Channel moves: Who’s gone where?

FluidOne

The cloud solution provider has indicated that Paul Kahn has been appointed chief executive officer, succeeding Russell Horton who is stepping down after seven-and-a-half years leading the business. Horton will support the handover process before officially departing on 8 December and will remain as an investor in the business. His leadership has seen the firm grow significantly and widen its proposition to expand into areas including security, AI, services and connectivity.

Kahn said he was joining the business at an exciting time in its development: “Russell and the team have built a business with excellent foundations, strong customer relationships, a service portfolio bringing together secure connectivity, IT, cyber, unified comms and AI, and a culture that clearly delivers for customers.

“My immediate focus is on listening and learning, understanding the business, our customers, and the team. I’ll be working closely with the senior leadership team to refine our strategy for the next phase of growth while maintaining the customer service excellence that FluidOne is known for.”

Bechtle

The distributor’s supervisory board has extended Konstantin Ebert’s term on the executive board by three years, through to 31 December 2028, and designated him the successor to current CEO Thomas Olemotz. The channel player outlined its succession plan, with Olemotz’s contract up at the end of next year.

Ebert joined Bechtle in 2021 as executive vice-president and became a member of the executive board at the start of 2024. As COO, he has a brief that oversees operations in the UK, Ireland, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

“Over the past five years, Konstantin Ebert has driven Bechtle’s international expansion with impressive momentum and played a key role in the strategic transformation into a multichannel organisation” says Klaus Winkler, chairman of the supervisory board of Bechtle.

“With him, a firm believer in the European idea and a true team player will chair the executive board – someone who truly embodies Bechtle’s values and brings fresh impetus to the company’s ongoing development. The early extension of his contract and his appointment as CEO recognise his achievements to date and, above all, underscore the confidence that Bechtle will continue its successful trajectory under his leadership.”

Syncro

The provider of a unified platform for managed service providers has welcomed Marc Brown to its board of directors. Brown has a 25-year career that includes the expertise the firm is looking for to bolster its market position.

“Marc is a proven architect of exponential growth and value in the global technology ecosystem,” said Michael George, CEO of Syncro. “Marc’s decades of strategic leadership – especially his tenure as corporate vice-president at Microsoft, where he oversaw landmark acquisitions like LinkedIn, GitHub, and Minecraft – provides an unparalleled depth of insight as we enhance and extend Microsoft’s critical enterprise functionality for SMEs. This experience, combined with his sage advice, will be crucial in guiding Syncro as we continue to innovate and expand our unified platform to power the next generation of MSPs and internal IT teams.”

Accumulus Technologies

The life-sciences focused cloud specialist has welcomed Mervyn Hall as chief commercial officer. His CV includes time at Aetion, Omnigen Biodata and IBM Watson Health.

“With more than 20 years of technology-focused commercial experience, Mervyn brings an extensive track record of delivering strong go-to-market results in the life sciences industry,” said Accumulus Technologies CEO, Francisco Nogueira. “His expertise will be instrumental as we further explore the most impactful ways to grow and scale our global offering.”

Vida

The AI phone agent specialist has been actively bolstering its executive team as it seals its latest round of funding and looks to grow its market share. The firm announced the close of its $4m Series A funding round led by Trammell Venture Partners (TVP), with participation from Timechain and others, and then chose to extend its headcount. The business welcomed Jordan Gadapee as chief marketing officer, Mark Lilien as chief technology officer, and Thomas Quintana as vice-president of artificial intelligence.

“It’s been an exciting year at Vida as we’ve helped businesses across construction, medical, automotive, telecom and managed service providers deploy tens of thousands of AI agents that tackle complex tasks, boost customer engagement, and reduce reliance on human agents,” said Lyle Pratt, CEO and founder of Vida. “This funding gives us the resources to scale faster, expand AI agents into new industries, and empower businesses everywhere to improve customer engagement, efficiency and growth.”