Telarus Taps New Canada Leader as Ochab Moves to New Employer

Telarus hired an alumnus of Canada cable giants Shaw Communications and Rogers Communications to lead its sales in that country.

Matt Heron now serves as Telarus’ regional vice president for Canada. He’ll work to develop relationships with both suppliers and sales partners.

Heron made the move from Shaw, where he has worked for the last six years. He played a key role in expanding Shaw Business’ national partner program and helping to build a new partner program that touched the U.S. The role put him in contact with U.S.-based tech solutions brokerages (TSBs) that were trying to access the Canadian market.

Telarus’ Matt Heron

“I am very thankful to my previous Shaw family and the experience I have gained over the years that has allowed me to confidently take on this new opportunity,” Heron wrote in a LinkedIn post. “Here’s to an exciting 2022 and to taking the Canadian partner ecosystem to the next level.”

Heron also worked another six years at Rogers Communications. He worked in sales with Imagine Wireless and Airsource — two Rogers dealerships. Alberta-based Shaw last spring announced that it had accepted a $20.8 billion acquisition offer from Ontario-based Rogers. The deal will close in the first half of this year, pending regulatory approval.

“We are excited for Matt to bring his proven leadership in the channel to the Telarus team,” Telarus chief revenue officer Dan Foster told Channel Futures. “We’ve made great progress working with partners and it shows with a record level of bookings in 2021 for Telarus in Canada. Matt is ideally suited to continue the success we are seeing enabling partners with our cloud-first strategy.”

Predecessor

Telarus’ Brian Ochab

Heron replaces Brian Ochab, who departed the role in November. Ochab, who also has worked for Rogers, moved to Spiisee Software to become the channel automation provider’s CEO. He had worked at Telarus for a little more than two years.

Ontario-based Spiisee launched in 2018. Its Everest platform provides a single pane of glass for partner activity.

Canada Expansion

Multiple large U.S. TSBs (formerly master agents) have formalized their international presence in the last three years. Many, including Avant and Telarus, have targeted the U.K. Expanding to a new country doesn’t necessarily entail launching an office. Many firms hire a regional vice president or simply sign supplier partners native to that country.