Dimension Data Sister Company Names New CEO, Head of American Sales
Cloud and connectivity goliath NTT Communications promoted a longtime executive to CEO and snagged a former Infosys leader to drive enterprise sales in the Americas.
Tokyo-based NTT Communications, the sister company of solution provider giant Dimension Data, tapped 38-year company veteran Tetsuya Shoji to replace Akira Arima as CEO. Shoji most recently oversaw group sales and corporate management as a senior vice president.
"I pledge to keep NTT Communications closely attuned to the market environment and customer needs, aiming to act faster than ever before to provide reliable, innovative services," Shoji wrote in a message posted to the NTT Communications website.
[RELATED: Dimension Data Ramps Up Data Center Push With Employee, Acquisition Investments]
The company also brought over Jeffrey Bannister, who has been running outsourcing giant Infosys' cloud and infrastructure services unit since 2003, to expand business with multinational corporations that have headquarters in the U.S. Bannister is responsible for business development and sales management and will report to NTT America President and CEO Kazuhiro Gomi.
"We're certain he'll make immediate strides, meeting the challenges of a fast-paced and competitive market to continue expanding our Global Enterprise Services," Gomi said in a statement.
These appointments were part of a broader management reshuffling at NTT Communications that encompassed two senior executive vice presidents, three executive vice presidents, 10 senior vice presidents and three statutory auditors. Arima, who had served as president and CEO of NTT Communications for five years, will become a senior vice president responsible for corporate advising.
At Infosys, Bannister was instrumental in seeing global deals worth $50 million or more through to fruition. Prior to that, Bannister spent 12 years at telecom company Cable & Wireless Communications, where he focused on delivering global business-to-business and business-to-consumer network solutions.
NTT Communications has been on a U.S. cloud offensive in recent years, doubling its U.S. data center space in 2013 by acquiring cloud network services provider Virtela Technology Services as well as an 80 percent stake in data center services provider RagingWire. The company has some 130 data centers around the world, and in 2014 launched its first cloud channel partner program in the Americas.
The company also has been active in Europe, recently becoming the continent's third largest data center operator through its acquisition of a majority stake in German data center firm e-shelter. For its most recent fiscal year, which ended March 31, NTT Communications reported annual sales of $16.2 billion.
The deep pockets of NTT Group, parent company of NTT Communications, also have benefited Dimension Data, with CEO Mark Slaga telling CRN in November that the parent company has helped fuel organic and acquisition growth for the solution provider. The $6.6 billion global company nearly doubled its U.S. presence by acquiring $471 million solution provider Nexus in 2014, bolstering its presence in the West, Southwest and Southeast.
The solution provider also said in February that it plans to hire 300 employees over the next 18 months -- including 45 in the U.S. -- focused on enterprise architecture, consulting, verticals and business outcomes.
PUBLISHED JUNE 19, 2015