A10 Taps Former HP Channel Exec To Lead Global Channels

The San Jose, Calif.-based provider of application delivery controllers (ADCs) has tapped Kirsten Lee, a former Hewlett-Packard channel executive, as its first-ever vice president of Global Channels. The addition of Lee, A10 said, will help grow its worldwide partner base and take the A10 Partner Program to what it called "the next level globally."

Lee is one of several executives A10 has on-boarded in the past three months to fuel its global sales and marketing efforts. In August, A10 appointed Ray Smets, a former McAfee and Cisco executive, as its first vice president of Worldwide Sales. A month later, A10 tapped Jason Matlof, former vice president of marketing at SDN startup Big Switch Networks, as its new vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

[Related: A10 Bulks Up Latest 'Thunder' ADCs With Security, SDN Services ]

Lee, who will report to Smets, joins A10 from HP, where she most recently served as vice president of Worldwide Channel Marketing for HP's Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking organization.

Prior to HP, Lee held executive channel sales positions at both Blue Coat and Packeteer.

John Barnes, vice president of sales at Groupware, a Campbell, Calif.-based solution provider and A10 partner, said he looks forward to seeing Lee foster a new A10 channel team.

"Somebody that is coming from HP like Kirsten [Lee] has that [channel] knowledge, and I think she will build out a solid channel team underneath her," Barnes told CRN. "From our perspective, A10 has been a great partner and very supportive in terms of how they go to market. Having somebody with this kind of background will only enhance and bring new programs to partners like ourselves."

Barnes said he didn't have exact sales numbers, but that A10 has been a "growing line" for Groupware, especially in the data center market, over the past year.

Lee said a priority at A10 will be to drive more consistency across the company's partner enablement efforts and to enhance A10's deal registration process for partners.

"Partners are certainly not new to A10. They have built their business working with partners from the get-go," Lee said. "But we are just at a stage in our company growth where we are growing rapidly and expanding partner relationships. So it was really the time to bring in somebody like myself to really bring together a great set of partner programs, recruit, enable and motivate our channel partners."

A10 currently has roughly 240 North American channel partners and 550 worldwide, up from roughly 300 a year ago. A10 does not publicly disclose its annual revenue, but told CRN in a recent interview that it has reached the "$100 million-plus" range.

PUBLISHED NOV. 12, 2013