Avaya, Mitel Alum to Lead Sangoma Channel

Business communications service provider Sangoma has a new North American channel head and vice president of sales in former Avaya and Mitel channel sales executive Susan Leveritt.

Leveritt, a casualty of Avaya's most recent cuts where it laid off nearly 180 employees, landed on her feet fairly quickly, noted Steve Forcum, who spent 11-plus years with Avaya working at Avaya, many of those with Leverit.

Steve Forcum now serves as director of program management at Sippio and told Channel Futures.

"Sangoma made one heck of a hire, as I've seen firsthand. Susan knows how to build loyal teams focused on a common goal, and she knows what makes the channel tick, and is a great all-around person to work with and for. She's going to make an impact there."

Poised to lead the unified-communications-as-a-service (UCaaS), contact-center-as-a-service (CCaaS) and communications-platform-as-a-service (CPaaS)-focused firm, Sangoma touted Leveritt's more than 20 years of channel and sales experience.

Sangoma's Susan Leveritt

"We are delighted to welcome Susan Leveritt to Sangoma as her leadership promises to elevate us to new heights with her visionary approach and proven industry track record," said Sangoma chief revenue officer Monica Walton.

Walton noted that Leveritt's "strategic insight and dedication to excellence will be invaluable as we continue to grow and innovate."

Related:Channel People on the Move: Sophos, Avaya, RingCentral, More

Bringing More than 20 Years of Experience to Sangoma Channel

With more than 20 years of experience in sales and channel leadership experience, Leveritt has worked for some of the biggest names in the unified communications industry, with her leaving UC giant Avaya to take on her latest role as Sangoma channel lead.

While at Avaya, Leveritt spent more than four years acting as the RVP for Avaya's U.S. channel sales strategy, development and growth. In that role, she built and drove Avaya's go-to-market strategy and focused on national/strategic partners.

She also spent more than 12 years at Avaya competitor Mitel, most recently as its director of North American cloud sales, where she doubled annual recurring revenue (ARR) and increased cloud bookings by 64%.

Before that, Leveritt spent three years as VP of U.S. cloud sales and channel at Mitel, and four years as national sales director and head of direct channel sales.

Leveritt looks to leverage what she called her "vast experience and strong network" within the channel community to make her new role as Sangoma channel leader a success.

Before Leveritt joined Sangoma, the company lost several executives to Cloudli, starting with Jamie Minner, the company's former CFO, who became Cloudli's CEO.

It also got Chris Holloway and Ryan Herrmann to lead its SMB-focused channel efforts.