Channel People on the Move: AT&T, Datto, Tech Data, TBI, More
Another blockbuster collection of movers and shakers also includes 8x8, Zayo, Check Point and Fortanix.
![Upstack's Scott Forbush Upstack's Scott Forbush](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt10e444bce2d36aa8/bltbd6f1771339ae7c5/652452caff019621b438268c/Forbush-Scott_Upstack-Feature.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
Just two months after the merger of Channel Futures and Channel Partners Online, we might have an “Oprah” on our hands.
Remember how Oprah famously removed herself from consideration for the Daytime Emmy for best talk show host after winning several years in a row? If Channel People on the Move continues to dominate, that might happen here.
In this edition, you learned all about new hires and promotions at AT&T, Datto, Tech Data, TBI and more. Pictured above is Scott Forbush of Upstack.
Patti Key is the new chief revenue officer at TPx, the managed IT services and UCaaS provider.
Key has more than 20 years of experience in sales and telecommunications organizations, including stints at Ixia, AT&T and HP.
She will work with the TPx leadership team to drive strategy, and help build and maintain relationships with customers and partners.
Key explains the several reasons she wanted the role.
Joshua Hoffman is the new senior vice president of Americas sales at Datto.
He’s held a number of positions in the industry, including VP-level roles at Poly, Forcepoint, Palo Alto Networks and Avaya.
5G and IoT are the future of wireless, so it’s no surprise to see AT&T Partner Solutions appoint a couple of new leaders with strong pedigrees in these areas.
Shiraz Hasan (right) is the new VP of AT&T Partner Exchange and ecosystem innovation. Jerry Gerami (left) is VP of AT&T Wholesale Solutions.
Both men have been at AT&T for nearly two decades. Hasan most recently was VP of global and industry solutions channel marketing and operations. He has a ton of experience in industrial IoT. Gerami’s last role at the carrier was vice president of mobility, IoT and 5G.
CyCognito took a big step forward by hiring industry veteran Lori Cornmesser as its new channel chief. She will lead CyCognito’s global channel strategy and execution.
Cornmesser is a veteran of Infoblox, Ixia, Juniper Networks and Riverstone Networks.
In a Q&A with Channel Futures, Cornmesser said she’ll be gunning for rivals RiskIQ and Expanse.
Johnny Edmond landed a new gig as business development manager with Intelisys. The master agent hired him to support agents and other partners in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.
Edmond comes to Intelisys from Comcast Business, where he was a partner sales manager. He spent 16 years before that as a channel manager at Windstream.
Getting promotions at Intelisys, but not pictured are newly minted regional VPs Robert Farbak, Mike Wolfington and Aram Bolduc.
Jim Griffith is AppSmart‘s new general manager, managed services.
The e-commerce software company picked Griffith up from NuMSP, where he was CEO. The industry veteran has other experience in the C-suite at Corporate Technologies and Orion Telecommunications.
Netenrich, which touts itself as a “resolution intelligence” company, hired Christopher Morales as its new chief information security officer. He’s in charge of strategic development, implementation and execution of the company’s security solutions and processes.
Morales’ 20 years of experience includes his most recent gig leading advisory services and security analytics for Vectra AI. Other experience came at HyTrust, NSS Labs, 451 Research, McAfee, Accuvant and IBM.
Christy Lynch is the new chief marketing officer at Deepwatch, the provider of “intelligence-driven” managed security services.
Based in Boston, Lynch joins a company that had a “banner year of growth” in 2020. Deepwatch says customer adoption, new product introductions, partner expansion and employee growth were all significant last year.
“I look forward to amplifying awareness of how Deepwatch measurably improves an organization’s security posture and working with our growing go-to-market ecosystem of notable resellers and technology alliance partners to serve and protect our customers,” Lynch said.
Khan Klatt is BitTitan‘s new director of engineering.
Klatt has 25 years of what BitTitan calls “diverse technology experience.” Most recently he was VP of technology for the Committee for Children. That’s a nonprofit that promotes the safey, well-being and success of kids.
“Khan is a perfect fit for BitTitan, as he has demonstrated a commitment to identifying solutions to complex challenges,” said Manoj Kalyanaraman, VP of product and software engineering for BitTitan.
Based in suburban Seattle, BitTitan is a provider of managed services automation.
CX Effect, which Intelisys and Pax8 alum Andrew Pryfogle founded a few months ago, named channel vet Bob Maute as chief revenue officer.
You of course know Maute from his days at ShoreTel and the last four years at Evolve IP.
CX Effect falls in the master agent category, but it bills itself as a “master customer experience technology integrator.”
Here, in his own words, is why Maute jumped at this opportunity.
Vern Jaques took the reins as a partner sales director at BCN.
Based in Denver, Jaques will focus on growing BCN’s channel partner relationships in the West.
Jaques joins the communications technology provider after a storied career at BullsEye, Qwest and XO Communications.
There’s more to know about Jaques here.
Brandon Smith (right) is the new vice president of global sales at master agent TBI. His hiring is particularly notable because most recently was VP of national sales at rival Intelisys.
Also new to TBI are Anne Devine (bottom left), VP of marketing, who just came of off seven years as VP of vendor relations at distributor Tech Data; and Jim Wolande (upper left), VP of corporate resellers and VARs. He was national channel director at another channel stalwart, 8×8.
Read about the responsibilities these three are taking on.
Scott Hoard will lead Fortanix‘s first partner program as area VP of Americas channels.
Hoard joined the company in February after holding channel leadership roles at Corelight, A10 Networks, Barracuda Networks and Kenna Security.
The new partner program aims to help resellers grow their businesses by protecting customer data in the cloud.
Jim Tennant is the new head of channels at Replicant, a conversational AI platform. The industry veteran will be responsible for bringing Replicant’s momentum with emerging and Fortune 500 enterprises to the channel.
Tennant, whose work background includes stops at Talkdesk, Evolve IP and ShoreTel, has more than 10 years of experience building, executing and leading strategic partner programs with a focus on both master agents and subagents.
ExtraHop, the U.K.-based network detection and response provider, hired Sandra Hilt as senior director of EMEA channel sales. That means she will lead the company’s EMEA channel team while building the ExtraHop Panorama Partner Program throughout much of Europe.
Hilt has 20 years of channel experience at companies such as Vectra AI, Centrigy, HP Enterprise Security (Arcsight), Websense and Stonesoft.
“Sandra has a proven track record of building strong channel programs that deliver value for partners and customers alike,” said Mark Fitzmaurice, VP of worldwide channel sales for ExtraHop.
Also new at ExtraHop is Mark Bowling (not pictured), VP of security response services. Bowling spent 20 years with the FBI working on major cybersecurity initiatives.
At the end of March, we reported on Roger Blohm’s “retirement” from Telarus. It turned out he couldn’t wait to get back to work.
Blohm, who spent five years as the master agent’s executive VP of strategy, joined PTT Solution as senior VP of partner solutions.
PPT is a business management consultancy with headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Blohm tells you what he hopes to be able to do at PPT.
D&H Distributing‘s going deeper into gaming, so it created a new components and gaming business unit. The division focuses on esports, PC gaming and integrated components for customized PCs and computing systems.
To run it, D&H hired Samsung sales veteran Chris Geiser (pictured); esports sales specialist Brandon Beyer; industy esports consultant Bubba Gaeddert, founder of the Varsity Esports Foundation; and esports program manager Logan Hermes, of the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE).
“As it stands, only 10% of K-12 schools are competing in Varsity-level esports tournaments, yet the sport itself is growing exponentially,” said Peter DiMarco, vice president of VAR sales at D&H. “This creates a ground-floor opportunity, where 90% of the education community is open for deployments. D&H is directing considerable resources to help partners add this discipline to their core competencies, including VAR, retail and DMR partners.
That’s Bill Major on the left and Joe Pellegrini on the right.
Everstream, the business-only fiber network, just promoted the former to president and the latter to chief operating officer. Michael D’Angelo (not pictured) was appointed to the newly created role of executive vice president, sales.
“These changes are necessary to accommodate Everstream’s growth and to continue moving the business forward,” said CEO Brett Lindsey. “Bill and Joe have played integral roles in our corporate and network expansion efforts. Their leadership is critical as we move ahead with planned greenfield builds, post-acquisition integration efforts and supporting team members across our 10-state footprint.
If you don’t know Ray Potts, you should. He will manage Zayo Group partners in Atlanta and surrounding areas.
Potts, a Channel Futures Top Gun 51 honoree last year when he was director and channel chief at WOW, joins the fiber and connectivity provider after six years at WOW.
Okta, the San Francisco-based identity and access management company, grabbed Steve Dodenhoff as its new senior vice president of worldwide partners and alliances.
He’s tasked with running Okta’s go-to-market strategy, operations and sales across the company’s global partner network.
Dodenhoff most recently was president of Insight North America. His work history also includes stops at Enghouse Interactive, Integrated Information Systems and MicroAge.
Broadvoice, the hosted voice, UC and SIP trunking provider, added a slew of new channel personnel.
Clockwise from top right: Jim Longtin (regional channel manager), a 30-year industry veteran with experience from Logix Fiber Networx, Lucent and AT&T; Bill Tarulli (channel marketing manager), a SugarCRM and PGi vet; Anthony Saitta (regional channel manager), whose previous employers include Consolidated Communications, Spectrum Enterprise and Verizon Wireless; Jared Golden (junior channel manager); Andy Watson (product marketing manager), who will rely on experience from Genband (now Ribbon Communications); Aaron Conant (regional channel manager), who has worked at Nitel, Windstream, Vonage and Nextiva; and Patrice Frankley (junior channel manager), with a background at EarthLink, MegaPath and XO.
Logan DiCarlo is a fresh face at Avant, where she is a new sales development representative for the master agent’s East region and marketing team.
She was last a client service associate for Gallagher, the insurance and risk management firm.
Bringing an extensive channel history from RingCentral, Mavenlink and Verizon’s BlueJeans, Walt Weisner is the new chief customer officer at 8×8. His last job was chief customer officer at Birdeye.
Weisner is tasked with overseeing the end-to-end experience for 8×8’s global customers.
Trish Kapos is the new channel chief Renaissance Systems Inc. (RSI), the software and IT services provider.
It’s a promotion for Kapos, who joined the company a little less than two years ago. Her job will be to further develop strategic alliances within RSI’s growing partner base. She will retain the marketing responsibilities she had as VP of sales and marketing.
Kapos started her career at AT&T. You probably know her best from her channel marketing roles working for Telarus and MicroCorp.
Learn more about her new job.
Check Point Software made a number of personnel moves, the biggest of which might be hiring Geoff Waters (top left), a former high-ranking VMware channel exec, as head of sales in the Americas.
The company also appointed a handful of others to important roles in its Americas channel organization. Clockwise from top right: Coletta Vigh, coming over from Pulse Secure, will head Check Point’s worldwide channel strategy and growth initiatives; Erick Foy, the new head of North America distribution sales, comes from iboss; and Nisha Holt, head of Americas sales, got a promotion.
Learn more about these folks.
GreenLink Networks added Larry Meador as a channel manager.
The channel-only provider of business VoIP services hired Meador to be in charge of managing and developing GreenLink’s community of MSP partners around the country.
Meador has industry experience from CNET Content Solutions and Corel Corp., to name a couple.
GreenLink was founded by an MSP with a commitment to being 100% channel-focused.
Splunk, the cloud-based data platform company, looked to an AWS and Microsoft vet to be its new president and chief growth officer.
Teresa Carlson takes a brand-new position at the company, where she will help to guide Splunk’s channel sales and strategy.
Carlson was with AWS for more than 10 years, most recently as VP of worldwide public sector and industries. She was at Microsoft for nine years.
Read why she’s passionate about joining the Splunk team.
Managed cloud and connectivity provider AireSpring added three new hires to its channel sales team.
Left to right: Stephanie Thompson (New England), an Axis Business Solutions and One Communications alum; Terri O’Leary (Ohio Valley), most recently a TPx regional channel manager; and Kent Krebs (Rocky Mountain), joining AireSpring from Star2Star.
N-able, the upcoming SolarWinds MSP spinoff, needed a chief technology and product officer.
In steps Mike Adler, who brings more than 20 years of experience in security, mobility and cloud to the table. He most recently was RSA’s chief product officer.
Net2Phone‘s HR department was busy in April.
New hires for the company’s channel sales team included, left to right: Jeremi Hunter, (left) with a background at Windstream and Telegration; Roxie Nauman (center), an alumnus of BullsEye, Fusion Connect and CenturyLink; and Shelley Boone, whom you might know from WOW Internet Cable & Phone.
Citing “unprecedented growth in the enterprise space,” Peerless Network hired two new channel sales directors and a senior sales engineer.
That’s Nicole Beckman on the left. She will cover the Midwest as a new channel sales leader. In the channel for 20 years, she has worked at Lumen and Comcast Business.
On the right, that’s John Dias, who will serve in a similar capacity in the Northeast. You know him from Broadview Networks, Qwest and Sprint.
Not pictured is new senior sales engineer Gary Arbogast. His background includes stops at GTT, XO and Netwolves.
Network performance management provider Riverbed promoted two in its channel organization.
Look no further than the left side of your screen. Eric Tinker is Riverbed’s new senior VP of commercial sales, responsible for strategy of the Riverbed channel program and supporting partners.
Shift your eyes slightly to the right and you see Meg Brennan, VP of global channels. Previously senior director, Brennan will continue to lead global channel programs at Riverbed, creating partner experiences that make both partners and the company’s a hit with customers.
Learn more about Tinker and Brennan.
AgileBlue, the managed breach protection provider, named Michael Golz its new global director of channel business.
He comes to AgileBlue from Perch Security, where he was director of channel-MSP. There, he built out Perch’s channel program and strategy with managed service providers. His other experience includes a stop at KnowBe4.
Abu Subramanian is the new chief technology officer at CloudCheckr, the cloud management platform.
Her last gig was at Veracode, where she was responsible for leading development teams. At CloudCheckr, she’ll use her 23 years of experience to oversee tech strategy and product development.
CloudCheckr works with cloud service providers, MSPs and resellers.
Ruby, the provider of live virtual receptionist and chat services for small businesses, promoted four women into even bigger leadership positions.
Clockwise from right: Rebecca Grimes, chief revenue officer; Stephanie Copeland Weber, president and COO; Marcella Vail, VP of people and culture; and Tia Bedoya, VP of human resources.
There’s a lot to learn about these industry leaders.
TRG, the managed solutions provider that focuses on enterprise mobility, point of sale and payments, named Liz Everett (left) director of payment solutions.
Everett has 20 years of experience, previously serving as general manager for The Phoenix Group, an Ingram Micro company. At TRG, she’s responsible for expanding the reach of the company’s payment solutions, partnering with other resellers and ISVs to complement their existing service portfolio with white-label solutions.
Also new to TRG is Jon Schmidt (right), director of channel sales. Schmidt most recently was VP of business development at Logical Maintenance Solutions, a national IT services company.
Logicalis, the international IT solutions provider and MSP, hired Markus Erb as group VP for services. It’s a role the company created to drive alignment and innovation within Logicalis’ new global services organization.
Erb’s last job was regional account delivery lead director at DXC Technology in Germany.
Logicalis was on our debut NextGen 101 rankings in 2020, a list dedicated to companies with growing MSP practices that are also resellers, system integrators and project partners.
Purechannels, the U.K.-based sales and marketing specialist, announced an expansion into the U.S. and named Mike Ammann to lead U.S. operations.
He has previous channel sales roles at Fujitsu, Dell, Hitachi and Quantum.
Purechannels, the U.K.-based sales and marketing specialist, announced an expansion into the U.S. and named Mike Ammann to lead U.S. operations.
He has previous channel sales roles at Fujitsu, Dell, Hitachi and Quantum.
After merging our two websites last month, we wondered if Channel People on the Move would be as popular.
It turns out it doesn’t matter what type of partner or channel vendor you are. You can’t resist the channel’s original (there are inferior imitators) gallery of new hires and promotions. Last month, we debuted the most recent movers and shakers to a larger audience. And boy, did you ever notice.
We also took note that you like the slideshow functionality on Channel Futures. It’s easy to click through a big collection of photos without waiting for the page to refresh.
The March edition, posted April 1, was perhaps our most popular ever. It featured key personnel moves at big names in both the telco and IT arenas. From 8×8 to Microsoft, we had you covered.
This month is no different. For instance, you were eager to learn about the new channel program leaders at AT&T. You also got the inside scoop on a major marketing hire at Tech Data. The new SolarWinds MSP spinoff named a product leader. Furthermore, a new customer experience-focused company tapped a well-known ShoreTel alum for a key role.
Let’s face it. Channel-facing companies are hiring and promoting people right and left; there’s no way we could include all of them here. But we’ve done our darndest to offer a great sampling of people on the move from a broad spectrum of the channel.
Stroll through our slideshow above to see several dozen people on the move in March that we’re highlighting. Also, keep in mind that you don’t have to wait for this gallery to roll around every month. You can investigate our page dedicated to people on the move 24/7.
Missed last month’s edition? See it here.
Want to suggest someone “on the move” for our next roundup? Email Craig Galbraith or connect with him on LinkedIn. |
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