Motorola Channel Chief Gets New Role In Executive Shuffle

Janet Schijns, Motorola's popular vice president of global channels, is moving to a new role running Motorola's Enterprise Mobility Solutions Training & Knowledge Management organization, which according to a Motorola spokesman is a new business unit that will "deliver worldwide learning academies offering certification and specialization opportunities to channel partners, technology training to customers, and business- and job-based curriculum to employees."

Stepping in to Schijns' channel chief role will be Mark Kroh, formerly Motorola's North American government, commercial and enterprise leader. Kroh will now head Motorola's Enterprise Mobility Solutions Global Channels organization.

Kroh's North American channel role, in turn, goes to Mike Devente, who has led Motorola's Asia Pacific Channel Sales for radio products and wireless broadband for the past three years. Devente will be Motorola's new North America Enterprise Mobility Solutions channel lead.

All three changes are effective immediately, according to Bill Abelson, director of communications for Motorola Enteprise Mobility Solutions, who confirmed the changes to CRN in an e-mail.

Schijns, a popular executive in the channel, became president of worldwide channels at Motorola in September 2008. She was the prime mover behind Motorola Enterprise Mobility Solutions' recent channel revamp, which now awards solution providers points based on their success in metrics like volume sales and vertical expertise and assigns them to partner levels based on those points.

The new program, dubbed PartnerEmpower, will not change in any way, said Abelson.

The first of PartnerEmpower's training tracks, focused on Motorola's wireless portfolio, debuted in mid-April and several more are expected in the next few months.