Kumar Sreekanti, the former VMware storage R&D chief who led the vSAN development charge, took the CTO post for Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Hybrid IT business unit.

Sreekanti, who was also previously co-founder and CEO of artificial intelligence big data pioneer BlueData, which HPE acquired last November, will be responsible for HPE’s Hybrid IT technology strategy and future road map.

Sreekanti, who took the position effective Aug. 1, replaces Ric Lewis, a 32-year HPE veteran who was senior vice president and general manager of HPE’s Software Defined and Cloud Group.

Carola Cazenave

IBM shook up its channel leadership, elevating Carola Cazenave to lead its massive Business Partner ecosystem in North America.

Dorothy Copeland, who previously held the position of vice president of IBM Partner Ecosystem for North America, transitioned to global vice president, programs and business development, in the same ecosystem division.

Since January 2018, Cazenave held the position of vice president, strategy and programs for IBM Partner Ecosystem. She started with Big Blue in 2002 as a manager in Latin America and became a channel leader in that region by 2008.

Tim Burke

NetGain Technologies, an MSP based in Lexington, Ky., appointed Tim Burke as the company's new CEO, taking over from former leader Jason Jacobson.

Burke was previously a senior vice president of Bank of America. Prior to that, he served as a senior associate at Red Ventures and as a corps member for Teach For America.

"NetGain Technologies has a blue-chip, 35-year history providing best-in-class technology services and solutions to businesses," Burke said in a statement. "My goal is to work with the company’s seasoned management team to continue delivery of excellent IT services, and scale the company to expand our managed services leadership position."

Frank Azor

Alienware co-founder Frank Azor departed Dell to join AMD as its chief architect of gaming solutions.

Azor had been with Dell since the tech giant acquired Alienware in 2006. At the Round Rock, Texas-based company, he served as vice president and general manager of Alienware, gaming and XPS.

"Extremely happy to welcome [Azor] on his very first day at AMD. Frank is a powerhouse in the industry and we are thrilled to have him as our new chief architect of gaming solutions," CEO Lisa Su said in a tweet.

Todd Palmer

Hitachi Vantara brought on former Cohesity channel chief Todd Palmer as its new senior vice president of strategic partners and alliances.

Palmer took over from Mike Walkey, a 13-year veteran of Hitachi Vantara and Hitachi Data Systems, as the company was known before it changed its name in 2017.

Palmer served as vice president of worldwide channels at San Jose, Calif.-based Cohesity for just over two years, following nearly three years as vice president of Americas channel sales at Palo Alto Networks and prior channel and sales roles at NetApp and CA.

Tom Mendoza

Tom Mendoza, who since 1994 had led the sales team of NetApp as president and senior vice president of sales before becoming the company's vice chairman, announced his plan to retire.

Mendoza unveiled his retirement in mid-July via a note on Twitter in which he said that his experience at the company far exceeded the wildest expectations he had when he first joined in 1994.

"I am grateful that many of my best friends in life either work or have worked at NetApp, are customers of NetApp or are partners of NetApp. How cool is that? Very cool," he wrote.

Andrew Pryfogle

Cloud-focused distributor Pax8, which has been focused primarily on the MSP channel, expanded its reach to the telecom channel with the hiring of former Intelisys executive Andrew Pryfogle.

Pryfogle, who previously served as senior vice president of cloud transformation at Intelisys, the Petaluma, Calif.-based telecom master agent, is now Greenwood Village, Colo.-based Pax8's chief market development officer.

The new role of chief market development officer was set up specifically to look at how to accelerate the convergence of MSPs and telecom agents, said Nick Heddy, chief revenue officer at Pax8.

Mini Khroad

Xilinx appointed former PayPal and Yahoo executive Mini Khroad as its chief people officer.

Khroad, who is an adjunct professor at Golden Gate University, was most recently chief people officer at Khan Academy, where she worked for a little over a year. Prior to that, she served as a vice president of people at PayPal after working at Yahoo for 11 years where she was a top HR executive.

"We’re excited to have her join our team, where she’ll lend her expertise in the areas of global talent management, employee engagement and retention, HR technology, and mergers and acquisitions to best serve our greatest asset: our people," Xilinx said in a blog post.

Anand Chandrasekaran

Five9, a San Ramon, Calif.-based provider of cloud-based contact center software, appointed former Facebook executive Anand Chandrasekaran as executive vice president of product management.

Most recently, Chandrasekaran was director of product for Facebook's Messenger platform. Prior to that, he was chief product officer at Indian e-commerce firm Snapdeal.

“Anand’s track record for developing innovative products at scale, seen in his extensive work at Facebook, combined with his expertise in strategic communications, makes him an excellent addition to our executive team,” CEO Rowan Trollope said in a statement. “His outside perspective will complement our contact center experience to ensure continued innovation and leadership.”

Pete Bartolotta

Avnet promoted former Lenovo executive Pete Bartolotta to the newly created role of president of business transformation.

Bartolotta had served in the role of chief transformation officer at Avnet since he joined the company in 2016. As president of business transformation, Bartolotta will report to CEO Bill Amelio and lead the company's efforts to scale high-growth solutions such as Internet of Things and artificial intelligence.

Prior to joining Avnet, Bartolotta was chief operating officer and president at CHC Helicopter and senior vice president of global services at Lenovo before that.

Elke Frank

Software AG appointed Elke Frank as its new chief human resources officer, marking the first person in that role to serve on the company's executive board.

Frank was most recently a top HR executive at Deutsche Telekom AG, the parent company of T-Mobile. She has also served in HR positions at Microsoft and Carl Zeiss Vision.

"Our people are critical in accelerating our multiyear transformation," Sanjay Brahmawar, CEO of Software AG, said in a statement. "Elke will help us deliver on our promise of creating a culture we’re proud of—and that translates into our work with our customers and partners."

Don O'Neill

Skout Cybersecurity, a New York-based cybersecurity vendor for MSPs, appointed former Datto executive Don O'Neill as its chief financial officer.

Most recently, O'Neill was senior vice president of operations at Datto, where he also served as interim CFO and controller during the company's merger with Autotask.

"I am thrilled to be joining Skout at such a pivotal time for the cybersecurity services industry, particularly for MSPs seeking to protect small and midsize businesses," O'Neill said in a statement. "There are many parallels between where the cyber industry is today and where the business continuity space was a few years ago."

Conor Sherman

Cyber Defense Group, a Los Angeles-based cybersecurity consulting firm, appointed former biometrics security executive Conor Sherman as managing partner.

Sherman was most recently vice president of cybersecurity at biometrics security firm Clear. Prior to that, he served as director of cybersecurity at private equity firm Apollo Global Management.

"As our business grows, so does the need to add experts in cloud security, with knowledge of advanced threats. Cybercrime is predicted to cost the world $6 trillion by 2021," Lou Rabon, Cyber Defense Group's CEO and founder, said in a statement. "CDG's primary mission is to its help clients secure data and conduct business securely, with certainty, in today's global marketplace."

Jaeson Galli

Evotek, a San Diego-based solution provider, named former ConvergeOne executive Jaeson Galli as its vice president of services.

Galli was most recently vice president of sales for the western region at ConvergeOne, where he worked for seven and a half years. Before that, he was an account manager at Cisco Systems.

"Jaeson is the perfect complement to our leadership team. His experience is exactly what we need to drive the right level of focus and rigor on this growth engine within our company," Mari Rodish, chief financial officer of Evotek, said in a statement.

Ryan Patterson

Peerless Network, a Chicago-based telecommunications services provider, appointed former First Communications executive Ryan Patterson as its vice president of channel sales.

Most recently, Patterson was vice president of sales at First Communications, where he worked for more than 11 years. Prior to that, he was vice president of alternate channels at Globalcom.

“This is an exciting time of global growth at Peerless Network and I’m eager to collaborate with more agent partners and connect them to our company’s customized, innovative products and services so that they can build their business with greater simplicity, visibility and success," Patterson said in a statement.