Channel People on the Move: TBI, RingCentral, Fusion Connect
Sierra Wireless, Kaspersky and WhiteHat Security are also all represented here.
![Brian Crotty Fusion Feature Brian Crotty Fusion Feature](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt10e444bce2d36aa8/blt65c7360c649dc0ef/6524fd1ee4956ef5adaac7cd/Brian-Crotty-Fusion-Feature.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
TBI
Master agent TBI made a slew of new hires from familiar names such as BullsEye Telecom and Masergy.
First up is Brian Sippel. Sippel (right) is the company's new channel manager of strategic accounts, which means he will support enterprise partners, resellers and distributors. He most recently was national sales manager for Aavex, a small MSP.
Also new at TBI are channel managers John Rozinsky (bottom left) and Kim Gordon (center). Rozinsky's territory is the Midwest (Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana), while Gordon is further south (Dallas-Ft. Worth, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas). Rozinsky comes to TBI from BullsEye, but has also worked for AT&T, Verizon and Evolve IP. Gordon's last job was director of strategic account management at Masergy.
Learn more about this trio.
Finally, TBI named Fuze alum Toni Leopoldo (top left) as director of sales to head its U.K. and European business. This is a new venture for the master agent, which joins the likes of rivals Avant and Telarus with offices in the U.K.
RingCentral's Phil Sorgen
RingCentral landed a big fish in Phil Sorgen to be its new chief revenue officer. Sorgen was Microsoft's channel boss from 2013-2016. In fact, he was with Microsoft for 24 years, corporate VP for the software giant's enterprise commercial group before arriving at RingCentral.
Sorgen will be responsible for the UCaaS provider's global sales organization, which includes service providers, channel and strategic partners.
Get insight on what attracted Sorgen to RingCentral.
Sierra Wireless' Chris Whitaker
Chris Whitaker rejoined Sierra Wireless to lead its master agent channel because his work at is "not done." No doubt that's why he told Channel Partners, "I am grateful to be able to come back and pick up where I left off."
The nine-year Comcast vet first joined Sierra in late 2015, then left last year for a one-year stint at Kore Wireless, where he was that company's VP of channel partnerships, IoT enabler and cellular connectivity. His new title at Sierra Wireless is channel program chief for managed connectivity solutions.
Read our Q&A with Whitaker.
Fusion Connect's Brian Crotty
The channel knows Brian Crotty well from his 30 years in the business at Sungard AS, Comstar Technologies, Windstream and Broadview Networks. But he now has the top job at Fusion Connect, which is coming out of chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Fusion's board chair hails Crotty's experience in implementing "operational efficiencies while focusing on exceptional customer service and advancing strategies for growth."
“I look forward to working with ... the entire Fusion team made up of experienced professionals from Fusion, Birch and MegaPath," said Crotty.
Get the full scoop on why Fusion hired Crotty to lead it into its next chapter.
Nutanix's Christian Alvarez
Christian Alvarez, whom Nutanix last year hired as a VP, is now the company's senior vice president of worldwide channels. This means Alvarez is in charge of Nutanix's channel community and strategy, which includes developing sales and distribution programs. Nutanix counts VARs, distributors, OEMs, system integrators, telco partners and more as part of its channel.
Before Nutanix, Alvarez was worldwide head of channels and distribution at Juniper Networks.
Learn more about Alvarez's quick rise to the top of Nutanix's channel.
Kaspersky's Randy Richard
Randy Richard takes the reins as head of enterprise sales at Kaspersky North America. There, he will oversee and direct the security company's enterprise sales organization in the U.S. Kaspersky also wants him to drive business-to-business growth with its channel partner network.
Richard most recently was global sales manager at RSA, which Dell sold to a consortium of financial businesses in February.
Learn why he is excited to dive in quickly to his new position.
Google Cloud's George Nazi and Lori Mitchell-Keller
Expect a pair of new, prominent executives at Google Cloud to have an impact on partners.
Lori Mitchell-Keller (right) comes to Google from SAP, where she concluded a 13-year stint as co-president of SAP Industries. She led sales, including partner sales, across 20 fields. She will lead Google Cloud's industry solutions group.
Also new is George Nazi, who joins the cloud giant as VP of telco, media and entertainment industry services. He will report to Mitchell-Keller, and oversee strategy around the three sectors in his title. Nazi's latest gig was at Accenture, where he led that company's global communication and media division. Nazi is based in Belgium.
Read more about these new hires.
CommScope's Jeff White
Jeff White is the new chief commercial officer at CommScope, the network connectivity service provider. This means he leads 2,000 professionals that include direct and indirect sales, sales enablement and marketing.
Specifically, White is responsible for the development and growth of CommScope's entire sales and marketing operations.
He comes to CommScope from Here Technologies, a location services platform company. At Here, he was chief customer officer in Amsterdam, where he oversaw a "complete go-to-market transformation."
WhiteHat Security's Judy Sunblade and Tanya Gay
WhiteHat Security, an NTT company, promoted Judy Sunblade (left) to vice president of revenue growth and enablement. She joined the company in February 2019.
Tanya Gay (right) is new to WhiteHat, which hired her as vice president of operations and business strategy. Gay recently spent two years as a sales VP at Bromium.
Both ladies are responsible for making operations run smoothly and growing the company's pipeline.
Cradlepoint's Lorenzo Ruggiero and Evert Suur
Cradlepoint, which provides cloud-based LTE and 5G wireless network edge services, beefed up its leadership team in Europe.
Based in Milan, Lorenzo Ruggiero (left) is the company's new area director for southern Europe. He comes to Cradlepoint from InfoVista. Evert Suur (right) previously was ForeScout's head of channels for northern Europe. He now is Cradlepoint's area director for northern Europe. His background includes stints at Aruba and Cisco.
The new hires are part of the company's official launch in Europe, which features an investment in new teams, as well as new products and services in the market.
ZeroNorth's Chris Riley
Virtual orchestration provider ZeroNorth hired Chris Riley to lead its channel. Riley comes to ZeroNorth from Mimecast, where he was VP of enterprise sales.
Riley's new gig is senior vice president of sales, which means he is in charge of strategic sales initiatives. Those include channel programs.
Find out where else Riley's 25-year career has taken him.
ZeroNorth's Chris Riley
Virtual orchestration provider ZeroNorth hired Chris Riley to lead its channel. Riley comes to ZeroNorth from Mimecast, where he was VP of enterprise sales.
Riley's new gig is senior vice president of sales, which means he is in charge of strategic sales initiatives. Those include channel programs.
Find out where else Riley's 25-year career has taken him.
Before COVID-19 restrictions slowly started to lift in many areas, people in the channel were still landing new jobs. And others took promotions. Channel Partners’ recurring “People on the Move” segment is not bereft of folks finding greener pastures or climbing the ladder.
Most might not be going into offices just yet, but they are starting in new positions from home nonetheless.
This edition of People on the Move features a quartet of newbies at master agent TBI, which hired one of them to lead its new U.K. operation. Also of note is a longtime Microsoft channel exec jumping ship to become RingCentral’s new chief revenue officer.
Want more? How about Fusion Connect hiring a well-known leader at Windstream and Sungard AS as its new CEO? Also, Sierra Wireless bringing back a channel boss after a one-year hiatus?
Security providers also got into the game. We have moves at Kaspersky, WhiteHat Security, ZeroNorth and more.
In all, the gallery below features 17 people on the move in May, whether via new hire or promotion.
We hope you are a people on the move junkie. If so, last month’s edition is worth your while. Also, keep in mind youu can always keep tabs on people on the move by visiting our webpage dedicated to the topic.
Follow executive editor @Craig_Galbraith on Twitter.
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