President Of Well-Known Avaya Solution Provider Dies

Erin Sherry, his wife and most recently Unity's vice president of finance, will become Unity's CEO.

Unity Telecom is well-known, particularly in the Avaya channel, for its unified communications and telecom industry expertise. It also carries AVST, Cisco, OpenText, ShoreTel, Interactive Intelligence and Panasonic, among other vendor lines.

"Dave always thought of the company as his extended family -- choosing employees with care, encouraging independence, initiative and growth among all employees," Erin Sherry said in a statement. "He was a true leader and an inspiring mentor who was always very proud of our team's work to make Unity a success."

Assisting Erin Sherry in her management transition will be Randy Bergeron, vice president of sales, who will become Unity's president.

"A trusted partner and friend, Randy worked alongside Dave for three decades and has been with Unity since the company was founded," Sherry said. "He has been integral to Unity's tremendous growth, including the deployment of business communications solutions for more than 3,000 customer locations in the last eight years."

"Working with Dave, I learned from the very best, and I am dedicated to maintaining the integrity that has always been such an important part of Unity. Our team is the best in the industry, and we are all passionate about reaching and surpassing our goals," Bergeron added.

Dave Sherry founded Unity in 2004, and was a regular presence at major industry events such as Avaya's annual partner conferences. The company has offices throughout Canada and a U.S. location in Mesa, Ariz., and among recent accolades was named Avaya's 2011 Unified Communications Partner of the Year and Marketing Partner of the Year.

Rose Pellizzari, president of Avaya Canada, said Sherry was "a great partner and built a tremendous team."

"Our thoughts are with the people at Unity Telecom and Dave's family during this difficult time," Pellizzari said in an e-mail to CRN. "He will be deeply missed by the many people who knew, loved and respected him."

Sherry's obituary in the The Toronto Star can be found here. Donations in Sherry's memory can be made to the Canadian Cancer Society, Heart & Stroke Foundation, or the Meningitis Research Foundation of Canada.