Internet Carrier Arelion Hires New Global Channel Leader

Global internet carrier Arelion has hired channel vet Rob Westervelt as its new head of global channel sales.

The hiring bolsters the strategy around Arelion’s Conflict-Free Channel Program. This program is a key driver of Arelion’s growth in North America and additional connectivity markets.

With more than 25 years of experience in technology sales and channel leadership positions, Westervelt has extensive experience in enterprise communications solutions, infrastructure, operations and trends. He previously served as senior vice president and head of channel at Windstream Enterprise, and senior vice president and channel leader at GTT America.

Arelion's Rob Westervelt

Westervelt will oversee and manage Arelion’s channel sales strategy, helping the internet carrier to drive revenue growth and establish strong partner relationships that expand Arelion’s global market reach.

“Arelion's channel strategy is channel-neutral, meaning it does not conflict with our direct sales team,” he said. “Our partners respond positively to this channel-neutral model, so we do not plan to change that strategy at this time. However, we are in the process of adding an additional technology services distributor (TSD) and additional technology solutions brokers (TSBs) to increase our visibility with potential partners.”

Not only adding, but "relaunching" with Arelion's existing TSD/TSB partnerships will be a key focus as Westervelt starts his new job.

Improving the Internet Carrier's Visibility, Brand Recognition

“Our partners' biggest challenge is enhancing Arelion's visibility and brand recognition,” Westervelt said. “To overcome this challenge, we will provide partners with supplementary training and education on when and how their customers should engage with Arelion. We will also continue expanding our presence in the North American enterprise market.”

Westervelt said when he rebuilt and launched GTT's channel sales program, “we received many of the same questions from TSBs and potential partners that I'm hearing now at Arelion.”

“Many would ask, ‘Who is GTT and what do you do?’" he said. “As a result, we had to focus on enhancing brand recognition through education, which ultimately positioned us and our TSBs for success.”

Then, at NTT America, Westervelt built the channel from scratch and dealt with more brand-recognition challenges. He since has gained experience articulating the strengths of a global network. 

“Ultimately, building a successful channel program at Arelion will come down to educating partners,” he said. “Education is critical in helping our partners' customers see Arelion's value as an internet carrier that provides excellent customer experiences through its global network footprint.”