Qwest Channel Undergoes Leadership Changes

First, two longtime Qwest channel leaders, Tom McGrath, senior vice president of alternate channel sales, and Sandy Spencer, regional vice president of sales, are leaving the Denver-based company, said Qwest spokesman Ted Wietecha.

Along with McGrath's and Spencer's departures, Qwest has named Blake Wetzel as vice president of sales for the Qwest Business Partner Program. Wetzel will focus solely on the partner program and run Qwest's indirect sales channels. A 10-year Qwest veteran, Wetzel's previous role was director of Qwest's Business Markets Group (BMG) sales support, where he was responsible for sales operations, including the partner program.

The leadership changes come as Qwest splits its alternate channel group into two factions, each with its own vice president reporting to Teresa Taylor, executive vice president of the BMG.

While Wetzel will focus solely on the partner program, other segments, including product-specific overlay channels, Systems Integrator Alliance, hosting/contact center, sales support and professional services organizations, which were previously overseen by McGrath, will now be headed up by Rodney Miller, vice president of BMG operations. Miller, like Wetzel, reports directly to Taylor.

Wietecha said the leadership and structural changes will ensure that each alternate channel segment has a vice president focused on it and reporting up to Taylor.

There have been no programmatic changes to the Qwest Business Partner Program, just leadership changes, Wietecha said.