First Turbonomic COO Looks To Take Channel Program 'To The Next Level'

Hybrid cloud management platform vendor Turbonomic has brought on a well-known IT industry executive committed to taking the company's channel program "to the next level" as its first COO.

As COO, Mark Thurmond joins other high-profile executives in Turbonomic's leadership ranks, including Executive Chairman Bill Veghte, Channel Chief Jennifer Heard and Chief Customer Officer Alex Hesterberg. He'll report to CEO Benjamin Nye.

Between 2008 and mid-2015, Thurmond worked for two EMC business units, first as senior vice president of worldwide sales at RSA and then as senior vice president of global sales at VCE. He comes to Turbonomic after a two-year stint as executive vice president of worldwide sales and service at business intelligence software firm Qlik.

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In the new role, Thurmond, a self-described "partner-centric sales leader," will oversee Turbonomic's global partner and strategic alliances, sales and enablement, and marketing operations.

"My vision and commitment is that we build upon the foundation we've established to take our channel program to the next level," Thurmond said in an email to CRN. "Turbonomic will excel as a partner-centric company."

On Thurmond's agenda are efforts to simplify the Turbonomic partner program, including the establishment of a consistent, global program "that can scale, has repeatability and is predictable," he said.

Thurmond said partners have a significant opportunity to use the Turbonomic platform to become trusted advisers for customers adopting hybrid cloud strategies. "By 2020, there will be more workloads in the cloud than on premises," Thurmond said. "Managing on premises and moving into multiple clouds is organizations' No. 1 challenge, and once they're in the cloud, over 80 percent of organizations find that their cloud bills are three times more than they expected."

Turbonomic's hybrid cloud management platform allows hybrid cloud data centers to self-manage and maintain the performance of any application. The platform's ability to assess a customer's data center and optimize its use and performance, along with its ability to manage applications on its own, means it can offer customers significant savings very quickly.

Thurmond is just the latest in a line of high-profile tech executives to join the Boston-based firm. Former Microsoft power player Veghte joined as executive chairman in 2015; Heard, a Microsoft veteran who spent 20 years at that company, joined as channel chief last March; and Hesterberg took the senior vice president and chief customer officer role after a stint at Pure Storage.

Steve West, founder of RoundTower Technologies, a Cincinnati-based solution provider that works with Turbonomic, worked with and for Thurmond at EMC, and described him as a "hard-charger" and "get-it-done guy" who is dedicated to the channel.

"We're really excited about Mark joining Turbonomic," West said. "He's an extraordinary leader. His skill and management style are second to none. He's one of the best IT leaders out there, and he's very channel-centric. He looks at the channel as a very, very valuable part of his ecosystem, and an important part of how he wants to scale his business. He'll take Turbonomic's program to new heights."