Channel People on the Move: Windstream, Vonage, Datto, Barracuda, More
Also, moves at tech solutions brokerages TCG, Telarus and TBI; plus, cybersecurity stalwart CrowdStrike.
![Windstream''s Buddy Bayer Windstream''s Buddy Bayer](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt10e444bce2d36aa8/bltf181927ff1fb9836/652431bd7f88f52bf9775161/Windstream-Buddy-Bayer-feature.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
On the right you see Jason Buttner, new VP, strategic partner sales, at Vonage. The 20-year industry veteran most recently was with Avant, but also has experience from Windstream and XO.
On the left, that’s Brent Walden, new senior regional channel manager with the company. He’s a CommandLink and Allstream alum.
Sprint/T-Mobile alum Nick Carballo took a job as senior manager, business in retail growth strategy — marketing, at US Cellular.
His last role at T-Mobile was senior manager for retail development.
We broke the news of the departure of Eric Torres, Datto‘s director channel development. He said he plans to name his new employer sometime in early April.
Speculation has been swirling that other high-ranking channel leaders at the company could be on their way out.
Read more about the surprising shake-up at Datto.
It’s a promotion for Lori Graber at Telesystem, where she is now director of service delivery — order and billing. It’s a new position at the UC and network service provider, designed to boost its back office.
Also moving up at Telesystem is Todd Crooks (not pictured), senior manager of field and network operations engineering.
Another busy month of hires at tech solutions brokerage Telarus.
That’s Michael Kowalski, the company’s new solutions engineer for the Pacific Northwest and northern California, on the left. He recently was a channel sales director for DataBank.
In the middle, that’s Pam NeSmith, pricing specialist. She’s new to Telarus after nearly three years at AppSmart.
And on the right, Samantha Nelson, VP of partner enablement, advance solutions. She has experience from Observe.AI, Talkdesk and Pax8.
About a month after leaving Nextiva, Ira Feuerstein announced he was joining fellow former Nextiva-er Carl Katz at TCG, the tech solutions brokerage.
Feuerstein is now senior director of business development for the Florida-based company. In his new job, he will help sales partners identify suppliers and technologies for their customers and help them grow their businesses.
Get more of the skinny on Feuerstein’s move.
TBI‘s human resources department had a busy month.
We start with Samantha Zuniga (center), new VP of partner and supplier experience at the technology distributor. She’s an 18-year Intelisys veteran who also had a stint at Fusion Connect.
Joe Fizor is on the right. He’s a new director of solutions engineering, a promotion for the five-year-plus veteran of the company.
And on the left, Vincent Gagliardi, business development manager. He recently spent a year at Windstream after eight at Spectrum.
That’s Ben Edwards, new senior solutions engineer at technology solutions brokerage Sandler Partners.
He has experience from Evolve IP, HP and Dell, most recently at CX Effect.
There’s a lot happening at Lumen.
Jackie Pollock (right) is the new channel sales director, Mountain region, at the communications technology giant. It’s a promotion for Pollock, who has been with Lumen/CenturyLink for seven years.
There’s also Dustin Mitchell, national channel manager. He will support several key partnerships. Mitchell used to work for old Lumen brands CenturyLink, tw telecom and Level 3.
Buddy Bayer is now the president of the enterprise and wholesale business unit at Windstream. The company is combining enterprise and wholesale for the first time.
Bayer, who has been with the business communications giant since 2014, is responsible for sales and marketing, service delivery, customer care, service assurance, and access — as well as the channel program for the enterprise business unit.
Prior to joining Windstream eight years ago, Bayer worked for CenturyLink.
Read more about this significant promotion here.
Gary Steele, founding CEO of Splunk, moved over to the chief executive role at security provider Proofpoint.
Steele also is joining Splunk’s board of directors. He’ll start with the company on April 11. The appointment comes after Doug Merritt stepped down as Spunk’s CEO in November.
Learn more about this CEO move.
Upstack, which has made a name for itself in the past year acquiring various agencies, hired Kurt Walk as VP of delivery, customer experience.
He has 30 years of experience, most recently with Global Communication Networks, which Upstack acquired last fall.
Jody Hagemann has joined the Comcast Business Solutions Provider Program as a chief evangelist to the partner community.
She has been with the cableco for nearly seven years.
Marco Sanchez is a new channel sales manager, Midwest, with Genesys, the cloud contact center solutions provider.
His move comes after 13 years at TBI, the technology solutions distributor.
Akhil Garg got promoted to senior executive of channel sales at Freshworks, the “modern SaaS company.”
Garg is responsible for building and managing partnership networks (solution/reselling/distribution) in Canada.
Ashley Knoble is responsible for strategic channel alliances at SupportLogic, the support experience platform.
She’s new to the company after stints at SD-WAN providers Cato Networks and Aryaka Networks.
Jeramie Ellison’s new job is senior territory manager for eSentire, the managed detection and response provider.
He moves over from Logix Fiber Networks, where he spent nearly 18 years.
Bonnie Simmons is the new VP of partner sales for the Americas at Vectra AI. The Sectigo veteran will be responsible for managing Vectra’s indirect sales business across key regions.
She is also tasked with forging relationships with the cybersecurity provider’s strategic channel partners, including VARs, distributors, SIs and service providers.
Learn more about Simmons’ appointment.
Effectual, the cloud-first managed and professional services company, tapped John White as chief innovation officer. He will drive the company’s product and innovation strategy to deliver full-stack IT modernization solutions.
He most recently was an enterprise technologist at AWS.
The new VP of channels and alliances at hybrid cloud-management provider Virtana has quite the pedigree, having worked at Microsoft and VMware.
Bob Kilbride will work to recruit more partners for Virtana and “strengthen existing channel and alliance partnerships.”
Find out what will be Kilbride’s focus at Virtana.
Paulette Huber is the VP of channel sales at Edify, which provides an all-in-one contact center and UC solution.
Maybe you know her for former channel roles at Mitel, Serenova or Nice InContact.
Kristy Lynch just started as director of partner marketing at Dialpad, the cloud communications platform provider.
She comes to the company from 8×8.
Gay Allison Beach joined Tangoe, the expense management company, as VP of marketing communications, digital and demand.
Previous employers include Sage and Booz Allen Hamilton.
CrowdStrike promoted Michael Rogers to vice president of global business development, channel and alliances. This is the company’s highest ranking channel and alliances officer and its overall channel lead.
Previously, Rogers was the global vice president, partner and alliance sales at CrowdStrike.
Learn why company brass say Rogers has been a great leader.
Vertiv, the provider of digital infrastructure and continuity services, named Giordano Albertazzi its new president of the Americas. He slides into the role after serving as president of EMEA.
Albertazzi is a 24-year veteran of Vertiv.
John Teltsch Jr., whom the channel knows from a long career at IBM, is the new chief revenue officer at Converge Technology Solutions.
His last role at Big Blue was GM of the Americas Technology Group.
Tech advisory firm EagleTEQ named Jennifer Spindel an advisor.
Spindel brings 20 years or experience to boost EagleTEQ’s product lifecycle management, process optimization and automation expertise.
She spent most of last year at PGi after a long career at EarthLink.
Congrats to Jim Luteran, regional partner manager, Southeast, at Rackspace, the multicloud solutions provider.
You might recognize him from big names such as CenturyLink, Comcast and EarthLink.
Sean Henning has a new gig as channel manager for the Midwest at Broad Sky Networks. (Last month, Broad Sky and Intellisite merged as Epic.io.)
His last two jobs were with BullsEye and Intrado.
Bridgepointe Technologies, active lately on the acquisition front, is also making key hires.
That’s John Marinucci on the left, a new solutions engineer with the company. He brings 16 years at Masergy and 11 at AT&T to the table.
That’s David Barsocchini on the right. He comes to Bridgepointe via a substantial equity investment by Bridgepointe in his agency. Barsocchini takes on partner status as a result.
Two moves at Nextiva to tell you about.
You see Michael Kevorkov, inside partner manager, on the left. He comes to the company from GeoLinks, but also has eight years of experience from Verizon.
The other is Jamie Breen, hried on as an enterprise solutions consultant. You might recognize her from Five9 or Tech Data.
5G LAN provider Celona secured another $60 million in funding and appointed Robert Mustarde as its senior vice president of worldwide sales.
Mustarde previously was Versa Networks’ sales leader from 2018-2020. He also worked 10 years at Ruckus Wireless.
Here‘s where to learn more about Mustarde and Celona’s channel plans.
Barracuda Networks is setting its sights on the EMEA MSP landscape with the appointment of channel veteran Phil Sansom.
Sansom is the new director business development and alliances at Barracuda MSP, the MSP-dedicated business unit of Barracuda Networks.
Sansom joins Barracuda from Continuity Marketing, but was previously EMEA managing director for IT Glue and channel development director for Datto.
Learn more about what Sansom brings to Barracuda.
Renuka Nadkarni is the new chief product officer at Aryaka Networks, the cloud-first managed SD-WAN provider.
You might know her from her six-plus years at F5 Networks.
Expect to see Web.com alum Allison Townsend help Vendasta, the all-in-one platform for companies that provide digital solutions to SMBs, boost its enterprise partnerships.
Her title is VP of enterprise.
Logix Fiber Networks hired Abdul Malik as its new channel chief.
He brings recent experience from Consolidated Communications and Claro Enterprise Solutions to the table.
Ava Moran just started her new job as SVP of sales in North America at Hybrid Theory, a data-driven digital services partner.
Her last gig was at Chief. She also brings eight years of experience from Exponential.
New Jersey-based BCN, the communications tech solution provider focused on multilocation businesses, hired Jay Wicker as sales director. He is responsible for driving partner engagement and oppportunities in the West.
Prior to BCN, he was a national channel sales manager for NetFortris.
Infobip, the global communications platform, made two strategic hires.
Helen Donahue is the company’s new general manager of North America, while Ivan Ostojic is chief business officer.
Donahuewas most reecently president and board member of Call One. Ostojic comes to Infobip after a decade at McKinsey & Co.
InteractiveTel, the provider of AI-driven communications and customer interaction analytics, added three automotive industry sales leaders to drive the expansion of the company’s solutions for dealers.
Left to right: Jeff Humphries and Rick Wood, regional sales execs for the Southeast; and Billy Reynolds, chief sales officer.
Ethan Deyo is a new security operations center manager at Involta, the hybrid cloud and data center services provider.
It’s a promotion for Deyo, who has now been with the company for a year.
Cloud security provider Lacework hired nine-year Splunk veteran Brian Lanigan as its new vice president of worldwide channels and alliances.
Lanigan will help expand the Lacework partner program to include new and more diverse partners. MSPs, GSIs, ISVs and CSPs are crucial to Lacework’s continued growth.
Get the full scoop on Lanigan.
When LogMeIn changed its name to GoTo a few weeks ago, its LastPass business split off to become an independent company.
And with that split, Nikolett Basco-Albaum shifts her role to head of corporate communications for the password manager business.
Alexandra Courson takes over as VP of sales at MSP360, the provider of backup and IT management solutions for MSPs. She is responsible for expanding market share of the company’s product suite and overseeing global sales operations.
You might know her from two years at Spanning.
Morgan Hines is now a channel partner adviser and coach at Thryv, the small business software and end-to-end management provider. (Coach is new to her title.)
Hines has been with the company more than a year.
On the right, that’s Jill Mortensen, now regional partner manager for New Jersey and the mid-Atlantic at Nice CXOne, the cloud contact center software provider. She comes to the company after 12 years at Comcast and Comcast Business.
That’s Hailey Haywood on the left, promoted to district sales manager at the company. She previously was a channel manager, now having worked there for more than a year.
Observe AI, the intelligence workforce platform for contact centers, is growing its team.
Deborah Deringer is the company’s new director of channel sales, sporting plenty of contact center experience. She’s an alum of Zoom, Nice InContact and Talkdesk.
There’s also Robert Fish, national director of strategic partnerships. It’s a promotion for Fish, who has been with the company for a little more than a year.
Mavenir named Carolee Cannata senior marketing manager for its growing channel team. She will introduce Mavenir’s customer engagement tools to the partner channel — including CCaaS, CPaaS and messaging services.
Her last job was with the solutions marketing team at TPx. She also is a board member of the Aliiance of Channel Women.
Mike Franze is the new head of enterprise sales, North America, at Gladly, the customer service software provider.
He spent the last two years at Talkdesk, having previously had experience at Sprint.
Cybersecurity provider Perception Point named Orit Shilvock VP of channels and strategic alliances. She is tasked with growing the company’s partnerships and empowering Perception Point partners to provide best-in-class cyber services to clients.
She most recently was with Checkmarx.
Timo Prietto is new to Prosimo as head of global alliances and partnerships. He leads the cloud networking provider’s Next Partner Program. The new program caters to VARs, MSPs and SIs.
Prietto joins Prosimo from cloud networking provider Aviatrix, where he built an indirect practice. His two-and-a-half-year tenure brought him into close contact with marketplaces from hyperscalers such as AWS and Microsoft Azure.
We offer more about his credentials here.
A couple of key appointments at RapidScale, a Cox Business company.
Ryan Howard (right) is a new national partner manager, responsible for growing RapidScale’s partner program and developing strategic partnerships throughout the U.S. Previous employers include Performive and Ntirety.
RapidScale promoted Brian Baker (left) to director of channel sales, East. He will oversee and mentor a team of cloud solutions consultants who support partners in the region.
A couple of key appointments at RapidScale, a Cox Business company.
Ryan Howard (right) is a new national partner manager, responsible for growing RapidScale’s partner program and developing strategic partnerships throughout the U.S. Previous employers include Performive and Ntirety.
RapidScale promoted Brian Baker (left) to director of channel sales, East. He will oversee and mentor a team of cloud solutions consultants who support partners in the region.
The channel is red hot. Look no further than the new hires, promotions and exits at Windstream, Vonage, Datto and more.
This month’s edition of Channel People on the Move features more than five-dozen personnel changes. The traditional telecom channel is well represented; in the slideshow above, you’ll find changes at Lumen and Comcast Business. Furthermore, tech solutions brokerages TBI and Telarus stood up to be counted as well.
But the traditional IT channel won’t be ignored, particularly the cybersecurity segment. We’ve got new hires and promotions at Barracuda, CrowdStrike and more.
From VPs to channel managers, CEOs to CISOs and everything in between, we keep you up to date on the biggest moves. You can keep up minute by minute by checking out our webpage dedicated to channel people on the move.
But for now, see our gallery featuring people at Windstream, Vonage, Upstack, Vectra AI and others doing business in the channel.
If you missed our last edition of Channel People on the Move, it’s here.
Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Craig Galbraith or connect with him on LinkedIn. |
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