TD Synnex Names 16-Year Company Vet to Replace Bob Stegner

TD Synnex has named Jessica McDowell, who serves as senior vice president of security and networking at the IT services distributor, to take over channel marketing veteran Bob Stegner's role once he officially retires, come March 3, 2025. McDowell will then step into the position of senior vice president of marketing for the company's endeavors in North America.

McDowell shared with Channel Futures that she looks forward to her latest role.

"I have been at TD Synnex for a little over 16 years and have a strong background in vendor management," she said. "I think that gives me a good vendor perspective, understanding what it is vendors need from a marketing perspective and also working alongside our customers and understanding what they need from a marketing standpoint."

McDowell said during her time in vendor management, she saw an opportunity to think strategically with partners, creating a role within that team to help ensure vendor investments remained aligned with their business priorities.

She further told us that she "most looks forward to helping TD Synnex continue its market evolvement, as a strong foundation has already previously been built within the marketing organization and that we can continue to evolve with and ahead of the market."

Related:Channel Legend Bob Stegner Retiring from TD Synnex

TD Synnex's McDowell Calls Bob Stegner 'Quite an Act To Follow'

Stegner joined TD Synnex in 2007, racking up 17 years with the company. That followed 11 years at competitor Ingram Micro, where he held myriad executive roles. Before his career in IT distribution, Stegner spent time crafting his channel marketing passion at various solution providers, including Inacomp, along with IT services and consulting firm PMC Consulting, formerly the Ohio-based Sacrom.

TD Synnex's Bob Stegner

McDowell, who has spent the last 16 years with TD Synnex, called Stegner "quite an act to follow," noting that she is up for the challenge. Within her first 100 days, she will perform a SWOT analysis to understand what's working and what isn't. Within that time frame, she says she will do a lot of listening.

"Things won't slow down in this market, so we will be listening and 'doing' at the same time. I'm excited to build upon our fantastic events and to evangelize our brand identity/messaging at TD Synnex so that it permeates across the seller channel. Within that time frame, there will not be much change."

However, as McDowell said, "it will be a continuation of a lot of the things that made us great over the years."

Fresh Marketing Efforts in the Works

Beyond the first 100 days, some change will be afoot for the soon-to-be TD Synnex marketing executive. For one, she plans to increase the distributor's digital presence.

Related:Channel People on the Move: Lenovo, Nextiva, Sophos, Aryaka, More

"I mentioned the way our customers are procuring and researching information, and evolving. I want to make sure we have the right platforms in place, something that remains imperative to me," McDowell told Channel Futures.

Those tools will come in the form of assets that aid partners from an enablement standpoint, she said.

On the artificial intelligence (AI) front, McDowell said TD Synnex will continue efforts with a program it launched last year called Destination AI. It aims to help partners better understand the ins and outs of AI. It includes enablement tools, AI solution demos, POV support and access to technical AI and edge intelligence subject-matter experts for ongoing support during the sales cycle.

TD Synnex Adds Google Vet as Hyperscaler and Marketplace Leader

Also on Thursday, TD Synnex appointed Tanuj Raja senior vice president, North America Hyperscaler and Marketplace.

“I’m tremendously excited to join TD Synnex and work directly with partners to better leverage hyperscaler and marketplace features to increase their business and better serve their end users,” said Raja. “TD Synnex is uniquely positioned to help partners understand and capture the opportunities available.”

TD Synnex's Tanuj Raja

Raja will oversee the distributor's StreamOne Marketplace, which it says has tripled in size over the past year. More than 8,000 resellers in North America now transact cloud consumption and SaaS sales on the marketplace, which has integrations with ConnectWise and Autotask.

Raja's last job was global director, strategic partnerships for Google.