30 Notable IT Executive Moves: August 2023
Caylent, ControlUp, LightRiver, Salesforce, CloudWerx, Cisco, ServiceNow and SentinelOne were among the tech companies to make executive hires during August 2023.
New CEOs at Caylent, ControlUP and LightRiver. A new chief revenue officer at Salesforce. And a new chief information officer at CloudWerx.
Lori Williams, formerly of Traction on Demand; Jed Ayres, formerly of IGEL Technology; Mike Jonas; with LightRiver since 2003; Miguel Milano, formerly of Celonis; and Munish Gupta, formerly of Google, are just some of the executives hired last month.
[RELATED: 30 Notable IT Executive Moves: July 2023]
August Tech Exec Moves
Cisco, ServiceNow and SentinelOne 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:
*Julius Farrington, formerly of Salesforce
*Alice Chung, formerly of PayPal
*Sally Stephens, formerly of Coupa Software
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 tightening IT budgets after high demand for technology during the height of the pandemic.
SkyKick, Secureworks, Dell, Rapid7, Intel, Malwarebytes and HackerOne are among the tech businesses to announce or conduct layoffs in recent days.
Read on for more of the 30 notable IT executive moves from August 2023.
Lori Williams
Lori Williams became CEO of Caylent in August, according to a company statement. She succeeds cofounder and CEO JP La Torre, who moved into an advisory position.
Williams joined the Irvine, Calif.-based company – No. 380 on CRN’s 2023 Solution Provider 500 – after about three years as president of services for Traction on Demand, according to her LinkedIn account. Salesforce bought Traction on Demand last year.
Her resume includes about a year as CEO of Throughline Consulting, which she founded, and about two years as co-CEO and chief delivery officer at Gigster. She left Throughline in 2020 and Gigster in 2019.
Williams also worked at Appirio for more than seven years, leaving in 2017 with the title of general manager of emerging technologies, according to her LinkedIn account.
Mike Jonas
Mike Jonas became CEO of LightRiver in August, according to a company statement.
He succeeds founder and CEO Glenn Johansen, who retired.
Jonas previously served as president of global customer operations at the Concord, Calif.-based company – a 2019 CRN Tech Elite 250 member.
In this role, he was “responsible for all customer facing corporate business and technology development, including strategic marketing and sales in all areas, Systems and Sales Engineering and the Network Factory and Field Operations teams for network delivery via” the company’s Factory Built Network process, according to his LinkedIn account.
He has been with LightRiver since 2003.
Munish Gupta
CloudWerx hired Munish Gupta in August as its chief information officer (CIO).
Gupta came to the Santa Clara, Calif.-based Google Cloud solution provider after about 12 years with Google itself, according to his LinkedIn account.
He left Google with the title of technical account manager. During his time with Google, Gupta “built and lead a diverse, geo-distributed, and world class SRE organization” and participated “in system design consulting, platform management, and capacity planning,” according to his LinkedIn account.
Sally Stephens
Sally Stephens joined SentinelOne in August, taking on the role of vice president of channel marketing and alliances.
Stephens came to the Mountain View, Calif.-based security vendor after about nine years with Coupa Software, according to her LinkedIn account. She left as the company’s channel chief. Her formal title was senior vice president of alliances programs.
SentinelOne has 3,100 channel partners worldwide, 950 of them in North America, according to CRN’s 2023 Channel Chiefs.
Julius Farrington
Last month, Julius Farrington became vice president of Americas field marketing at Cisco.
Farrington joined the San Jose, Calif.-based networking vendor after about a year with Salesforce, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company with the title of VP for Americas field marketing for the Tableau and MuleSoft products.
His resume includes about two years with Amazon Web Services, leaving the vendor in 2022 with the title of Head of Enterprise Segments and Audience Marketing.
Shashi Kiran
Shashi Kiran joined VMware in August, taking on the role of vice president of marketing, according to a LinkedIn post.
Kiran joined the Palo Alto, Calif.-based multi-cloud services vendor after about a year with Fortanix as chief marketing officer, according to his LinkedIn account.
He previously worked at Aryaka Networks for about three years as chief marketing officer. In this role, he oversaw “marketing, product management/portfolio strategy, growth/demand gen and technology partnerships,” according to his LinkedIn account.
His resume includes time with Quali as well as Appcito, a cloud application infrastructure provider that was acquired by A10 Networks. He also has led data center and cloud marketing for Cisco Systems.
VMware has about 30,000 partners, according to the vendor.
Jed Ayres
ControlUp hired Jed Ayres in August as CEO.
Ayres came to the Santa Clara, Calif.-based digital employee experience software platform after about seven years as CEO of IGEL Technology, according to his LinkedIn account.
His resume includes about a year with AppSense as senior vice president of marketing and about three years with MCPc as chief marketing officer, according to his LinkedIn account.
AppSense sold to LANDesk in 2016. MCPc sold to Logicalis in 2015.
Alice Chung
Alice Chung joined ServiceNow in August, taking on the role of vice president and head of compensation, according to her LinkedIn account.
Chung came to the Santa Clara, Calif.-based IT service automation vendor after about eight years with PayPal, according to her LinkedIn account. She left PayPal with the title of vice president of global compensation.
Her resume includes about 10 years with the law firm of Latham & Watkins. She left the firm in 2015.
Gordon Lord
In August, Schneider Electric promoted Gordon Lord to the role of vice president of U.S. channels, according to a LinkedIn post.
Shannon Sbar, Schneider’s vice president of channels, said on LinkedIn that she is “taking a sabbatical from my role.”
Lord is a 27-year veteran of the France-based digital automation and energy management vendor and its APC subsidiary, according to his LinkedIn account. Schneider bought APC in 2006.
He previously served as senior director of IT distribution and channel strategy. This year, he ranked among CRN’s top 25 channel sales leaders of 2023.
Schneider has about 100,000 channel partners worldwide, with about 15,000 in North America, according to CRN’s 2023 Channel Chiefs.
Scott Van Valkenburgh
Last month, Scott Van Valkenburgh joined Alteryx as senior vice president of global alliances and channels, according to a company statement.
In this role, Van Valkenburgh will “lead Alteryx’s global partner strategy and execution” and “focus on accelerated enablement of Alteryx’s global partner ecosystem and partner solution development to maximize the value of the Alteryx platform for customers,” according to the statement.
Barb Huelskamp, who held the role of Alteryx channel chief and SVP of global partners and alliances, departed the company in May, according to her LinkedIn. She was among CRN’s “most powerful women of the channel 2023.”
Van Valkenburgh joined the Irvine, Calif.-based analytics automation platform provider after more than six years with Genpact, according to his LinkedIn account. He left Genpact with the title of senior vice president of worldwide alliances and channel sales leader.
His resume includes about 15 years with SAS, leaving the company in 2017 with the title of senior director of global alliances and channels
Alteryx has about 400 channel partners worldwide, according to CRN’s 2023 Channel Chiefs.
Miguel Milano
Miguel Milano returned to Salesforce in August as president and chief revenue officer after a break with data processing company Celonis.
According to a post on LinkedIn, Milano will help lead customers “into an incredible AI-first future, powered by Salesforce AI + Data + CRM.”
Milano also brings with him more than seven years with Oracle, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the vendor in 2011 with the title of senior vice president of Oracle Direct and a head of sales in Oracle’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) division. In this role, he led 1,000 people across the phone and internet technologies inside sales organizations.
His previous stint with San Francisco-based Salesforce lasted more than eight years. Milano left Salesforce in 2020 with the title of president for the vendor’s international presence.
At Celonis, where Milano worked for more than three years starting in 2020, he worked as chief revenue officer, according to his LinkedIn account.
Salesforce has about 11,000 partners worldwide, according to the vendor.
Sammy Kinlaw
Sammy Kinlaw became vice president of technology sales at Northpoint Commercial Finance last month.
Kinlaw joined the Alpharetta, Ga.-based provider of channel financing, inventory financing, asset-based lending and other financial services after about two years with Tech Data and TD Synnex – the result of TD merging with distribution rival Synnex.
He left TD Synnex with the title of senior vice president of sales for the Americas, according to his LinkedIn account.
His resume includes more than two years with Lexmark, leaving the company in 2020 with the title of vice president of worldwide sales and original equipment manufacturing (OEM).
He also worked at Lenovo for more than nine years, leaving the company in 2017 with the title of vice president of Lenovo North America channel and U.S. small and midsize business (SMB), according to his LinkedIn account.
Rich Campagna
Palo Alto Networks hired Rich Campagna in August as senior vice president of products.
Campagna joined the Santa Clara, Calif.-based security vendor from rival Zscaler, where he worked for more than two years, according to his LinkedIn account.
He left Zscaler with the title of SVP and general manager of the vendor’s Posture Control cloud native application protection platform (CNAPP).
His resume includes about a year with Balbix as chief marketing officer, according to his LinkedIn account.
Jon Platner
SAP hired Jon Platner in August as its global vice president of business models and monetization, according to a LinkedIn post.
In this role, Platner will “lead SAP’s monetization strategy spanning all product categories, determining product category business models and associated pricing strategy, and defining the packaging strategy across the entire SAP product portfolio.”
Platner came to the Germany-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) software vendor after about two years with Google, according to his LinkedIn account. He left Google with the title of head of business planning and pricing strategy for applications and developer.
His resume includes about 10 years with Microsoft. He left Microsoft in 2021 with the title of director of business planning and monetization for Modern Work products.
Jeff Depa
In August, ThoughtSpot hired Jeff Depa as chief revenue officer, according to a company statement.
In this role, Depa will work on “strategic growth and revenue goals by maximizing profit through go to market strategies that operationalize outcomes across the entire customer lifecycle,” according to the statement.
Depa came to the Mountain View, Calif.-based artificial intelligence (AI)-powered analytics vendor after about three years with Gainsight, according to his LinkedIn account. He left Gainsight with the CRO title.
His resume includes more than four years at Lucidworks. He left the company in 2020 as CRO.
ThoughtSpot has a channel partner program featuring more than 100 solution providers, according to the vendor.
Gautham Thambidorai
Gautham Thambidorai returned to Google last month, becoming vice president of engineering for “AI Product Expansion,” according to his LinkedIn account.
Thambidorai previously left the Mountain View, Calif.-based cloud vendor in 2019 with the title of distinguished engineer. He had worked at Google for about 16 years.
Toward the end of his previous Google stint, he “co-designed and led development of a programming model and runtime to write low-latency distributed applications on warehouse scale computers,” according to his LinkedIn account.
For the past two years, Thambidorai had served as managing director of core engineering at Citadel, according to his LinkedIn account. In this role, he “led the platform, database and core services teams” and “developed a comprehensive cloud strategy for Citadel, focusing on the design and deployment of a scalable cloud architecture.”
Tony Toulouse
Last month, Intel brought on Tony Toulouse as its vice president of IT architecture and infrastructure services, according to a LinkedIn post.
Toulouse joined the Santa Clara, Calif.-based semiconductor maker after more than 31 years with Boeing, according to his LinkedIn account.
He left Boeing with the title of vice president of global IT infrastructure services. In this role, he was “responsible for leading a 3000 person, $1B+ organization focused on ensuring Boeing’s global IT infrastructure supports business needs,” according to his LinkedIn account.
John Bullitt
Zscaler hired John Bullitt last month, giving him the title of global vice president of partner engineering, according to a LinkedIn post.
In this role, he will “accelerate our growth through our critical system integrator, reseller, alliances, and MSP partnerships.”
Bullitt came to the San Jose, Calif.-based security vendor from Rubrik, according to his LinkedIn account. He worked at Rubrik for about five years, leaving with the title of vice president of global partner solution architects.
In this role, he supported “channel, Service Provider, Systems Integrator, and Alliances partners” as drove “strategy & GTM, executive partner relationships and public speaking engagements,” according to his LinkedIn account.
His resume includes more than 10 years with VMware, leaving the vendor in 2018 with the title of senior director of solutions engineering for the Americas health care vertical.
Sunny Patel
Sunny Patel joined 3Cloud in August, taking on the role of vice president of sales, according to a LinkedIn post.
Patel came to the Downers Grove, Ill.-based Microsoft solution provider after more than two years with Cognizant, according to his LinkedIn account. He left Cognizant with the title of VP of business development for commercial industries.
His resume includes about two years with HashiCorp. He left the company in 2021 with the title of strategic enterprise sales director.
Patel also worked at Rackspace for about 10 years, leaving in 2018 with the title of senior sales manager for managed public clouds in North America and Latin America, according to his LinkedIn account.
Scott Rhyan
In August, Scott Rhyan returned to Advizex, taking on the role of senior vice president of consulting and managed services, according to a LinkedIn post.
His previous stint with Advizex and Rolta lasted about 15 years, departing the company in 2019 with the title of vice president of solution services sales, according to his LinkedIn account.
Rolta bought Advizex in 2012. Earlier this year, Advizex sold to Fulcrum IT Partners, a global IT solution provider holding company.
Rhyan came back to the Independence, Ohio-based company – a member of CRN’s 2023 Managed Service Provider 500 – after about two years with Slalom. He left Slalom with the title of sales director, according to his LinkedIn account.
His resume includes about two years with World Wide Technology, according to his LinkedIn account. He left WWT in 2021 with a role in professional services sales in the Ohio and Michigan area.
Jason Braun
GuidePoint Security hired Jason Braun last month as its senior vice president of sales, according to a LinkedIn post.
Braun came to the Herndon, Va.-based company – No. 52 on CRN’s 2023 Solution Provider 500 – after more than a year with Onapsis. He left the company with the title of vice president of sales, according to his LinkedIn account.
His resume includes about a year each with Defy Security, CyCognito and ProtectWise. He left Defy in 2021 with the title of VP of sales, according to his LinkedIn account.
Braun worked at Optiv for about six years, he left the company in 2018 with the title of VP of major accounts.
Pieter Uittenbogaard
Last month, Fusion Connect hired Pieter Uittenbogaard as executive vice president of marketing and strategy, according to a company statement.
In this role, Uittenbogaard is tasked with “expanding Fusion Connect’s Microsoft offerings, including its market-leading Calling Services for Microsoft Teams” and evolving “the company’s go-to-market strategy, driving product and service innovation while collaborating with Microsoft and its key partners.”
He came to the Atlanta-based company – a member of CRN’s 2023 MSP 500 – after about 15 years with Microsoft, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the vendor with the title of general manager of Microsoft 365 in the U.S.
In this role, he “oversaw products like Microsoft Teams, Office 365, and Windows and the incubation of Microsoft Viva, Teams Meeting Rooms, Teams Phone, and Windows 365,” according to his LinkedIn account.
Uittenbogaard also “spearheaded revenue, usage, and customer success of a $20B-plus business driving growth across direct sales, partner ecosystem, and marketing by ruthlessly prioritizing and simplifying execution exceeding targets by delivering 20% Y/Y growth for the past three years and outgrowing Zoom and WebEx share.”
Brijesh Singh
In August, Wipro hired Brijesh Singh as a senior vice president and global AI head, according to a LinkedIn post.
Singh came to the India-based company – No. 15 on CRN’s Solution Provider 500 – after more than seven years with Deloitte, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the firm with the title of AI strategy offering leader.
His resume includes about six years with Verizon, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the vendor in 2015 with the title of partner.
Dirk Lonser
Dirk Lonser joined Navisite in August, taking on the role of senior vice president of professional services, according to a company statement.
In this role, he “will lead Navisite’s strategic advisory and professional services across the company’s broad service portfolio to help customers modernize and leverage emerging technologies to meet new demands, optimize costs, and build more agile, resilient businesses,” according to the statement.
Lonser came to the Andover, Mass.-based company – a member of CRN’s 2023 MSP 500 – after about five years with UST and SCM Accelerators, according to his LinkedIn account. He left UST with the title of vice president of SAP ERP and digital core services. UST bought SCM in 2019.
His resume includes about four years with DXC Technology, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Hewlett-Packard. He left DXC in 2018 with the title of director and go-to-market leader. DXC was born in 2017 from the merger of Computer Sciences Corp. and HPE’s enterprise services business. HPE was born in 2015 by splitting from HP.
Jennifer Krischer
Last month, Jennifer Krischer joined General Dynamics Information Technology as vice president for defense intelligence, according to her LinkedIn account.
Krischer came to the Falls Church, Va.-based company – No. 13 on CRN’s 2023 Solution Provider 500 – after more than a year with Maxar Technologies. She left Maxar with the title of vice president for intelligence programs.
Her resume includes about three years with BAE Systems, leaving the company in 2021 with the title of deputy director of the sensor processing and exploitation (SPX) product line, according to her LinkedIn account.
She completed a 25-year career with the U.S. Air Force as an intelligence officer, according to an online profile.
Thomas Gallagher
Thomas Gallagher became senior vice president of solutions at services at Zones last month, according to his LinkedIn account.
In this role, he will “build the overall solutions and services business including; strategic vision, offerings, pre-sales and sales teams.”
He is “responsible for leading the newly established Solutions & Services organization to capture existing and new business opportunities by building and managing a highly results driven team strategically aligned with multiple functions across Zones, including marketing, partner and product management, service delivery, and finance to achieve revenue targets and growth,” according to his LinkedIn account.
Gallagher came to the Auburn, Wash.-based company – a member of CRN’s 2023 MSP 500 – after about two years with DXC Technology.
He left DXC with the title of chief sales officer and vice president of DXC Americas. His resume includes more than three years with Capgemini, leaving in 2021 with the title of chief sales officer and vice president of cloud infrastructure services for North America.
Ben Pollack
Ben Pollack joined Unisys in August, taking on the role of vice president of digital marketing, according to his LinkedIn account.
Pollack came to the Blue Bell, Pa.-based company – No. 34 on CRN’s 2023 Solution Provider 500 – after more than three years with Verizon. He left Verizon with the title of director and head of global demand generation and digital marketing.
In this role, Pollack was “responsible for developing and executing omni-channel strategies to drive leads from new logos in support of the SMB, Enterprise, Public Sector, and Telematics business segments,” according to his LinkedIn account.
His resume includes about three years with Comcast, leaving in 2020 with the title of senior director of demand generation and digital marketing.
Matt Mercer
In August, Cyderes hired Matt Mercer as vice president of sales, according to his LinkedIn account.
Mercer came to the Canada-based company – a member of CRN’s 2023 MSP 500 – after about two years with BlueVoyant. He left BlueVoyant with the title of VP of sales for the west.
His resume includes more than four years with Coalfire, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company in 2021 with the title of VP of client engagement.
Lauren Davenport
Lauren Davenport joined Logicworks in August, taking on the role of vice president of sales for the east, according to her LinkedIn account.
Davenport came to the New York-based MSP – whose partners include Microsoft and Amazon Web Services – after more than a year with Triumph Technology Solutions. She left Triumph with the title of director of sales for the east.
Her resume includes more than a year with Rackspace subsidiary Onica, according to her LinkedIn account. She left Onica in 2022 with the title of senior AWS account executive.
Davenport also worked at SHI International for about six years, leaving in 2020 with the title of account executive.
Scott Smith
Scott Smith became chief revenue officer of Hinduja Global Solutions last month, according to a LinkedIn post.
In this role, he will “lead Sales and Marketing for (this) global digital customer experience leader leveraging automation, analytics and AI,” according to his LinkedIn account.
Smith came to the Chicago-based MSP – whose partners include Microsoft, AWS, IBM and Salesforce – after more than two years with DXC Technology. He left DXC with the title of head of sales, financial services and insurance.
His resume includes more than five years on and off with IBM, most recently leaving the vendor in 2021 as a senior director and strategic sales leader. He also worked at AWS for about two years, leaving in 2019 with a role in strategic customer engagement, according to his LinkedIn account.