Westcon Group Appoints New CEO

Douglas, who was appointed COO of Westcon Group in June 2008 and named CEO in April 2009, is leaving to pursue another opportunity, which will be announced this week, according to the Tarrytown, N.Y.-based distributor. During his tenure, Douglas oversaw Westcom Group's expansion into the data center, security and unified communications markets.

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Westerbos comes to Westcon Group with supply chain and IT industry experience. He most recently served as group president of Asia-Pacific and Europe at Brambles, a supply chain and logistics company, where he was responsible for generating services revenue of $2 billion.

Westerbos also was vice president of solutions and services for the EMEA region at Dell, directing the managed services, consulting and data center product business. According to Westcon Group, he managed reseller partner relationships in Western Europe and assisted in developing Dell's European channel business during his four years with the computer maker.

In addition to Dell, Westerbos spent more than a decade at ModusLink, a global provider of supply chain and business process outsourcing, in various roles.

"Westcon's success is based on an ability to deliver real-world technology solutions and services that target the most difficult challenges facing the data center, network, security and unified communications marketplaces," said Westerbos in a statement. "This has been accomplished by integrating strong vendor relationships alongside an unmatched technology vision and deep services. I'm excited to be joining the company at this pivotal time to accelerate its next stage of growth."

Edward Taylor, senior executive of Denver-based solution provider RTL Networks, said he is looking for more services from Westcon Group to improve his company's business.

"I look for them to not be a nursemaid or hand-holder but to be more aggressive in expanding our business," said Taylor. "I would say doing more things as far as helping salespeople selling, support and things of that nature as well as any incentives and pricing."

Taylor also said he hopes that Westcon Group will be a major player in cloud services and solutions.

"I definitely hope they go full force on cloud," he said. "It's an emerging market and it's been emerging, but we're going to see a real takeoff in the next year and hopefully they will be more aggressive and take us along with them."

PUBLISHED DEC. 5, 2013