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Channel roundup: Who’s gone where?
Firms across the industry are making hires to get skilled executives in position for the important fourth-quarter period and beyond
The last seven days have not seen any holiday downtime in personnel departments across the industry, with various appointments being announced. If there is a loose theme, it seems that those looking for growth are in a rush to find it and are prepared to make double or even triple hires.
Mitel
The comms player is one of those that adheres to the idea of making numerous hires at once. Daren Finney brings more than 25 years of global sales and channel operations experience, most recently at Citrix, joining Mitel as senior vice-president of global channel sales. Carlton Geckler joins as senior vice-president, global cloud operations and Marina de la Torre steps into the vice-president, customer success role. Mohammed Kasmi becomes vice-president, research & development and Virve Virtanen joins Mitel as vice-president, analyst relations & competitive intelligence.
“Mitel’s mission is to deliver communications experiences that enable organisations to thrive in a changing world,” said Mary McDowell, CEO at Mitel. “The addition of such world-class leaders across our organisation is a key part of the strategic investments Mitel is making to elevate our portfolio and position our company globally as the business communications provider of choice. I am excited to have them onboard and I know our business, our partners and end-customers will benefit from the deep expertise they bring.”
Forcepoint
The security player has turned to Symantec’s former senior vice-president of product management for the company’s Enterprise Division, Rees Johnson, to become its chief product officer. In the role, Johnson will help drive the firm’s secure access service edge (SASE) solutions.
“The future of network security is absolutely SASE and to lead with data is paramount,” he said. “Forcepoint’s data-first SASE strategy is the way forward for organisations today. Forcepoint has a rich and proven history of data security leadership, including nine times placement in the leader quadrant by the industry’s most recognised analyst firm.”
Zen Internet
The telecoms and IT service provider has made a series of hires as it looks to bolster its executive team. Internally, existing employees Dave Barber and Paul Sinclair have been promoted to the newly created roles of portfolio management director and marketing director, respectively. Steve Warburton, currently executive committee member and MD of Zen’s Partner Division, will take on additional responsibility as MD for Zen Retail. Zen has also looked externally to fill the role of customer experience director, turning to former TalkTalk executive Dean Burdon.
“I am delighted with these appointments,” said Paul Stobart, CEO of Zen Internet. “Promoting two senior managers to the Executive Committee demonstrates the emphasis we place on developing internal talent within the business. The expansion of Steve’s existing responsibilities is a testament to the success he has already enjoyed, with his colleagues in the Partner Division, in building a fast-growing business serving our channel partners.”
BlueVoyant
The cyber security player has made a double appointment of Paul “PK” Kleinschnitz as chief commercial officer and Jason Thompson as CMO. Before joining the firm, PK served as chief sales officer at Coalfire and Thompson was COO and CMO at IntSights, a threat intelligence company that was acquired in July by Rapid7.
Jim Rosenthal, CEO at BlueVoyant, said: “By bringing PK and Jason on board, we are adding proven revenue leaders to the team that have the skills and capabilities to drive the business higher and faster than ever before.”
