30 Notable IT Executive Moves: February 2023

Lake Business Products, RingCentral, Virtana, SentinelOne, Microsoft and Pax8 were among the tech companies to make executive hires during February 2023.

Lake Business Products’ new CEO, a new RingCentral chief product officer and Virtana’s newest channel chief are among the major IT executive hires for February 2023.

Jeremy Wood, formerly of Advizex; Srinivasan Raghavan, formerly of Five9; and Leslie Maher, formerly of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, are just some executives hired last month.

[RELATED: 30 Notable IT Executive Moves: January 2023]

SentinelOne, Microsoft and Pax8 were were among the other tech giants to make executive hires during the month as companies invest in resources for sales, technology and partners.

Those executives were:

*Jane Benitz Wong, formerly of Splunk

*Natalie Gibralter, formerly of Squarespace

*Rob Rae, formerly of Kaseya

All the hiring comes despite multiple tech giants cutting their employee rosters amid growing inflation, the possibility of a recession in the near future and a tightening of IT budgets after high demand for technology during the height of the pandemic.

Atlassian, Zscaler, GitLab, Thoughtworks, Ericsson, DigitalOcean, Rigetti, Microsoft’s GitHub and Twilio, are among the tech vendors to announce layoffs in recent days.

Here are more of the 30 notable IT executive moves from February 2023.

Leslie Maher

In February, Maher joined Virtana as vice president of global channels and strategic alliances. She succeeds channel chief Bob Kilbride.

In this role, she will “manage and develop all partner routes to market, including solution poviders, managed service providers (MSPs), systems integrators, distributors, OEM and strategic alliances.”

Before coming to the Palo Alto, Calif.-based cloud management and migration tools vendor, Maher worked at Hewlett Packard Enterprise for more than eight years, according to her LinkedIn account. She left the company in October with the title of vice president of sales.

In this role, she was a “senior advisor for key strategic initiatives including new customer acquisition, channel ecosystem evolution and sales optimization,” according to her LinkedIn account.

Her resume includes more than three years with Cisco Systems. She left the company in 2014 with the title of senior director of United States enterprise data center sales, according to her LinkedIn account.

She worked at Oracle and Sun Microsystems for more than 20 years, according to her LinkedIn account. Oracle bought Sun in 2010 for $7.4 billion. Maher left Oracle in 2011 with the title of regional vice president.

Rob Rae

Rae had his first day with Pax8 last month, taking on the role of corporate vice president of community and ecosystems, according to his LinkedIn account.

Before joining the Greenwood Village, Colo.-based distributor, Rae worked at Datto for about nine years, leaving soon after the company’s acquisition by Kaseya.

Rae left Datto in October with the title of senior vice president of business development, according to his LinkedIn account.

Jeremy Wood

Wood became president and CEO of Lake Business Products last month, according to a company statement. He succeeds Terri Cain.

Wood came to the Highland Heights, Ohio-based MSP after more than a year as Advizex’s chief transformation officer, according to Wood’s LinkedIn account.

He previously worked at MT Business Technologies for more than a year, according to Wood’s LinkedIn account. He left with the title of president.

Wood also worked at ComDoc for about 18 years, according to Wood’s LinkedIn account. He left the company in 2021 with the title of president.

Jay Shields

Shields joined Pomeroy Technologies in February, taking on the newly created role of senior vice president of retail, according to a company statement.

In this role, Shields will work “with top retail brands in the US and internationally across grocery, big box, specialty and convenience stores” and grow Pomeroy’s retail vertical.

Shields came to the Hebron, Ky.-based company—a member of CRN’s 2023 MSP 500—after more than two years with Adyen, according to her LinkedIn account.

She left Adyen with the title of vice president of global retail sales. Before Adyen, Shields worked at Aptos Retail for more than five years, according to her LinkedIn account. She left the company with the title of vice president of global sales operations and enablement.

During her time with Aptos, she provided “support for sales globally with a focus on streamlining processes, tools and governance, the new Global Sales Enablement & Operations team” and oversaw “bid management, reporting and modeling, training and enablement, deal desk operations and demonstration preparations,” according to her LinkedIn account.

Her resume includes more than nine years with Oracle, according to her LinkedIn account. Shields left Oracle in 2013 with the title of principal sales consultant for Oracle Retail’s ATG and Endeca offerings.

Jane Benitz Wong

Wong joined SentinelOne in February as senior vice president of enterprise security, according to a company statement.

In this role, Wong will work “to solve important customer challenges working with a talented team of PMs and cyber leaders,” according to a post on LinkedIn.

Wong came to the Mountain View, Calif.-based security vendor after about two years with Splunk, according to her LinkedIn account. She left Splunk with the title of vice president of security products.

In this role, she “led product management for the security product portfolio including Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk SOAR, Splunk User Behavior Analytics, and several strategic horizontal services” and “rebuilt and expanded PM team to drive growth,” according to her LinkedIn account.

She previously worked for more than 11 years at Symantec, according to her LinkedIn account. She left the company in 2020 with the title of vice president of engineering and product management.

Tuan Nguyen

ExtraHop hired Nguyen last month as vice president of worldwide channels, according to his LinkedIn account.

Nguyen joined the Seattle-based security vendor after about two years with Salesforce subsidiary MuleSoft, according to his LinkedIn account. He left MuleSoft with the title of regional vice president for American commercial and Latin American alliances. Salesforce bought MuleSoft in 2018.

His resume includes about three years with Palo Alto Networks. He left Palo Alto Networks in 2021 with the title of manager of high-velocity and commercial partners.

In this role, Nguyen developed, implemented and managed the company’s “Direct Market Reseller (DMR) multi-year go-to-market strategy involving partner enablement, bespoke Big Bet (MOU) investments, embedded solutions and reference architectures, partner-led services and resource optimization and capacity planning,” according to his LinkedIn account.

Nguyen also worked at Juniper Networks for about 13 years, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company in 2017 with the title of area partner director for Americas national, alliance and system integrator partners.

Darcy Todd

In February, Todd joined 22nd Century as vice president of global commercial practice growth, according to her LinkedIn account.

Before she came to the McLean, Va.-based company—No. 81 on CRN’s 2022 Solution Provider 500 —Todd worked at Ceipal for about a year, according to her LinkedIn account. She left Ceipal with the title of vice president of client solutions.

Todd previously worked at MWIDM for about a year, according to her LinkedIn account. She left the company in 2021 with the title of vice president for managed service providers (MSPs). In this role, she “secured 10 new Fortune500 programs and secured the company’s largest and first exclusive enterprise-wide Direct Hire partnership.”

Srinivasan Raghavan

Raghavan became RingCentral’s chief product officer in February, according to his LinkedIn account.

In this role, Raghavan leads “the Product Management and User Experience Design for RingCentral Customers and Partners,” according to his LinkedIn account.

He came to the Belmont, Calif.-based cloud communications vendor after about four years with Five9, according to his LinkedIn account. He left with the title of senior vice president of product management for AI, automation and digital products.

Raghavan also worked at Cisco for about three years, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company in 2019 with the title of director of product management and strategy.

Natalie Gibralter

Last month, Gibralter joined Microsoft as vice president of product for Azure Communication Services, according to her LinkedIn account.

Before Gibralter joined the Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant, she worked at Squarespace for about 11 years, according to her LinkedIn account. She left the company with the title of vice president of product for its Commerce offering.

In this role, she led a “team of product leaders responsible for Squarespace’s commerce platform, enabling people to sell anything online by providing them with all the tools they need to start and scale their businesses,” according to her LinkedIn account.

She was Squarespace’s fire product manager, according to a profile on Gibralter on Product School’s website.

Venkatesh Iyer

Last month, Iyer became vice president of sales at Persistent Systems, according to his LinkedIn account.

He came to Persistent Systems—a company with offices across the world including India, Europe, California and New Jersey and a member of CRN’s 2023 MSP 500—after less than a year with TheMathCompany, according to his LinkedIn account.

Iyer left the company with the title of partner, according to his LinkedIn account. He previously worked for more than 16 years at Harman International and Symphony Teleca, which Harman bought in 2015.

He left Harman last year with the title of senior director of sales, according to his LinkedIn account. In this role, he led “sales strategy, growth and P&L for DTS Business unit (US east)” and worked “across client organizations helping them strategize and define their digital transformation journey and manage overall relationship and delivery across multiple geographies and stakeholders.”

Cindy Jordan-Ford

Jordan-Ford became vice president of services at Ricoh USA last month, according to her LinkedIn account.

Jordan-Ford came to the Exton, Pa.-based company—a member of CRN’s 2023 MSP 500—after more than a year with Conduent, according to her LinkedIn account. She left Conduent with the title of vice president and sales leader for pharmaceuticals, life sciences, payer and commercial claims.

Her resume includes more than four years with Aptum Technologies, formerly known as Cogeco Peer 1, according to her LinkedIn account. She left the company in 2021 with the title of executive vice president of global strategic accounts and alliances.

She also worked at Xerox for more than five years, according to her LinkedIn account. She left the company in 2017 with the title of vice president of sales for state enterprise services.

AJ Baggott

Baggott became president of RJ Young in February, according to a company statement.

Chip Crunk will remain CEO, focusing on strategic planning and acquisitions, according to the company. Baggott, in this new role, will be responsible for casting the overall vision and direction of RJ Young

Baggott has worked with the Nashville, Tenn.-based MSP for about seven years, according to his LinkedIn account. He joined the company in 2016 as CFO and had served as COO since 2018.

During his time as COO, Baggott “spearheaded the corporate shift from a document-centric technology to a true technology solutions and managed services organization,” according to his LinkedIn account.

He “led the organization from $102M in annual revenues to current revenue of $168M in less than five years through the negotiating and closing of 8 mergers and acquisitions to expand RJ Young into eleven new markets,” according to the company.

His resume includes more than two years with Diversicare Healthcare Services, according to his LinkedIn account.

Sanika Goleria

Last month, Goleria returned to Salesforce, taking on the role of senior vice president of global distribution planning and operations, according to her LinkedIn account.

She previously worked at the San Francisco-based enterprise application vendor for about seven years, leaving in 2021 with the title of vice president of strategy and operations, for American verticals and Marketing Cloud, according to her LinkedIn account.

Goleria went to Databricks for about a year, leaving with the title of vice president of global sales operations, according to her LinkedIn account.

Rama Kolappan

In February, Hewlett Packard Enterprise hired Kolappan as vice president of strategy, planning and operations, according to a post on LinkedIn.

In this role, Kolappan will “lead customer and partner experience platform development” with a focus “on enhancing our customer and partner experiences while driving strategy, GTM and growth in our portfolio of services,” according to the post.

Before he joined the Houston-based vendor, Kolappan worked at Faction for about two years, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company with the title of chief product officer and executive vice president.

His resume includes about one year with Cisco, according to his LinkedIn account. He left Cisco in 2021 with the title of vice president and general manager of Customer Experience Cloud.

In this role, he “led the transformation of the $12B Customer Experience (CX) portfolio by creating the next-generation customer experience cloud platform and supporting Customer Success offers.” He was “responsible for managing product management, strategy & business planning, partner strategy, and go-to-market teams with P&L accountability for the success portfolio,” according to his LinkedIn account.

Kolappan previously worked at Dell EMC for about two years, leaving in 2020 with the title of vice president of products, according to his LinkedIn account. He also worked at Veritas Technologies for about a year, leaving in 2018 with the title of vice president and general manager of product management, marketing and cloud alliances.

Rob Addison

Addison joined IBM Consulting in February, taking on the role of vice president and lead client partner, according to his LinkedIn account.

Addison came to the Armonk, N.Y.-based company—No. 8 on CRN’s 2022 Solution Provider 500—after more than three years with Cognizant, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company as a digital business partner who helped “healthcare providers develop and enable digital strategies and improve patient experience and engagement.”

His resume includes about three years with KPMG, according to his LinkedIn account. He left KPMG in 2017 with the title of managing director. In this role, Addison “developed and executed market strategy and capabilities for Alternative Payment Models, utilizing adjudicated commercial and Medicare claims data to help clients understand ‘Total Cost of Care’ (i.e., market cost) across the continuum/episode of care in service lines including orthopedics, spine, and pediatrics.”

He also “delivered healthcare improvement in areas including supply chain, purchased services, outsourcing/shared services/purchased services/temp labor, ERP and MMIS implementation, data analysis and integration, and clinical quality and reporting,” according to his LinkedIn account.

Keith Weatherford

Weatherford joined Island last month as vice president of worldwide channel sales.

Weatherford came to the Dallas-based security-focused business web browser provider after more than two years with Forescout, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company with the title of vice president of worldwide channel sales.

Prior to Forescout, Weatherford was the vice president of Americas channels at Symantec, where he worked from 2016 to 2020. He joined Symantec through the company’s acquisition of Blue Coat Systems, where he held the same title.

Before Blue Coat and Symantec, Weatherford spent more than 14 years at McAfee. He became director of commercial and public sector channels for the cybersecurity vendor, which at the time was known as Intel Security.

John Dery

Presidio hired Dery in February as vice president of shared services, according to his LinkedIn account.

In this role, Dery works as “part of the Finance leadership team with an emphasis on exceptional customer service, continuous process improvement and innovation and best practice compliance,” according to his LinkedIn account.

He is “responsible for driving transformative thinking, as well as providing leadership and strategic direction for key Shared Services functions,” according to his LinkedIn account.

Before coming to the New York-based company—No. 24 on CRN’s 2022 Solution Provider 500—Dery worked at Bed Bath & Beyond for about a year. He left the retailer with the title of senior director of accounting services, according to his LinkedIn account.

In this role, he was “responsible for Accounts Payable, Revenue Accounting and Sales Audit and Capital and IT Spend transaction cycles,” according to his LinkedIn account.

Dery worked at Tiffany & Co. for about five years, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company last year with the title of business transformation lead. In this role, he was a “liaison into architectural and store design, construction and managing and facilitating integration and collaboration across material handling & distribution, merchandising & planning, sales & client service, retail inventory operations, procurement, finance and organizational change management.”

Jared Timmins

Timmins joined Diversified in February, taking on the role of vice president of innovation for media and entertainment, according to his LinkedIn account.

Timmins came to the Kenilworth, N.J.-based company—No. 46 on CRN’s 2022 Solution Provider 500—after more than three years with TVU Networks, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company with the title of senior vice president of solutions.

In this role, he led “the company’s Global Solutions Team, which will partner with TVU customers to help them quickly adapt to changes in consumer media consumption,” according to a TVU statement.

He previously worked at Grass Valley for about four years, according to his LinkedIn account. Timmins left the company in 2020 with the title of vice president of advanced technology.

Henry Tragle

Last month, Iron Bow Technologies hired Tragle as vice president of the Department of Defense, according to his LinkedIn account.

In this role, Triangle leads Iron Bow’s U.S. Army and U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) teams, according to his LinkedIn account.

Before joining the Herndon, Va.-based company—No. 41 on CRN’s 2022 Solution Provider 500—Tragle worked for Aruba Networks for more than 10 years.

He left Aruba with the title of director of the Department of Defense, according to his LinkedIn account. In this role, he led “a Federal sales operation that provides industry leading next-generation access solutions for the mobile enterprise.” HPE bought Aruba in 2015.

Rick Reddell

Denali Advanced Integration hired Reddell in February as vice president of strategic accounts for the West and emerging technologies, according to a company statement.

In this role, Reddell “promotes Denali’s customer-first approach to support customer satisfaction and strategic account growth” and “leads strategy, development, and execution for Western US Sales team members,” according to his LinkedIn account.

He came to the Redmond, Wash.-based company—No. 37 on CRN’s 2022 Solution Provider 500—after more than three years with Amazon Web Services, according to his LinkedIn account.

Reddell left AWS last year with the title of independent software vendor (ISV) partnership executive. In this role, he was “responsible for working with top ISV partners to guide their cloud journey and accelerate growth” and helped “ISVs adopt new cloud services that differentiate their solutions and improve outcomes for their customers.”

His resume includes more than a year with Oracle, leaving in 2019 with the title of partnership executive for ISV strategic accounts, according to his LinkedIn account.

He also worked at Hewlett Packard Enterprise for more than four years, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company in 2018 with the title of West region vice president for servers and commercial accounts.

Todd DeBell

Last month, DeBell came to MixMode, taking on the title of vice president of channel sales, according to a company statement.

In this role, he is “responsible for continuing to expand MixMode’s channel sales strategy to accelerate MixMode’s triple-digit revenue growth in 2021 and 2022, according to the statement.

DeBell joined the Santa Barbara, Calif.-based network security vendor after about three years with ExtraHop, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company with the title of vice president of Americas channels.

He previously worked at Zscaler for about a year, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company in 2020 with the title of director of alliances and channel sales in the Americas.

He worked for about a year each at Bugcrowd and Forescout Technologies, according to his LinkedIn account. He left both in 2018, carrying the title of vice president of worldwide alliances and channels at Bugcrowd and the title of vice president of worldwide channels at Forescout.

When DeBell was with Forescout, the “channel program covered over 1000 global cloud, Saas, service provider and cyber security software resellers and 75 distribution partners,” according to his LinkedIn account. “DeBell and his team focused partners and the new program on building the pipeline, closing pipeline and accelerating the sales cycle through enablement.”

David Corrado

Cognizant hired Corrado in February as vice president of client partner, according to his LinkedIn account.

Corrado came to the Teaneck, N.J.-based company—No. 7 on CRN’s 2022 Solution Provider 500—after more than three years with Slalom, according to his LinkedIn account. He left Slalom with the title of client service partner.

His resume includes more than nine years with EY, according to his LinkedIn account. He left EY in 2019 with the title of senior manager. In this role, he worked with the banking and capital markets sectors.

Dave Conrad

ATSG hired Conrad in February as vice president of sales, according to his LinkedIn account

Before Conrad joined the New York-based company—a member of CRN’s 2023 MSP 500—he worked at RCG Global Services for about a year, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company with the title of digital transformation executive.

His resume includes more than 15 years with HTC Global Services, according to his LinkedIn account. Conrad left the company last year with the title of vice president.

Sham Chotai

Chotai joined Lumen Technologies in February, taking the role of executive vice president of product and technology.

In this role, Chotai leads “Lumen’s product portfolio and solutions strategy, as well as strategic planning, enterprise governance, business process transformation, and IT initiatives,” according to his LinkedIn account.

He came to the Monroe, La.-based telecommunications vendor formerly known as CenturyLink after more than four years at JWM Advisors, according to his LinkedIn account. He was a founder and managing partner of the advisory firm.

Chotai also worked at Copado and New Context for about three years, according to his LinkedIn account. Copado bought New Context in 2021. He left Copado in September with the title of general manager of the company’s robotic testing unit.

His resume includes more than four years at GE Power, according to his LinkedIn account. Chotai left GE Power in 2017 with the title of chief technology officer and head of software.

Andrew Custard

In February, Custard joined Pure Storage as the vice president of global sales for the company’s Portworx Kubernetes data services platform, according to his LinkedIn account.

Custard came to the Mountain View, Calif.-based storage vendor after more than five years with Split, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company with the title of senior vice president of global sales.

His resume includes more than two years with 1E, according to his LinkedIn account. Custard left 1E in 2017 with the title of vice president of global sales.

Deb Walock

Walock joined Leidos in February, taking on the role of vice president of the manufacturing center of excellence, according to her LinkedIn account.

Before Walock came to the Reston, Va.-based company—No. 11 on CRN’s 2022 Solution Provider 500—she worked at Dynetics for about a year, according to her LinkedIn account. She left the company with the title of deputy director of manufacturing.

Her resume includes more than four years with Polaris Industries, according to her LinkedIn account. She left the company with the title of lean manager.

In this role, she served “as the leader of the Polaris Production System and continuous improvement efforts,” according to her LinkedIn account.

She worked at Diversey for about a year, according to her LinkedIn account. She left the company in 2018 as a plant manager.

Chris Kraft

Arctic Wolf hired Kraft last month as its senior vice president of product, according to his LinkedIn account.

Before Kraft came to the Eden Prairie, Minn.-based security vendor, he worked at Sophos for more than 17 years, according to his LinkedIn account.

He left Sophos with the title of vice president of product management for the network security group, according to his LinkedIn account. In this role, he was “responsible for driving product strategy, roadmap, M&A diligence, and overall financial success for Sophos´network security portfolio of hardware and software products.”

Max Stepin

Last month, Oracle hired Stepin as vice president of engineering, according to his LinkedIn account.

Stepin came to the Austin, Texas-based database and cloud productsvendor after more than two years with Facebook, according to his LinkedIn account. He left Facebook and parent company Meta with the title of senior engineering director.

At Facebook, he led “teams responsible for the infrastructure enabling AI models training and publishing for all Meta’s products,” according to his LinkedIn account.

Stepin worked at Google for about seven years, leaving in 2020, according to his LinkedIn account. He left Google with the title of senior engineering director. In this role, he led “teams responsible for the software and physical automation of Google’s datacenters infrastructure (Construction, Supply Chain, Logistics, Deployment, Monitoring, Repairs, Operations).”

His resume includes more than 11 years at Microsoft. He left the company in 2011 with the title of principal development manager. In this role, he worked on Cosmos Store, according to his LinkedIn account.

Tamer Baker

In February, Baker became CTO of Zscaler’s health care, government and education wing, according to his LinkedIn account.

Baker joined the San Jose, Calif.-based security vendor after more than eight years with Forescout Technologies, according to his LinkedIn account. He left Forescout with the title of vice president of global health care.

He served for more than six years in the United States Air Force, according to his LinkedIn account.

Jeff Traylor

Traylor joined Databricks last month as vice president of field engineering for the Americas enterprise business unit, according to his LinkedIn account.

Traylor came to the San Francisco-based data lakehouse vendor after more than six years with Amazon Web Services, according to his LinkedIn account. He left AWS with the title of director of solutions architecture for the Eastern United States.

In this role, he led “teams of Solutions Architects, Software Engineers and Technology strategist who work with customers to build secure, reliable, performant, and cost optimized cloud architectures,” according to his LinkedIn account.

He assisted “organizations ranging from mid-size to Fortune 100 across multiple sectors (Financial Services, Retail, Manufacturing, HCLS, Oil & Gas, Media & Entertainment, Telecommunications, Transportation, CPG, etc.,) in providing thought leadership and architectural best practices around advanced cloud-based solutions, organizational transformation, DevOps (CI/CD), rapid innovation, leveraging data assets and AIML to drive business outcomes, and enablement of cloud native solutions or migration of legacy workloads to the cloud,” according to his LinkedIn account.

Traylor previously worked at CDK Global and ADP for about 14 years, according to his LinkedIn account. ADP spun out CDK in 2014. He left CDK in 2016 as global vice president of cloud solutions and corporate IT.