Channel moves: Who’s gone where?

Artefact

The artificial intelligence (AI) consulting firm has rolled out the red carpet to welcome Athena Vooght as CEO of Artefact UK, effective from the start of August. She succeeds co-founder Pascal Coggia, who is exiting the business after a decade. Vooght will start by looking to raise headcount beyond the current 200 specialists.

“Our ambition is to be the UK’s leading pure-play AI and data partner, creating lasting advantages for our clients and powered by exceptional people,” she said. “We want to be known as the premier destination for AI visionary leadership and pragmatic execution, fundamentally reimagining how enterprises function and deliver meaningful impact.”

Artefact paid tribute to Coggia who is leaving to pursue other interests, who helped establish the firm in France before replicating that success and expanding into other territories, including the UK and Dubai.

Quiq

The customer lifecycle specialist has appointed Jim Tennant as global channel chief with a brief to drive growth in the firm’s partner ecosystem. The firm has been increasing the investment in partners and added this appointment into that list of efforts made to show commitment to the channel.

“We are seeing a groundswell of interest from channel partners, especially for voice AI,” said Mike Myer, CEO of Quiq. “Jim’s addition to the Quiq team elevates an already strong team to world class.”

Sectigo

The certificate lifecycle management (CLM) and digital certificates specialist has welcomed Prem Hareesh as corporate chief technology officer. The role includes leading the firm’s technology strategy and Hareesh comes in with experience picked up at Experian, Spireon and Cisco.

“Prem is a seasoned technology leader who brings an AI-first mindset and a proven ability to build and scale innovative technologies in rapidly evolving markets,” said Kevin Weiss, CEO at Sectigo. “As we continue expanding our CLM platform and capabilities, his leadership will help accelerate innovation while advancing our mission to deliver simplicity at scale for organisations navigating the increasingly complex digital trust landscape.”

Kore.ai

The global enterprise AI player has hired Uma Sandilya as chief commercial officer, which includes looking after go-to-market strategy and sales. He joined the business last year as chief growth officer and is keen to use the latest role to shape the strategy of the business further.

“Enterprise AI is entering its third wave, where governance, observability and trust define success at scale,” said Raj Koneru, founder and CEO of Kore.ai. “The next phase of our growth requires a commercial organisation built the way we built our platform: one foundation with one accountable owner. Uma has shaped our commercial engine since the day he joined, and he is the right leader to run it end to end.”