Verizon, Mitel Alum Takes Extreme Networks Channel Chief Job

Extreme Networks has tapped a new senior vice president of global channel sales.

Scott Peterson will lead the networking vendor’s global channel program. His appointment comes as Extreme continues to push toward a subscription-based model. He will report to chief revenue officer Joe Vitalone.

Extreme Networks’ Scott Peterson

Peterson most recently was a senior adviser at Gerson Lehrman Group. More notably, he worked as Mitel’s chief revenue officer from 2019 -2021. Those positions succeeded a long stint in the service provider space. Peterson worked at Qwest and MCI. He worked at Verizon, which bought MCI, from 2006-2018. His positions included director of worldwide sales and consulting services, and global vice president of Verizon’s media and entertainment.

“Scott brings the energy, experience and leadership Extreme needs to broaden its portfolio and reach as we transition the company to a SaaS business,” Joe Vitalone said. “His diverse background as a consultant, sales executive and time at Verizon will greatly benefit Extreme and our partners as we continue to grow market share.”

Channel Chief History

Extreme’s Mark Dellavalle

Gordon Mackintosh, former vice president of worldwide channels, left Extreme in 2020 to become Juniper Networks’ channel chief. Vitalone joined Extreme in 2020. Vitalone at the time declared that he wanted to shore up Extreme’s customer base while helping partners move clients into cloud-based offerings. He also said he wanted to recruit more partners to fill regional gaps, and he encouraged partners to develop an IT services practice.

Extreme also appointed Mark Dellavalle as senior vice president of global systems engineering. Dellavalle, a former Cisco and Aerohive executive, had been serving as vice president of global systems engineering for two years.