30 Notable IT Executive Moves: March 2023

OneNeck, Zscaler, Check Point, CyberCore, Axcient, AMD and NWN Carousel were among the tech companies to make executive hires during March 2023.

A new OneNeck IT Solutions CEO, new channel chiefs at Zscaler and Check Point and a new chief operating officer at CyberCore Technologies are among the major IT executive hires for March 2023.

Ted Wiessing; Karl Sunderlund, formerly of Palo Alto Networks; Francisco Criado, formerly of TD Synnex; and Jennifer Kauffman, formerly of Peraton, are just some executives hired last month.

IT Executive Moves

Axcient, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and NWN Carousel 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:

*Madhu Rawat, formerly of BriteCore

*Gaston Sandoval, formerly of Lenovo

*Hasan Osman, formerly of Cisco

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.

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Accenture, Microsoft, Kyndryl, Marvell Technology and Rackspace are among the tech businesses to announce or conduct layoffs in recent days.

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

Francisco Criado

In March, Francisco Criado joined Check Point Software Technologies as its new global channel chief.

Criado came to the San Carlos, Calif.-based cybersecurity vendor after more than 12 years with TD Synnex, Tech Data and Avnet. He left TD Synnex with the title of senior vice president of cloud, data and internet of things (IoT), according to his LinkedIn account.

TD Synnex formed in 2021 with the merger of Synnex and Tech Data. In 2017, Tech Data bought Avnet’s Technology Solutions business.

Check Point has about 1,600 North American channel partners, 7,800 worldwide, according to data from CRN’s 2022 Channel Chiefs list.

Hasan Osman

Hasan Osman joined NWN Carousel last month, taking on the role of senior vice president of professional services, according to his LinkedIn account.

Before joining Exeter, R.I.-based NWN – a member of CRN’s 2023 Managed Service Provider 500 – Osman worked at Cisco for more than 12 years. He left the vendor with the title of program management office (PMO) director for the Americas technology and transformation group (TTG).

In this role, he was “responsible for delivering large & complex programs and setting project management governance & standards for America’s ten major theaters, including US Global Enterprise Segment (GES), Public Sector, Service Provider, Commercial, Canada, and Latin America,” according to his LinkedIn account.

Amanda Cody

Amanda Cody returned to Booz Allen Hamilton in March as chief information security officer (CISO), according to her LinkedIn account.

Cody previously worked at Booz Allen Hamilton – a McLean, Va.-based technology consulting firm – for about five years. She left the firm in 2009 with the title of associate.

Cody’s resume includes about four years with the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC). She left the industry group with the CISO title.

She also worked at National Geographic for about four years, according to her LinkedIn account. She left the company in 2019 with the title of vice president of information security.

Jennifer Kauffman

Jennifer Kauffman returned to CyberCore Technologies in March, taking on the title of chief operating officer, according to her LinkedIn account.

Kauffman previously worked at Elkridge, Md.-based CyberCore – a member of CRN’s 2023 Managed Service Provider 500 – for about two years. She left the company in 2021 with the title of vice president of business development.

Her resume includes more than a year with Peraton. She left the company in March with the title of senior director of growth for cyber intelligence systems.

Deanna Davenport

Deanna Davenport – a 2022 CRN Women of the Channel member – joined ePlus in March as vice president of customer experience, according to her LinkedIn account.

Davenport came to the Herndon, Va.-based company – a member of CRN’s 2023 Managed Service Provider 500 – after more than three years with ConvergeOne. She left ConvergeOne with the title of vice president of the Cisco alliance and lifecycle services organization, according to her LinkedIn account.

Her resume includes more than five years with General Datatech (GDT). She left GDT in 2019 with the title of director of customer experience and lifecycle.

Ted Wiessing

OneNeck IT Solutions promoted Ted Wiessing to the role of president and CEO last month, according to a company statement. Wiessing replaced Terry Swanson.

Wiessing was previously chief operating officer with Madison, Wis.-based OneNeck – a member of CRN’s 2023 Managed Service Provider 500 and part of telecommunications company Telephone and Data Systems (TDS) – since March 2022, according to his LinkedIn account.

He has been with the TDS companies since 2002 and worked various leadership roles in IT operations, application development, security and privacy, according to the statement.

Gaston Sandoval

Last month, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) hired Gaston Sandoval as corporate vice president of global PC client marketing, according to his LinkedIn account.

He came to the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker after about three years with Lenovo, according to his LinkedIn account. Sandoval left Lenovo with the title of chief commercial officer for industry solutions.

In this role, he “launched the first set of Smart Workplace and Smart Retail packaged solutions globally” and the “first set of Lenovo Turnkey Solutions for Digital Workplaces, Flexible IT Infrastructure, Immersive Education, and Immersive Design & Engineering, delivering practical innovation at scale,” according to his LinkedIn account.

Sandoval worked at Panasonic Avionics and Openlink Financial for about a year each, according to his LinkedIn account. He left Panasonic in 2019 with the title of corporate vice president, chief marketing officer and chief product officer. He left Openlink in 2018 with the title of senior vice president of global marketing.

He worked at IBM for more than 20 years, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company in 2017 with the title of vice president of operations and general manager of the Digital Business Group.

AMD has about 125 North American channel partners, according to data from CRN’s 2023 Channel Chiefs list.

Madhu Rawat

Axcient hired Madhu Rawat in March as its senior vice president of engineering, according to her LinkedIn account.

In this role, Rawat oversees “product development, site reliability, and engineering quality assurance,” according to her LinkedIn account.

She will report to Kevin Hoffman, co-founder and chief technology officer, according to a company statement.

She came to the Denver-based provider of MSP-focused disaster recovery tools after less than a year with BriteCore, according to her LinkedIn account. She left the company with the title of vice president of engineering.

At BriteCore, she “was responsible for defining, planning, and executing various strategic implementations in the platform to help modern insurance carriers automate every step of the Policy Administration process,” according to her LinkedIn account.

She previously worked at DocuSign for more than six years. Rawat left the company in 2022 with the title of senior director of engineering, according to her LinkedIn account.

Karl Soderlund

Karl Soderlund joined Zscaler last month as channel chief.

Soderlund came to the San Jose, Calif.-based cybersecurity vendor after about six years with Palo Alto Networks, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company with the title of senior vice president of North America ecosystem sales.

His resume includes more than a year with Imperva. He left the company in 2016 with the title of vice president of worldwide channels and alliances.

Soderlund worked at Aruba Networks for more than a year, according to his LinkedIn account. He left in 2015 with the title of vice president of worldwide channels and alliances.

He previously worked at Avaya for more than two years. He left the company in 2014 with the title of vice president of Americas channel sales, according to his LinkedIn account.

Zscaler has about 900 North American channel partners, about 1,900 worldwide, according to data from CRN’s 2023 Channel Chiefs list.

Marilyn Nelson

Marilyn Nelson came out of retirement last month to join Kyndryl as vice president of alliances for the ServiceNow business group, according to her LinkedIn account.

In this role, Nelson will “grow the Kyndryl ServiceNow capabilities, identifying innovative growth opportunities and executing the US business plan to drive success against significant market opportunities,” according to her LinkedIn account.

Before she joined New York-based Kyndryl – No. 6 on CRN’s 2022 Solution Provider 500 – Nelson worked at DXC Technology for more than three years. She left the company in 2022 with the title of head of Americas ServiceNow business group and managing partner.

Nelson also worked at KPMG for about four years, according to her LinkedIn account. She left the firm in 2018 with the title of global ServiceNow practice lead.

She also served in the United States Air Force, leaving in 1992 as an airborne cryptologic Spanish linguist, according to her LinkedIn account.

Prashant Gandhi

Prashant Gandhi joined VMware last month, taking on the title of vice president of products in the Networking & Security Business Unit (NSBU), according to his LinkedIn account.

Before coming to the Palo Alto, Calif.-based cloud vendor, Gandhi worked at Arista Networks and Big Switch Networks for about nine years, according to his LinkedIn account. Arista bought Big Switch in 2020.

While with Arista, he was “responsible for product strategy and GTM execution of network observability solutions” and “led cross-functional teams on strategic initiatives, including campus networking zero-touch provisioning, pervasive AI/ML and Net Data Lake (NetDL) driven network performance monitoring and enterprise-wide network segmentation solutions,” according to his LinkedIn account.

Steve Kaplan

In March, Steve Kaplan joined Tessell as head of the global channel partner program.

Before the San Francisco-based database-as-a-service (DBaaS) platform provider hired Kaplan, he worked at Nutanix for more than eight years, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company in 2021 with the title of vice president of customer success finance.

While at Nutanix, Kaplan started its partner network for the Americas in March 2013, according to his LinkedIn account. He “grew it to 40 people before starting the organization’s financial analysis practice.”

Scott Jordan

Scott Jordan came to Oracle last month, taking on the role of vice president of federal civilian cloud sales, according to his LinkedIn account.

Jordan joined the Austin, Texas based cloud and database products vendor after about three years with Google. He left Google with the title of federal civilian sales leader.

At Google, he “built and led” the federal civilian business “with a primary focus on Federal Financial, Executive, Legislative, Judicial branches, and other Cabinet level agencies,” according to his LinkedIn account. He “increased revenue growth every year and added 25 new customer logos in mostly Greenfield accounts” and “closed numerous multi-million dollar, multi-year deals including a Workspace Enterprise replacement of Office 365.”

His resume includes about four years with Amazon Web Services (AWS). Jordan left AWS in 2020 with the title of nonprofit sales leader, according to his LinkedIn account.

He also spent more than 10 years at Microsoft, according to his LinkedIn account. In 2016, he left the tech giant with the title of customer relationship management (CRM) sales director for state and local government.

Jonathan Hunt

Jonathan Hunt joined Microsoft in March, taking on the role of corporate vice president for business applications, according to his LinkedIn account.

Before Hunt came to the Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant, he worked at Databricks for almost two years, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company with the title of senior vice president of global go-to-market (GTM) strategy and operations for renewals and sales development.

He worked at Salesforce for about 11 years, according to his LinkedIn account. Hunt left the vendor in 2021 with the title of executive vice president and chief operating officer for North America.

Microsoft has about 400,000 channel partners worldwide, according to data from CRN’s 2023 Channel Chiefs list.

Flynn Maloy

Lenovo hired Flynn Maloy in March as chief marketing officer of the Lenovo Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG), according to his LinkedIn account.

In this role, Maloy leads a “team of talented marketers around the world driving brand to demand for ISG - helping our customers solve their most critical business challenges and accelerate their business goals,” according to his LinkedIn account. The group is “a $9b+ Information Technology business growing at 48 percent yr/yr globally.”

Before joining the Hong Kong-based computer maker, Maloy worked at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and HP for more than 20 years. The companies completed their split in 2015.

His most recent role with HPE was vice president of GreenLake cloud services marketing, according to his LinkedIn account.

Lenovo has about 30,000 North American channel partners, 100,000 worldwide, according to data from CRN’s 2023 Channel Chiefs list.

Bob Erdle

Bob Erdle returned to IBM in March as its worldwide vice president of enterprise software sales, according to his LinkedIn account.

His previous tenure at IBM lasted more than 12 years, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company in 2015 with the title of director of worldwide enterprise software sales.

Before returning to the Armonk, N.Y.-based tech giant, Erdle worked at Poppulo and Four Winds Interactive for more than two years, according to his LinkedIn account. The companies combined in 2021. He left Poppulo in March with the title of chief revenue officer (CRO).

Erdle also worked at Workiva for about two years, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company in 2020 with the title of senior vice president of worldwide sales.

IBM has about 12,000 channel partners in North America, 55,000 worldwide, according to data from CRN’s 2023 Channel Chiefs list.

Mark Mazzara

Salesforce hired Mark Mazzara in March, giving him the title of vice president of sales operations, according to his LinkedIn account.

Mazzara came to the San Francisco-based enterprise applications vendor after more than two years with ServiceNow. He left ServiceNow with the title of vice president of operations for worldwide sales.

His resume includes more than a year with Pensando Systems, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company in 2021 with the title of vice president of sales operations.

Mazzara worked at VMware for more than three years. He left the company in 2019 with the title of senior director of global partner for commercial and Dell operations. VMware split from Dell in 2021.

Michael Pinto

In March, Michael Pinto joined Databricks as executive vice president (EVP) and general manager (GM) for Americas enterprise, according to his LinkedIn account.

Pinto came to the San Francisco-based lakehouse vendor after more than five years with Amazon Web Services. He left AWS with the title of VP and GM for AWS America, east.

In this role, he was “responsible for Advancing Commercial Growth ($8B), Organizational Development (1,700+), and Operating Models Building Scale Through New Mechanisms,” according to his LinkedIn account.

His resume includes about two years with Medidata Solutions. He left the company in 2017 with the title of EVP and GM of global sales.

Databricks has about 1,000 channel partners worldwide, with about 70 percent of overall sales through the channel, according to data from CRN’s 2023 Channel Chiefs list.

Chris Schumm

Palo Alto Networks hired Chris Schumm in March, giving him the title of vice president of strategic verticals, according to his LinkedIn account.

Schumm came to the Santa Clara, Calif.-based cybersecurity vendor after about a year with Okta. He left Okta with the title of vice president of enterprise sales.

His resume includes about a year with Veza, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company in 2021 with the title of head of sales.

Previously, Schumm worked at Zscaler for about five years. He left in 2021 with the title of regional vice president of sales.

Palo Alto Networks has about 1,200 channel partners in North America, 10,000 worldwide, according to data from CRN’s 2023 Channel Chiefs list.

Wendy Pfeiffer

Wendy Pfeiffer exited her role as chief information officer (CIO) and senior vice president at Nutanix in March.

Pfeiffer left the San Jose, Calif.-based cloud vendor after more than six years with Nutanix, according to her LinkedIn account. Her departure comes as the vendor deals with an internal probe for improperly using licensed software for a multi-year period.

Her resume includes more than a year with GoPro, according to her LinkedIn account. Pfeiffer left GoPro in 2017 with the title of CIO and vice president of IT.

She worked at Robert Half International for more than six years. Pfeiffer left the firm in 2015 with the title of senior director of IT shared services.

Pere Monclus

Last month, Pere Monclus became Intel’s chief technology officer (CTO) for its network and edge group, according to his LinkedIn account.

Monclus joined the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker after about 12 years with VMware and PlumGrid, according to his LinkedIn account. He founded PlumGrid in 2011. VMware bought the company in 2016.

He left VMware with the title of vice president and CTO of the network and security business unit, according to his LinkedIn account.

Tom Hricik

Tom Hricik returned to Conduent last month, taking on the role of vice president of North American sales, according to his LinkedIn account.

In this role, he will “lead the new business sales team for the Commercial Solutions division,” whose “key services include Customer Experience Management, Claims and Administration, Human Capital Solutions and Business Operations Solutions,” according to his LinkedIn account.

Hricik previously worked at Florham Park, N.J.-based Conduent – No. 22 on CRN’s 2022 Solution Provider 500 – and Xerox for about 17 years. Xerox spun Conduent off in 2017.

He left Conduent in 2018 with the title of vice president and U.S. business development leader for technology, retail and industrials, according to his LinkedIn account.

Before returning to Conduent, he worked at Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS) for about three years, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company in 2021 with the title of president of North America and head of business development.

Mike Clemons

In March, Mike Clemons joined AST as its vice president of the Oracle public sector west business, according to his LinkedIn account.

Clemons came to the Lisle, Ill.-based systems integrator after more than five years on and off at Infor, according to his LinkedIn account. He left Infor most recently with the title of regional vice president of sales for the public sector.

His resume includes more than two years with SAP Concur. Clemons left SAP in 2018 with the title of regional sales executive.

Adam Anderson

Focus Technology hired Adam Anderson in March, giving him the title of vice president of sales and marketing, according to his LinkedIn account.

Anderson came to Boston-based Focus – No. 332 on CRN’s 2022 Solution Provider 500 – after more than three years with NWN Carousel, according to his LinkedIn account. He left NWN with the title of vice president of partner alliances.

His resume includes more than a year with Commvault. He left the company in 2019 with the title of sales director.

Anderson also worked at Presidio for more than 12 years, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company in 2018 with the title of director of sales for New England.

Kevin Landt

Last month, Kevin Landt joined Thrive as vice president of product for cybersecurity, according to his LinkedIn account.

Foxborough, Mass.-based Thrive – No. 172 on CRN’s 2022 Solution Provider 500 – hired Landt from Relativity. He’d been at the company for about a year, leaving with the title of senior product manager.

Landt also worked at Cygilant on and off for about seven years, according to his LinkedIn account. He most recently left the company in 2022, holding the title of vice president of product management.

Brad Pollard

In March, Brad Pollard became field chief technology officer (CIO) at SHI International, according to his LinkedIn account.

In this role, he will “provide technical thought leadership to customers, partners, field sales teams, and SHI leadership” and “simplify complex technologies into comprehensible terms, evangelize cross-functional solutions, and identify strategic partnership opportunities,” according to his LinkedIn account.

Before Pollard joined Somerset, N.J.-based SHI – No. 13 on CRN’s 2022 Solution Provider 500 – he worked at Tenable for more than seven years. He left the company in 2022 with the title of CIO, according to his LinkedIn account. He was the company’s first CIO.

Jarrod Roark

Effectual hired Jarrod Roark as its chief customer officer last month, according to his LinkedIn account.

Roark came to the Jersey City, N.J.-based company – a member of CRN’s 2023 Managed Service Provider 500 – after about 12 years on and off with Quest Software. He most recently left the company in March with the title of vice president of global professional services.

His resume includes about 11 years with Bennett Adelson, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the firm in 2017 with the title of advanced infrastructure director.

Nicki Scolaro Bland

Nicki Scolaro Bland joined Peraton last month as vice president of contracts, according to her LinkedIn account.

Bland came to Herndon, Va.-based Peraton – No. 20 on CRN’s 2022 Solution Provider 500 – after more than a year with Leonardo DRS. She left Leonardo with the title of senior director of contracts and compliance.

In this role, she led “a major transformation of an expanding business into a flourishing enterprise by performing evaluations, creating and implementing change management initiatives, and actively communicating and shaping impactful change” and led “contract workflow tools and processes streamlining efforts and propelling a significant decrease in the award process from up to four weeks to as little as two days,” according to her LinkedIn account.

Her resume includes about 11 years with Northrop Grumman, according to her LinkedIn account. She left the firm in 2021 with the title of senior manager of contracts, mission readiness and protective systems.

Skip Stitt

NTT Data Services hired Skip Stitt in March, giving him the title of chief strategy officer, according to his LinkedIn account.

Stitt joined the Plano, Texas-based company – No. 3 on CRN’s 2022 Solution Provider 500 – after about eight years with the Faegre Drinker consulting and law firm. He left Faegre with the title of principal.

His resume includes serving as deputy mayor and chief operating officer for former Indianapolis Mayor Steve Goldsmith in the 1990s, managing the day-to-day operations of a 4,000-person workforce and an operating budget of more than $450 million, according to a Faegre statement.

Terry Swanson

Terry Swanson joined Singlewire Software last month as chief operating officer, according to his LinkedIn account.

Swanson came to the Madison, Wis.-based mass notification and visitor management tools provider after more than 11 years with OneNeck IT Solutions – a member of CRN’s 2023 Managed Service Provider 500 and part of telecommunications company Telephone and Data Systems (TDS).

He left OneNeck with the title of president and CEO and was succeeded by Ted Wiessing.