30 Notable IT Executive Moves: July 2023

Aviatrix, Riverbed, AWS, HPE, Zscaler, Lumen Technologies and Cognizant were among the tech companies to make executive hires during July 2023.

New CEOs at Aviatrix and Riverbed Technology. A global CMOat Amazon Web Services. And Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s new CIO.

Doug Merritt, formerly of Splunk; Dave Donatelli, formerly of Oracle; Raejeanne Skillern, formerly of Flex; and Rom Kolsa, formerly of Ahold Delhaize, are just some of the executives hired last month.

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

July Executive Moves

Zscaler, Lumen Technologies and Cognizant 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:

*Phanneth Wood, formerly of Deep Instinct

*Nerelys Ortiz, formerly of Microsoft

*Archana Ramanakumar, formerly of LTIMindtree

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.

Microsoft, ClickUp, Anaplan, Ingram Micro and Cisco 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 July 2023.

Phanneth Wood

Last month, Wood became vice president of global distribution sales at Zscaler, according to her LinkedIn account.

Wood joined the San Jose, Calif.-based security vendor after about a year with Deep Instinct, according to her LinkedIn account. She left the company with the title of director of global distribution.

Her resume includes about two years with Okta. She left the company in 2022 with the title of senior manager of global distribution.

Zscaler has about 2,000 worldwide channel partners, about 900 of them in North America, according to CRN’s 2023 Channel Chiefs.

Rom Kosla

In July, Kolsa started as HPE’s CIO.

Kolsa joined the Spring, Texas-based technology vendor after about two years with Ahold Delhaize, according to his LinkedIn account. He left Ahold with the title of executive vice president and CIO for the Retail Business Services (RBS) wing of Ahold Delhaize USA.

His resume includes more than 14 years with PepsiCo. He left PepsiCo in 2021 with the title of senior vice president and CIO of enterprise solutions.

HPE has about 80,000 worldwide channel partners, according to CRN’s 2023 Channel Chiefs. About 10,000 of them are in North America.

Nerelys Ortiz

Ortiz joined Lumen Technologies in July, taking on the role of vice president of finance for the product and IT organization.

Ortiz came to the Monroe, La.-based telecommunications vendor after more than 14 years on and off with Microsoft, according to her LinkedIn account.

She left Microsoft most recently with the title of worldwide Microsoft Customer & Partner Solutions (MCAPS) Global Partner Solutions (GPS) finance director.

Ortiz also worked at PwC on and off for about four years, according to her LinkedIn account. She most recently left the firm in 2012 with the title of advisory manager for strategy and operations.

Tyler Prince

Prince started with Snowflake last month as its senior vice president of worldwide alliances and channels. He is responsible for Snowflake’s global channel and partner business to drive increased growth, collaboration and customer-centric innovation across the ecosystem.

Prince came to the Bozeman, Mont.-based data cloud products vendor after about 10 years with Salesforce, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the vendor with the title of executive vice president of worldwide alliances and channels.

His resume includes about a year as a partner at PwC and about eight years with Oracle and PeopleSoft. He left Oracle in 2012 with the title of group vice president. Oracle bought PeopleSoft in 2004.

Dave Donatelli

Donatelli assumed the CEO role at Riverbed Technology last month with the vendor’s acquisition by private equity firm Vector Capital.

Donatelli replaced Dan Smoot, Riverbed’s CEO since 2021, who will continue to support the company on a transitional basis.

Before joining the San Francisco-based network and application visibility vendor, Donatelli worked at Oracle for about five years, according to his LinkedIn account. He left in 2020 with the title of executive vice president of the cloud business group.

He also worked at Hewlett-Packard for about five years, leaving in 2014 with the title of executive vice president of the enterprise group. Hewlett-Packard split into Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP in 2015.

Riverbed has about 3,000 worldwide channel partners, 750 of them in North America, according to CRN’s 2023 Channel Chiefs.

Phil Guido

AMD hired Guido in July as executive vice president and chief commercial officer.

Guido joined the Santa Clara, Calif.-based semiconductor maker after more than 26 years with IBM, according to his LinkedIn account. He left IBM with the title of general manager and global managing partner for strategic sales.

Some of his earlier roles at IBM include general manager of IBM Global Technology Services, North America, and executive assistant to former IBM Chairman and CEO Lou Gerstner Jr.

Doug Merritt

Last month, Merritt started as Aviatrix’s chairman, CEO and president.

Merritt came to the Santa Clara, Calif.-based secure cloud networking vendor after more than seven years with Splunk, according to his LinkedIn account. Merritt lefrt Splunk in 2021 as its CEO.

His resume includes about two years with Cisco, leaving the vendor in 2014 with the title of senior vice president of product and solution marketing.

He worked at SAP for about six years, leaving in 2011 with the title of global executive vice president and general manager for OnDemand solutions, according to his LinkedIn account.

Raejeanne Skillern

Skillern joined AWS last month as global CMO.

Skillern came to the Seattle-based cloud vendor after about four years with Flex, according to her LinkedIn account. She left Flex with the title of president of the communications and enterprise compute group.

She spent more than 10 years with Intel, leaving the vendor in 2019 with the title of vice president of the cloud service provider business.

AWS has about 100,000 worldwide channel partners, according to CRN’s 2023 Channel Chiefs.

Archana Ramanakumar

Ramanakumar returned to Cognizant in July, taking on the role of senior vice president and global head of industry solutions, according to her LinkedIn account.

Ramanakumar previously left Teaneck, N.J.-based Cognizant—No. 6 on CRN’s 2023 Solution Provider 500—in 2020 with the title of vice president. She had worked at Cognizant for more than 24 years.

Before her return, Ramanakumar worked at LTI and LTIMindtree for about three years, according to her LinkedIn account. She left LTIMindtree with the title of global delivery head. LTI and Mindtree merged in 2022.

Lisa Lord-Patterson

In July, Lord-Patterson became corporate vice president of global sales at Maureen Data Systems, according to her LinkedIn account.

Lord-Patterson joined New York-based MDS—No. 310 on CRN’s 2023 Solution Provider 500—after about five years with Microsoft, according to her LinkedIn account. She left Microsoft with the title of principal program manager for autonomous systems deep reinforcement learning.

Her resume includes about a year with Raytheon Cyber Services as director of Northeast sales and about eight years with Dell Technologies, leaving in 2017 with the title of global account manager.

Josh Mueller

Mueller started in July as Avaya’s CMO and general manager.

Mueller came to the Morristown, N.J., unified communications vendor after more than three years with National Instruments. He left NI with the title of senior vice president and general manager of the portfolio business unit and chief digital officer, according to his LinkedIn account.

His resume includes about a year as Vonage’s chief digital officer and about four years with Dun & Bradstreet. He left Dun in 2019 with the CMO title, according to his LinkedIn.

Mueller spent about six years with Dell Technologies. He left the vendor in 2015 with the title of director of digital, content and demand generation.

Avaya has about 9,000 channel partners worldwide, according to CRN’s 2023 Channel Chiefs.

Chris Vonderhaar

Google Cloud hired Vonderhaar in July as vice president of demand and supply management.

Vonderhaar joined the Mountain View, Calif.-based cloud vendor after about 13 years with AWS, according to his LinkedIn account. He left AWS with the title of vice president of the vendor’s data center community.

Before AWS, he worked at telecommunications giant BT for about three years, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company in 2011 with the title of program director.

Karin Shopen

Shopen joined Cisco in July, taking on the role of vice president of product management and design in the Talos Intelligence Group, according to her LinkedIn account.

Shopen came to the San Jose, Calif.-based networking giant after more than three years on and off with Fortinet, according to her LinkedIn account. She left the company most recently with the title of vice president of cybersecurity strategy, products and services.

Her resume includes about five years with Palo Alto Networks. She left the company in 2020 with a role in growth and go-to-market for cloud-delivered security services.

Kimen Warner

Salesforce hired Warner last month as senior vice president of product management for Marketing Cloud personalization and marketing intelligence products, according to her LinkedIn account.

Warner came to the San Francisco-based CRM vendor after about two years with Drift, according to her LinkedIn account. She left Drift with the title of vice president of product management.

Her resume includes more than 11 years with Adobe. She left the company in 2021 with the title of director of product management for Adobe Target.

Jim Grass

Grass joined RF Technologies in July as vice president of the Pinpoint emergency notification system product line, according to his LinkedIn account. Building out the channel strategy and working with resellers is part of his purview.

Grass came to Brookfield, Wis.-based RF—a manufacturer and provider of life safety products for health care, hospitality and education—after about four years with ACP CreativIT. He left ACP with the title of vice president and general manager for public sector, according to his LinkedIn account.

He previously worked at Zones for about six years, leaving in 2018 with the title of vice president of public sector. His resume includes about 17 years with CDW, leaving the company in 2009 with the title of vice president for state and local government sales.

Tom Koppelman

In July, Koppelman became a senior vice president at Palo Alto Networks, according to his LinkedIn account.

Koppelman joined the Santa Clara, Calif.-based security vendor after about two years with VMware, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company with the title of global vice president of networking and security.

His resume includes more than 17 years with Cisco. He left the company in 2021 with the title of vice president of Americas sales.

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

Tyson Brown

Brown joined Okta in July, taking on the role of vice president of enterprise sales, according to his LinkedIn account.

Brown came to the San Francisco-based identity products vendor after 11 years with Salesforce, according to his LinkedIn account. He left Salesforce with the title of area vice president of Service Cloud sales for communications, media and technology.

His resume includes about a year with Oracle. Brown left Oracle in 2012 with a role managing strategic enterprise accounts in the U.K.

Okta has about 1,200 worldwide channel partners, according to CRN’s 2023 Channel Chiefs.

JP Peterson

Peterson became chief product officer of High Wire Networks last month.

Peterson joined the Batavia, Ill.-based company—a member of CRN’s 2023 Managed Service Provider 500—after more than three years with Ericom Software. He left Ericom with the chief product officer title.

His resume includes more than two years with Stellar Cyber as its founding chief product officer, according to his LinkedIn account. Peterson left Stellar in 2020.

He also worked at Comodo for more than a year, leaving in 2017 with the title of general manager and senior vice president of cybersecurity products.

Doug Miles

NTT Data Services hired Miles in July, giving him the title of vice president and client executive, according to his LinkedIn account.

Miles came to the Plano, Texas-based company—No. 5 on CRN’s 2023 Solution Provider 500—after more than 20 years with DXC Technology and Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC). CSC merged with HPE Enterprise Services to create DXC Technology in 2017.

He left DXC with the title of life insurance transition director. In this role, Miles worked on “planning, design, management and delivery of technology and business separation programs to establish transformed business processes, applications and infrastructure capability for Life insurance companies to establish post acquisition/divestiture modernized operational capability,” according to his LinkedIn account.

Regan Campbell

Campbell joined General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) in July as vice president and general manager of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, according to her LinkedIn account.

Campbell came to the Falls Church, Va.-based company—No. 13 on CRN’s 2023 Solution Provider 500—after about three years with L3Harris Technologies. She left L3Harris with the title of general manager of autonomous and advanced naval platforms.

Her resume includes about 17 years with the U.S. Navy on and off, most recently leaving in 2020 as a major program manager, according to her LinkedIn account. She has a Ph.D. in engineering psychology from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Caroline Schneider

Schneider returned to Capgemini in July, taking on the role of vice president, according to her LinkedIn account.

Schneider previously worked at the France-based company—No. 3 on CRN’s 2023 Solution Provider 500—for about 10 years, leaving in 2021 with the title of practice head for transformation.

In this role, Schneider “designed and deployed Finance strategies and programs for global clients in order to achieve a Frictionless Enterprise,” according to her LinkedIn account. She “spearheaded the creation of a transformation practice designed to accelerate GTM strategies and processes within fast moving global CPRD and Manufacturing clients integrating supply chain and finance activities.”

Before her return to Capgemini, she worked at Accenture for about two years. She was a managing director whose responsibilities included “driving strategy, oversight and leadership for a complex portfolio of operations work across specific client industries in North America,” according to her LinkedIn account.

Guy Rallo

In July, Rallo joined Ciberspring as its vice president of business development, according to his LinkedIn account.

Rallo came to the Tampa, Fla.-based systems integrator after more than three years with H1, according to his LinkedIn account. He left H1 with the title of vice president of global enterprise sales.

His resume includes more than two years with Mavens. He left the company with the title of global sales director.

Mike Hurt

Infinite Computer Solutions hired Hurt in July as its senior vice president of digital transformation, according to his LinkedIn account.

Hurt came to the Rockville, Md.-based company—a member of CRN’s 2023 MSP 500—after about two years with Palo Alto Networks, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the company with the title of vice president of federal sales.

His resume includes more than 12 years with Microsoft. He left Microsoft in 2021 with the title of COO and chief of staff of sales for state and local government.

Isaiah Hogberg

Last month, Hogberg became vice president and channel chief at TierPoint, according to his LinkedIn account.

Hogberg joined the St. Louis-based company—a member of CRN’s 2023 MSP 500—after more than five years with Avant, according to his LinkedIn account. He left Avant with the title of vice president of sales for the West.

His resume includes about 10 years with ViaWest. He left ViaWest in 2017 with the title of vice president of channel sales.

Mike Stipe

Stipe joined LogicalisUS in July, taking on the role of vice president of the Microsoft practice, according to a company statement.

Before Stipe came to the Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based company—a member of CRN’s 2023 MSP 500—he worked at Zones for more than two years, according to his LinkedIn account.

His resume includes about a year with CoreStack as the company’s CRO.

Sian John

John became CTO at NCC Group last month, according to a company statement.

John joined NCC—No. 91 on CRN’s 2023 Solution Provider 500—after about six years with Microsoft, according to her LinkedIn account. She left the tech giant with the title of senior director of Microsoft Security business development.

Her resume includes about 12 years with Symantec. She left the company in 2017 with the title of chief strategist for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

John Pushparaj

Persistent Systems hired Pushparaj in July as chief growth officer, according to his LinkedIn account.

Pushparaj joined the company—a member of CRN’s 2023 MSP 500—after more than 14 years with L7T Technology Services, according to his LinkedIn account. He left L&T with the title of executive vice president and business head for the service providers, media and entertainment practice.

His resume includes about 12 years with Motorola Solutions. He left the company in 2009 with the title of director of engineering and operations.

Vanessa Grose

In July, Grose joined Kyndryl, taking on the role of vice president of the global cloud center of excellence, according to her LinkedIn account.

Grose came to New York-based Kyndryl—No. 8 on CRN’s 2023 Solution Provider 500—after about three years with Google Cloud, according to her LinkedIn account. She left the vendor with the title of head of customer engineering for the Pacific Northwest.

Her resume includes about 17 years with IBM. She left IBM in 2020 with the title of global sales executive for artificial intelligence.

Bob Laurenzo

Gotham Technology Group hired Laurenzo in July as vice president of sales, according to his LinkedIn account.

In this role, he will manage sales, strategic OEM partnerships and business development.

Laurenzo joined the Montvale, N.J.-based company—a member of CRN’s 2023 MSP 500—after about eight years with Decusoft, according to his LinkedIn account. He served as CEO and senior vice president of sales and business development during his time with the company.

His resume includes more than 16 years with Computer Design & Integration (CDI). He left the company with the title of executive vice president of sales.

Timothy Burke

Burke joined Zensar Technologies in July, taking on the role of vice president of advanced engineering services, according to his LinkedIn account.

Burke came to the India-based MSP after more than two years with Quest Global, according to his LinkedIn account. He left Quest with the title of vice president of digital transformation for high tech.

His resume includes about a year with Accenture, leaving in 2021 with the title of managing director of technology. He also spent about four years with Cognizant on and off, leaving most recently in 2019 with the title of senior partner of client services for technology and health care.