Intel Names Trevor Vickers Global Channel Chief, Moves John Kalvin To New Sales Leader Role

In a major revamp, the semiconductor giant appoints Trevor Vickers as general manager of Intel’s Global Partners and Support organization and names former Global Channel Chief John Kalvin as general manager of the new Go To Market Operations group.

After three years of leading Intel’s global partner organization, John Kalvin is moving into a new sales and marketing leadership role while handing the channel chief baton to another fellow company veteran: Trevor Vickers.

The semiconductor giant announced the leadership shakeup in its Sales, Marketing and Communications Group (SMG) to employees on Monday and told CRN that it was orchestrated by the group’s top executive, Chief Commercial Officer Christoph Schell.

The role changes are effective immediately, with Vickers (pictured above) and Kalvin both reporting directly to Schell, who joined Intel as chief commercial officer in early 2022 after holding the same title at HP Inc., according to the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company.

The change in channel leadership is happening at a critical time for the chipmaker: It’s in the middle of executing on Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger’s ambitious, four-year comeback plan to leapfrog Asian foundry rivals in manufacturing capability. At the same time, Intel is fighting to keep its dominance in the PC and server markets on top of trying to challenge Nvidia in the AI computing space alongside other competitors.

Vickers Is The Channel’s New Go-To Person For Intel

As Intel’s new global channel chief, Vickers’ official title is vice present of SMG and general manager of the Global Partners and Support organization, which manages the company’s relationships with value-added resellers, system integrators, managed services providers and other kinds of channel partners through the Intel Partner Alliance program.

In this role, Vickers is “responsible for worldwide strategy and execution related to all scale and support activities of distribution and channel ecosystem,” according to Intel.

“I’m excited by the opportunity to lead our Global Partners and Support team and continue the transformative work John and the team have started,” Vickers said in a statement.

“Our mutual success is imperative, and with the amazing partnerships that we’ve developed, we advance our bold vision to create world-changing technology that improves the life of every person on the planet,” he added.

Kalvin, who had been Intel’s global channel chief since December 2020, has taken a new role within SMG created by Schell, becoming general manager of Go To Market Operations in addition to retaining his title as a VP within the larger sales and marketing group.

The chipmaker said Go To Market Operations is a new organization within SMG that is “dedicated to driving Intel’s [go-to-market] execution and strengthening operational excellence.”

As the group’s leader, Kalvin is leading global operations across the Americas, the Asia-Pacific-Japan region, the Europe-Middle East-Africa region and China. He is also responsible for global reserve logistics, partner and data operations, data management and sales excellence.

In a statement, Kalvin indicated his work would continue to reach Intel’s partners.

“I am excited to lead our Global Go To Market Operations team as we continue to strengthen our operational excellence for customers and partners around the world,” he said.

“Partners remain crucial to our business and I am confident with Trevor’s experience in worldwide business management, that he will forge new global partnerships to unleash a powerful future full of innovation,” he added.

Vickers Previously Held Responsibilities Important To Channel

Vickers was previously a vice president in SMG and general manager of Intel’s Business Management Group. As the group’s leader, he had a wide array of responsibilities, from revenue management forecasting and pricing, to forecasting market demand and supply, to manufacturing capacity strategies and running business operations globally.

Prior to this, Vickers was vice president of Intel’s Automotive Sales Group, for which he led worldwide sales and market development for the chipmaker’s largest and most strategic automotive customers. His responsibilities also included platform enabling, operations and finding alignment with customers on Intel’s strategic business goals.

Vickers arrived at Intel in 2000 when he took a job in its finance organization. Other jobs he has held at the company include chief of staff to the chief sales and marketing officer as well as global account manager for Apple.