ScanSource Taps Robert Farbak to Lead Intelisys Sales

Robert Farbak will head up sales at ScanSource-owned Intelisys after a decade of working at the technology services distributor.

ScanSource on Monday announced Farbak as senior vice president of sales for Intelisys. Farbak previously held the position of VP of sales for Intelisys' Central region. ScanSource leadership selected him after a months-long internal search, CEO and chairman Mike Baur told Channel Futures.

ScanSource's Robert Farbak

Farbak slots into a sales leadership position that's been unoccupied since late August. Chandler Legarreta served in the role since 2022 until his departure alongside president John DeLozier.

According to ScanSource, business development and regional sales teams will operate under Farbak's oversight. He'll also build revenue growth strategy in the U.S.

Farbak in an interview with Channel Futures said he's devoting a significant focus to aligning Intelisys' internal strategy. That includes unifying more approaches across different regional teams.

"My focus going into this is making sure that we're aligned nationally. Not only from the sales organization, but also from an engineering organization as well. This will really ensure that we internally are sharing the best practices with each other, not only the Central, but the East and the West and engineering," Farbak said. "And this is going to make us more strategic with our partners and our suppliers on bringing opportunities to the market."

Farbak said his team will also explore the possibility of adding people in field roles. But those decisions at least a couple of months away, he said.

ScanSource chairman and CEO Mike Baur praised Farbak's "partner-first" mentality.

“Bob has seen great success in his roles at Intelisys and has been instrumental to the continued growth of our business. He will bring his energy and passion for helping partners grow their business to this new role," Baur said. “We have an exceptional sales team at Intelisys and look forward to the leadership Bob will provide, as we continue to help our partners maximize the growth opportunities available to them.”

ScanSource's Mike Baur

Intelisys suppliers billed $2.47 billion to end users through the TSD and its sales partners in fiscal year 2023 (which ended June 30, 2023), according to ScanSource's latest annual report.

Background on Robert Farbak

Farbak came to Intelisys in early 2014, before ScanSource boughtthe company in 2016. He cut his teeth in the channel at XO Communications, working in sales and later as a channel manager.

A deluge of talent moved on from XO Communications in 2014, including Mark Phaneuf (who went on to work at Intelisys for seven years) and Shane McNamara (who now leads Avant's engineering and operations).

Farbak said that Intelisys was operating a very small Midwest business when he joined in 2014.

"My leadership style was boots-on-the-ground: get out there, recruit partners, work with them and really bring our value-add," he told Channel Futures. "My goal from 10 years ago was to come here and to build something."

Farbak moved from senior manager of strategic partner development at Intelisys to director of sales for the Midwest region, before Intelisys appointed him to lead central sales in 2021. He said those various positions at the company will help him guide Intelisys sales teams into the future.

"I understand what it takes to be a successful business development manager here. I understand what it takes to be a successful director here. I understand what it takes to be a successful regional vice president here," Farbak said.

Future Intelisys Appointments

The appointment lines up with comments Baur made to Channel Futures in September about identifying a new president and sales leader for Intelisys. Baur at the time said he and the ScanSource leadership team weren't in a hurry to pick new executives. He also emphasized the hundreds of people who were already working at Intelisys and ScanSource as potential candidates.

"... we have a very deep and talented pool to choose from for our future leader for Intelisys," Baur said at the time.

Baur on Monday confirmed that ScanSource kept its leadership search internal.

"The No. 1 priority for Inteliys was to select someone who knows our partner community, and who was already part of our team," Baur said in an interview. "We knew we had talented people like Bob. Frankly, it turned out to be a fairly easy decision once we went through the process. But we believe in the process of opening opportunity for our people and letting people raise their hand and say, 'What about me?'"

In other news, Kristy Thomas, Intelisys' vice president of partner experience and enablement, announced her departure from the company this week.

ScanSource operates as a hybrid technology distributor, selling hardware through a reseller model and cloud and carrier services through its Intelisys agency model. Its combined number of suppliers tallies more than 500, according to the annual report.