30 Notable IT Executive Moves: February 2016

Start It Off

After a January packed with executive moves, February gave the channel a chance to breathe and absorb some of the changes. That is, until the last few days of the month served up blockbuster moves at VMware, Ingram Micro, Salesforce and more. February also saw high-level executive changes at Google, FireEye and Black Box Network Services. Some changes had solution providers fired up about the future of their vendor partners, and others had them a bit less optimistic. Take a walk back through February with a roundup of some of the most significant executive moves of the month.

Martin Casado

VMware lost its top software-defined networking executive in late February, saying that Martin Casado had left the company to join venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz as a general partner. He starts in his new role April 1. Casado said the proposed Dell-EMC deal wasn't a factor in his decision to leave, and he will remain with the virtualization vendor as an external strategic adviser. Casado will be replaced by former Broadcom executive Rajiv Ramaswami, who will now serve as general manager and executive vice president of VMware's Networking and Security business.

Amit Singhal

Google lost a top leader in its search business with the retirement of Amit Singhal, who had served as senior vice president for search. Singhal also was one of the company's most prolific and accomplished engineers. He officially left the company Feb. 26, saying he will be able to spend more time with his family. While the departure is significant for the company, which gains a significant portion of its profit from its search business, partners said they weren't shaken by the news. They said Google is seeing a lot of positive momentum from other recent leadership changes, so they were hopeful a new leader could drive further changes around search, possibly adding more machine-learning capabilities.

Paul Read

Just days after its blockbuster acquisition by China-based HNA Group, Ingram Micro announced that president and chief operating officer Paul Read would be leaving the company. Read will officially depart from the distributor in September, the company said, and there is no plan in place for a successor at this time. There is no word yet on where Read is headed.

Tod Nielsen

In the latest of a series of Salesforce executive departures, the CRM vendor lost its executive vice president of platform. Tod Nielsen left the company to "pursue other opportunities," Salesforce told CRN at the time. Nielsen joined Salesforce in 2010 as part of its acquisition of Heroku. Prior to that, he was co-president of VMware, from 2009 to 2013. At Salesforce, Nielsen was most recently leading the integration of the company's three development platforms: Heroku, Force.com and Lightning.

Chris Carter

In January, Steve Pataky left his position as worldwide channel chief at FireEye for a role at Dell Security. In February, FireEye named Chris Carter to the role of vice president of North American channels, a move that pushes FireEye into a more regional model for channel management. The company also unveiled enhancements to its partner program at the same time. Carter previously had served as senior director of worldwide distribution for FireEye, a position he has held since June 2013. He has also held positions at Unisys, Websense and McAfee.

Sufian Dweik

Huawei Enterprise USA quietly named a new Americas channel chief this month, CRN learned, appointing experienced channel executive Sufian Dweik to the role. Huawei Enterprise USA is a division of China-based Huawei that focuses on building a U.S. storage, server and networking business. The company informally announced the executive at its biannual partner summit. He had been serving in the role of senior channel director since August and has been at Huawei since 2014. Prior to that, he held positions at Brocade, Cisco and Hewlett-Packard.

E.C. Sykes

Two months after the resignation of CEO Michael McAndrew, Black Box Network Services has a new top executive, the company revealed in February. Black Box is No. 34 on CRN's 2015 Solution Provider 500 list. E.C. Sykes assumed the role of CEO on Feb. 29, the company said, and will also sit on its board of directors. Sykes joins the company from Switch Lighting, an LED company where he spent a year until leaving in 2014. He has also held positions at Flextronics, where he helped grow the company from $625 million to more than $4 billion. That growth experience could come in handy as Black Box struggled in 2015, ending the year with a restructuring of its sales force and a 62 percent drop in its stock to an all-time low.

Renee James

Renee James left Intel in January after 28 years with the company. Now, James has a new role, saying this month that she has joined private equity group The Carlyle Group as an operating executive. In her new role, James will be responsible for helping to guide the global telecommunications, media and technology team on "industry and operational due diligence for potential investments," the company said.

"Renee is a fantastic resource for our team in Silicon Valley. We look forward to leveraging her deep strategic and operating experience to drive value across our platform," said Patrick McCarter, managing director and head of Carlyle's Menlo Park, Calif., office, in a statement at the time.

Rich Montefusco

Carousel Industries made a big addition to its managed services team this month, naming Rich Montefusco to lead its growing managed service practice as vice president of managed services. Carousel said it anticipates to see major expansion in its managed services business, especially around cloud and services, which is why it is investing in the appointment. Montefusco joins the company from Pangaia Partners, where he was vice president of operations and business development. He has also held recent positions at Network Dynamics and Siemens. In his new role, he will be responsible for driving managed services sales and leading the company's practice.

Orion Hindawi

Red-hot security startup Tanium has new leadership this month, with co-founder and CTO Orion Hindawi assuming the role of CEO, which was previously held by co-founder David Hindawi. The latter executive will now serve solely as executive chairman, helping the company build out a "world-class board."

"This shift is a realignment to allow us to stay nimble as we grow. Our titles change; what doesn’t change is our shared daily commitment to our employees and our customers," Orion Hindawi said in a blog post about the changes.

The changes come after a year of incredible growth for the endpoint security startup, which saw 200 percent year-over-year growth in 2015 and landed $142 million in venture capital funding. In his blog post, Orion Hindawi said 2015 was only "one small chapter in a long journey" for the startup and it is "optimistic about the future."

Ashley Flynn

Tigerpaw, which offers a business automation and service management software used by many solution providers, has appointed a new customer experience manager. In her new role, Ashley Flynn will be responsible for helping manage the company's communications with its customer base and working to help it better meet client expectations. The role is a new one for Tigerpaw. She joins the company from Lexmark Enterprise Software, where she was senior event marketing manager.

Atri Chatterjee

Fresh off $125 million in new venture capital funding, Zscaler expanded its leadership team with two new top-level additions. For its first appointment, the cloud security company named Atri Chatterjee as chief marketing officer. Chatterjee joins the company from Act-On Software, where he was also CMO. He has also held senior roles at Symantec and McAfee.

"Zscaler has the vision, technology and products to transform security on the Internet," Chatterjee said in a statement at the time. "And with over 5,000 customers, including some of the most prestigious names in the Fortune 500, the company is only getting started. I look forward to helping Zscaler increase this momentum and become the pre-eminent security platform for any company doing business on the Internet."

Robert Schlossman

In its second top-level addition, Zscaler said it had added Robert Schlossman as chief legal officer, responsible for helping the company accelerate its growth, with experience in IPOs, M&A and global expansion.

"Zscaler is seeing accelerated worldwide growth driven by a strong demand for its innovative cloud security platform," Schlossman said in a statement at the time. "My role will be to not only help us effectively manage this growth but also ensure that we are on the forefront of critical issues involving privacy and security."

Neil Gissler

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Unisys said Neil Gissler would be leaving the company effective March 31. Gissler had served as senior vice president of services and delivery. Unisys did not say in the filing if it had a replacement lined up. Gissler joined the solution provider, which is No. 19 on the 2015 CRN SP500 list, in April 2015. He had previously served as a managing director at Accenture.

Tim Colby, Dan Brigati

CloudPassage, a security platform company, made two new executive additions, bringing on Tim Colby as vice president of channel sales and Dan Brigati as vice president of federal sales. Colby joins CloudPassage from Infoblox, where he was vice president of worldwide channel sales. Brigati joins the company from Hypori, where he was vice president of sales. He has also recently held positions at FireEye and Aruba Networks.

"CloudPassage is one of the few security companies that is enabling the massive transformation of IT delivery models from walled data centers to cloud computing," Robert Thomas, CEO of CloudPassage, said in a statement at the time. "The timing is right to accelerate our growth with channel partners and in the federal space."

Justin Somaini

SAP bet big on security this month, naming Justin Somaini as its first Chief Security Officer. Somaini started with the company Jan. 1.

"The newly created role of CSO at SAP highlights the relevance of security in a digitally connected world," said Bernd Leukert, member of the executive board of SAP SE, Products & Innovation, in a statement at the time. "In appointing Justin Somaini, we have been able to secure the services of a security expert whose knowledge and experience will not only benefit SAP but also our customers."

Somaini joined SAP from Box, where he was chief trust officer. He has also held positions at Yahoo and Symantec over a 20-year career in security.

Kevin Yoder

Lantronix, which specializes in networking around Internet of Things and machine-to-machine solutions, landed a new vice president of worldwide sales. The company appointed Kevin Yoder to the role, which took effect March 7. Yoder joins the company from Avago Technologies, where he was vice president of sales for the Americas. He has also held positions at XMOS, Analog Devices, Texas Instruments and CoWare.

"With more than 25 years of experience in building and leading successful enterprise sales teams, we believe that Kevin will be a key contributor in driving Lantronix toward greater success," Jeffrey Benck, Lantronix president and CEO, said in a statement at the time. "We are excited and pleased to have someone with Kevin's experience, skills and relationships joining the Lantronix leadership team."

Alan Hawley

VoltDB created the role of vice president of global business development and international sales, naming lan Hawley to the position. Hawley will report directly to CEO and President Bruce Reading. He joins the company from SmartBear Software, where he was vice president of global APM sales. In his new role, he will be responsible for growing sales and relationships with ISVs, OEMs and channel partners.

Brady Bruce

As the collaboration company looks to expand globally, InFocus has appointed a new chief marketing officer in Brady Bruce. Bruce joined InFocus last fall as part of the company's acquisition of Juniper Systems, where he was vice president of marketing and strategic alliances. He will now be responsible for the company's corporate communications, marketing efforts and channel messaging and marketing, the company said.

"InFocus is evolving into a global force that transforms the way people connect," CEO Mark Housley said in a statement at the time. "We are assembling an accomplished team to accelerate these efforts, and I can think of no better person than Brady to lead our global marketing. … I am very pleased to have him on board to lead our marketing team as we grow and redefine our brand."

George Bacon

Visionet Systems, a solution provider and business process outsourcing service company, added 20-year industry veteran George Bacon to its executive line up. Bacon will serve as chief operating officer, responsible for helping Visionet customers streamline their operations and leverage technology investments. He has held multiple senior positions in technology in his career, at companies that include Savvis, Tata Consultancy Services, CSC and Andersen Consulting.

Bill Falk

On Feb. 10, Infrascale added Bill Falk as the disaster recovery-as-a-service company's new chief revenue officer. The position is a new one for the company and Falk will be responsible for helping to scale the sales organization, particularly around the channel, to drive revenue growth. Falk joins the company from Datto, where he was also chief revenue officer. He also served as executive vice president of worldwide sales for Kaseya.

"We are thrilled to welcome Bill to Infrascale as he brings a proven track record in increasing revenue, leading channel sales and driving change and growth in emerging market sectors," CEO Ken Shaw Jr. said in a statement at the time. "Bill understands the uniqueness of our DRaaS offering and the importance of enterprise-class disaster recovery for any company. His experience and passion will help take Infrascale to the next phase of our growth."

Rob Strechay

Zerto, an enterprise virtualized data center and cloud disaster recovery software developer, had a big month in February, landing $50 million in venture capital funding and naming Rob Strechay as the company's new vice president of product management. Strechay's hiring will prove critical, as the company says it plans to invest much of its new funding into product development. Strechay came to Zerto from Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, where he was director of product marketing and management for the company's software-defined storage, hyper-converged and manageability division. He also held positions at NetApp and Akorri (which was acquired by NetApp).

Joe Calzone

LightRiver Technologies, which provides next-generation network solutions for mission-critical clients, appointed Joe Calzone as vice president of U.S. service provider sales, where he will be responsible for driving sales through the company's U.S. service provider channels. Calzone joins the company from fiber optic broadband service provider Independent Optical Networks, where he was president.

Bobby Wescott

The Herjavec Group, a security solution provider, said in late February that it had appointed a new vice president of sales for the U.S. Bobby Wescott will be responsible for growing enterprise sales in the U.S. market. He joins the Herjavec Group from RSA, where he was vice president of sales for the company's Advanced Security Operations Center portfolio. He has also held positions at Quarri Technologies, Q1 Labs and LogRhythm.

"Bobby is an excellent addition to our team as he has excelled at leading both channel and direct sales teams," Herjavec Group founder and CEO Robert Herjavec said in a statement at the time. "Bobby’s expertise in managed security services will be instrumental in supporting the growth of our core business across the United States."

Steve Csuka

Collaborative Solutions, a consultant focused on finance and human resources, landed a new chief operating officer in Steve Csuka, who brings more than 25 years of experience to the role. He most recently served as global vice president of the Customer Office at SAP. He also held a variety of senior leadership roles at PeopleSoft and IBM.

"I am very excited to welcome Steve to the Collaborative family. Steve's impressive experience and his deep industry knowledge will ensure that Collaborative can maintain its strong growth pattern successfully while remaining true to our core value of providing excellent outcomes for our customers with industry-leading finance and HR business transformation solutions," CEO Carroll Ross said in a statement at the time.

Douglas Adams

RagingWire Data Centers named Douglas Adams as the company's new president. The president role is a new one for the company. The data center provider, which is part of NTT Communications, said Adams has been a key part of the company's executive team and will now be responsible for driving the company's growth in the wholesale data center space. Adams joined RagingWire when it was founded in 2000 from NEC Technologies, where he was general manager.

Mike Munoz

PernixData landed former Nimble Storage executive Mike Munoz as its new chief revenue officer. Munoz was vice president of worldwide sales at Nimble Storage and has held senior leadership roles at Data Domain and NetApp. In his new role, Munoz will be charged with helping grow the company's presence in data centers around the world, especially around the channel.

"PernixData’s innovative technology presents an exciting opportunity to build the company’s direct and indirect sales programs, enable the partner community, and take the company to the next level," Munoz said in a statement at the time. "I look forward to leading these initiatives while working with some of the brightest minds in the industry to aggressively address the explosive demand in the market for storage optimization."

Simon Azzopardi

Thycotic expanded its EMEA team this month, naming Simon Azzopardi as its new vice president of the region. The move comes after the privileged account management vendor has accelerated its growth in EMEA, the company said. Azzopardi will be charged with further increasing that growth in the region, especially through the company's channel partners. Azzopardi joins the vendor from Qualys, where he was vice president and general manager of EMEA. He has also held positions at Secunia and GFI Software.

Jon Pritchard

Atos landed a new leader for its Unify business with the appointment of Jon Pritchard as CEO. Pritchard is a longtime channel executive, most recently serving as executive vice president of channels at Unify. Prior to that, he served as president of Comstor Worldwide, the Cisco-focused division of distributor Westcon. Pritchard will now be responsible for driving the strategy and execution of the communications and collaboration software business.

Daniel Fields

Mobile security company MobileIron name Daniel Fields as its new senior vice president of engineering and chief software development officer, replacing Suresh Batchu. Batchu will continue with the company as chief technology officer. Fields joins the company from Oracle, where he was group vice president of engineering for the Oracle Service Cloud. The company said it hopes that Fields will be able to use his engineering and technical experience to move the company to its "next phase of growth."