VMware Appoints New Channel Chief as Dell Reverse-Merger Talk Continues

**Editor’s Note: Click here to see which channel people were on the move in March.**

Just about three years since leaving her senior channel executive job at Microsoft, Jenni Flinders has found a new home in the channel as vice president, worldwide channels at VMware, the company announced today.

As VMware’s worldwide channel chief, Flinders will be responsible for developing and executing the channel strategy and programs for the company’s global collection of solution providers, distributors, OEMs and telecommunications partners.

“Jenni has a long and distinguished track record of driving innovation with a diverse set of partners in the IT industry, and we are thrilled to have her as VMware’s new global channel chief,” said Brandon Sweeney, senior vice president, worldwide commercial and channel sales at VMware. “I’m excited to have Jenni work closely with our world-class partner ecosystem to empower our customers to accelerate their digital transformations and integrate public clouds to scale and extend their businesses.”

Jenni Flinders

Jenni Flinders

Flinders will report to Sweeney, who was tapped in 2017 for his latest position at the company. Sweeney has been with VMware since 2004.

“I’m honored to serve as VMware’s new worldwide channel chief and can’t wait to team with our renowned and robust partner ecosystem,” said Flinders. “Our partners are key to helping customers realize the value of VMware solutions including our compute, cloud, mobility, networking and security offerings. They are a critical source of valued expertise to customers around the world.”

After a 15-year career at Microsoft, which ended in April 2015, Flinders founded People for Innovation. The consultancy helps businesses achieve greater scale and reach whether locally, in market or global expansion, according to her LinkedIn profile.

It was during her time at Microsoft where Flinders honed her channel expertise. Her key channel positions there were as chief of staff, worldwide partner group; general manager, worldwide partner group; and ultimately as vice president, U.S. partner group. Flinders also worked for IBM and Lotus in South Africa.

Flinders joins VMware at a particularly uncertain time, as talk about a reverse merger with Dell Technologies continues. The wrangling over a deal is ruffling feathers and making news. In a recent Bloomberg article, Jericho Capital Asset Management and its affiliates, which collectively hold a 1.8 percent stake in VMware, had nothing good to say about the transaction.

“Even the most casual observer can see that VMware gains nothing by saddling the company’s faster growth, net cash [and] highly strategic software business with the dead weight of Dell’s slower growth, heavily debt-laden, legacy hardware-dependent entity,” Jericho managing member Josh Resnick said.

For partners attending the 2018 Global Partner Summit at Dell Technologies World later this month in Las Vegas, it will be interesting to hear how Michael Dell spins his vision of the future with its seven technology brands – Dell, Dell EMC, Pivotal, RSA, SecureWorks, Virtustream, and VMware – given the tumult at the company.

Dell EMC World conference was rebranded this year  to Dell Technologies World.