PlanetOne Names New President

Lauren Shapiro, most recently PlanetOne's vice president of operations, has been promoted to president of the company.

"Lauren is a natural leader with a tremendous feel for the business and industry," Ted Schuman, PlanetOne's CEO, said in a statement. "You combine that with her 25 years in technology, unquestionable character, integrity, honesty, a proven track record of success and what she has accomplished here at PlanetOne and her appointment was well-earned and deserved."

[Related: The Rocky Road To IT-Telecom Convergence ]

A 27-year industry veteran, Shapiro joined PlanetOne in November 2010 following a stint running channel sales at Internap Network Services. She's also previously worked for Xerox and Cable & Wireless USA, where she was national director, channel partner program.

PlanetOne grew revenue 28 percent year-over-year from 2011 to 2012, according to the company. In a recent interview with CRN, Schuman said the role of master agents would become even more important this year to the ongoing convergence of IT solution providers and telecom agents.

"The truth is that the box guys still want to sell boxes, and the telecom guys want to push broadband, and neither has all that much success or interest in doing what is not in their wheelhouse," Schuman said. "Someone has to help do the heavy lifting. VARs argue that it's more trouble than it's worth, and in many cases they're right: the carriers aren't set up to support them through a full solution."

PUBLISHED JAN. 7, 2013