30 Notable IT Executive Moves: September 2014

Start It Off

September was a big month for executive moves at companies such as Oracle, Rackspace and Symantec, with major vendors bringing in new top-level leadership. Solution providers and start-ups saw a fair amount of their own turnover as they shuffled around top leaders and channel executives. Take a look back at the IT executive moves for September.

Larry Ellison

In a blockbuster move for the channel, longtime Oracle CEO and founder Larry Ellison stepped down from his role. However, Ellison won't be leaving Oracle just yet. His new position at the company is CTO and executive chairman of the company's board of directors. He has been with the company since he founded it in 1977.

Mark Hurd and Safra Catz are now co-CEOs. Catz, who joined Oracle in 1999, will handle all manufacturing, finance and legal functions. Hurd, who came to the company in 2010 after five years as CEO of HP, will oversee the sales, service and vertical units.

Michael Brown

Michael Brown was tapped to be Symantec CEO after being named the company's interim chief in March.

Brown took the reins after Symantec fired former CEO Steve Bennett in the midst of an overhaul of the company's product and go-to-market approach. Brown first came to Symantec's board of directors in 2005 after the company's acquisition of Veritas.

Partners said they hoped the official appointment of Brown would bring stability to the company after a long period of uncertainty, including the departure of two channel chiefs.

Taylor Rhodes

Rackspace said this month it would remain an independent company and named a new CEO to lead the charge following months of speculation that the company would be acquired. Taylor Rhodes, who previously served as Rackspace president, was promoted to lead the San Antonio-based company and join its board of directors. Rhodes has been with Rackspace since 2007, with previous positions at EDS and the U.S. Marine Corps.

Former CEO Graham Weston will remain chairman of the board of directors.

Dominick Delfino

As the rivalry between VMware and Cisco heats up around the data center, VMware made the most recent move when it poached veteran data center executive Dominick Delfino. After spending 14 years at Cisco, most recently as vice president of worldwide data center and virtualization systems engineering, Delfino made the move to VMware Sept. 22. Cisco was "livid" about the news of Delfino's departure, sources told CRN.

Delfino is now in charge of VMware's global systems engineering organization and networking.

Chris Young

Delfino wasn't the only executive to leave Cisco in September. Intel scored a major security win with the appointment of Chris Young as senior vice president and general manager of Intel Security. Young most recently served as senior vice president of Cisco's Security Business Group. Prior to joining Cisco in 2011, Young held executive positions at VMware and RSA.

Young reports directly to President Renee James in his new role and is charged with melding McAfee's business and Intel's hardware and software product teams under a unified Intel Security business unit.

Adam Famularo

Adam Famularo found a new home at Verizon Enterprise Solutions after stepping down as channel chief of CA Technologies due to an apparent conflict over strategic direction. Famularo is now vice president of global channels for the telecom superpower. Famularo said in an interview with CRN about the appointment, that "the channel commitment is there and it is on an upward trajectory" at Verizon and the company is looking to bring in more partners around networking, communications, mobility, security and cloud as it looks to integrate its network with major OEMs such as Microsoft and Cisco.

Partners cheered the move, calling it a "blockbuster" and a "game-changer" for Verizon.

John Eldh

After leaving Symantec's channel chief role in August, John Eldh took up a position at CA Technologies in September. Eldh's new role will be senior vice president of global security sales at CA. The news comes after CA said in March it would be adopting a channel-first strategy across its entire product line. Eldh was at Symantec for nearly a decade after the company's Veritas acquisition, serving most recently as vice president of Americas channel and distribution sales.

Megan Smith

When the federal government was looking for a new U.S. chief technology officer, it turned to the expertise of Silicon Valley. At the beginning of the month, the White House announced that Google executive Megan Smith would be the new U.S. CTO, succeeding Todd Park. Smith most recently served as vice president of new business development at Google, a position she held for nine years. During that time she was responsible for major Google acquisitions, including Google Earth, Google Maps and Picasa.

"I am confident that in her new role as America's chief technology officer, she will put her long record of leadership and exceptional skills to work on behalf of the American people," President Barack Obama wrote in a blog post at the time.

Randy Schirman

A former Riverbed Technology channel chief made the jump to WAN virtualization startup Talari Networks, the company said this month. Randy Schirman most recently served as senior vice president of worldwide channels and service delivery initiatives at Riverbed, a position he held since 2010. In his new role as vice president of worldwide sales, Schirman is responsible for supporting and building new relationships with solution providers worldwide.

Brian Stevens

After abruptly resigning as Red Hat CTO last month after 13 years with the company, Brian Stevens found a new home at Google. Stevens' new role at Google is vice president of cloud platforms. While Google didn't comment at the time on what Stevens' role will entail, his responsibilities at Red Hat included overseeing engineering for Linux, server virtualization, management, cloud and JBOSS middleware products. Stevens' background with Linux, in particular, will be a good fit for Google as the company pushes into Open Source and Linux containers.

Phil Gallagher

After more than five years at the helm of Avnet Technology Solutions, Phil Gallagher said this month he would step down to focus on new career opportunities. Gallagher will remain on the board of directors until his successor is chosen. Gallagher had been with Avnet since 1983, most recently serving as global president of Avnet Technology Solutions since March 2009.

"Phil is a well-respected, 31-year veteran of the company," Rick Hamada, Avnet CEO, said in a statement at the time. "We are well positioned to create the robust solutions our customers need, and we thank Phil for his valuable contributions to the business."

Christopher Mason

Syntel, No. 40 on CRN's SP500 list, named a new head of North American sales this month in 28-year industry veteran Christopher Mason. While he had previous ties to Syntel from 1996 to 1999, Mason most recently served as global head of business development at India-based Infosys. Before that, he held senior-level sales and marketing positions at Keane and Wang Laboratories.

Mason is responsible for overseeing an expanded salesforce, acquiring new customers in North America and leading the company's business development efforts in his new role.

Kevin Murai

While he was named to the position in February, Synnex CEO Kevin Murai took the stage this month as the new chairman of the Global Technology Distribution Council at the group's U.S. Vendor Summit in San Jose, Calif. Murai succeeds Avnet CEO Rick Hamada as chairman.

Bob Gutschenritter

Ingram Micro said it appointed Bob Gutschenritter to be director of UCC for Ingram Micro North America. The news was delivered as part of an announcement detailing an expanded portfolio of solutions around unified communications and collaboration. Prior to joining the Santa Ana, Calif.-based distributor Ingram Micro, Gutschenritter held sales positions at Avaya, Alcatel-Lucent and AT&T. The appointment is part of an effort by Ingram, revealed at its ONE Ingram Micro event in Las Vegas, to grow its portfolio of UCC services and solutions, the company said.

Jeff Yelton

As Ingram Micro expanded its capabilities around data capture and point-of-sale technologies, it poached an executive from one of its distributor competitors. Ingram revealed at its ONE Ingram Micro event in Las Vegas it appointed former ScanSource executive Jeff Yelton to be executive director and general manager of its North America data capture/POS business. Yelton was president of ScanSource's POS and Barcoding division between 2005 and 2012.

James Veradi And Jennifer Johnson

Ingram Micro's VentureTech Network (VTN), its exclusive solution provider community for collaborating and sharing resources, got new leadership this month. James Veraldi and Jennifer Johnson will lead the VTN community, replacing John Fago. Johnson will head up the business and marketing side of the community, while Veraldi will lead the outward-facing side of the business and operations. In their new role, the two executives told CRN they hoped to continue to grow the community with quality members as well as the VTN brand.

Elizabeth Gore

Dell made a unique move in this month's roundup, appointing former United Nations entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR) Elizabeth Gore as the company's EIR. In her new role at the Round Rock, Texas-based vendor, Gore will help drive innovative initiatives for SMBs and expand global entrepreneurship. Gore will stay on with the U.N. as chair of the Global Entrepreneurs Council and Senior Fellow at the U.N. Foundation as she starts her new role at Dell in February 2015.

"It has been an honor to support the causes of the United Nations through working with entrepreneurs to scale innovations that improve lives," Gore said in a statement. "Technology is the most consistent and reliable force that continues to enable and improve human potential through innovation. Dell’s global footprint and influence will give entrepreneurs the platform to take their solutions to the next level."

Mo Vafadar

Backup, disaster recovery and secure file-sharing company Acronis added Mo Vafadar to lead the company's strategy around sales and marketing operations. As part of the vice president of global operations job, Vafadar will also be responsible for for market and channel development strategies, including channel sales compensation and more. The appointment is part of the Woburn, Mass.-based company's push to reach $1 billion in revenue, Acronis said.

George Reed

Huawei turned to an executive with more than 30 years of experience in the industry for its new senior vice president of solutions and marketing. George Reed previously held positions at companies such as Samsung, Postremo Wireless Consulting and Tellabs. In his new role, Reed is responsible for leading product management, solutions development, integrated marketing communications and sales management for U.S. Carrier and Enterprise business groups.

"George has provided operational, business, strategic and technical leadership in the global communications industry," said Ming He, general manager of Huawei Technologies U.S.A., at the time. "He has a proven record as a leader and strategist who can successfully drive and deploy innovative products and technical solutions to the market."

Gus Hunt

ePlus added the former CTO of the Central Intelligence Agency Gust Hunt to its board of directors, the company said this month. Hunt retired as CTO of the CIA in October 2013 after 28 years with the agency. The solution provider, No. 36 on CRN's SP500 list, said Hunt will bring his CIA experiences as well as venture capital, private equity and start-up networks to the board of directors. Hunt succeeds Milt Cooper, who is retiring after serving as a director since 2003.

Jeff Fisher

Load-balancing software company KEMP Technologies brought on former Microsoft and Citrix executive Jeff Fisher as vice president of strategic alliances. Fisher has more than 20 years of experience in the industry, most recently as vice president of emerging technologies at RES Software. He has also held executive positions at Desktone, which was acquired by VMware.

Isabelle Guis, Ian McEwan

Egnyte added two executives to its lineup as it propels itself into what it says is the "next phase of growth" for the cloud-based enterprise file-sharing company. At the beginning of the month, Egnyte added former EMC executive Isabelle Guis as chief marketing officer. Guis served most recently as EMC's vice president of marketing for the Public Cloud Solutions Group and Enterprise Storage Division. The company also closed out the end of the month with the addition of Ian McEwan as vice president and general manager for Europe and EMEA.

Jon Ash

Cloudian said it hired a storage industry veteran to head up its sales organization, which comes on the heels of a $24 million Series C funding round in July. Jon Ash will be the Foster City, Calif.-based company's new vice president of worldwide sales. In his new role, Ash will be responsible for Cloudian's direct and indirect sales teams to continue global growth. Ash brings prior executive-level experience from Storwize, MaXXan, nStor and Unisys.

Bhadresh Sutaria, LeeAnn Belski

Arcserve, a Minneapolis, Minn.-based data protection and recovery software company, appointed two new executives to continue its rapid growth rates. Bhadresh Sutaria will now be Arcserve chief financial officer and LeeAnn Belski will be vice president of human resources. Sutaria brings financial experience from a wide variety of industries, including publishing, technology and transportation. Belski brings more than 18 years of tech industry experience at companies such as Stellent and HighJump Software.

"With unprecedented growth, a new game-changing unified platform, combined with our move to become an independent company just last month, it is such an exciting time to be part of Arcserve. It is, however, our people who are the cornerstone of our company and our future success, and we’re honored to have LeeAnn and Bhadresh join the Arcserve team,’ said Arcserve CEO Mike Crest in a statement.

Chris Cummings

Object-based storage provider Cleversafe, of Chicago, said it brought former NetApp executive Chris Cummings on board as senior vice president of marketing and strategy. Cleversafe recently made the news as sources said the vendor was on the verge of signing an OEM agreement with Hewlett-Packard. In his new role, Cummings will be in charge of leading company marketing and strategy development. Cummings brings more than 15 years of experience in the industry, most recently as vice president of strategic market operations at NetApp.

Jason Eberhardt

Conventus named Jason Eberhardt vice president of strategic alliances, the Chicago-based solution provider said this month. Conventus is known for being a leading security solution provider and Symantec National Platinum Partner in the region. The move is expected to help Conventus continue to grow its presence in the region, especially with major vendor partners such as Symantec, the company said. Eberhardt brings experience in business development, security practice leadership and engineering roles at a variety of solution providers, financial services and fund management businesses.

Jim Fitzgerald

Hyper-convergence and software-defined storage company Maxta added Jim Fitzgerald as its vice president of business development and OEM sales, the company announced this month. Fitzgerald has a long history with the channel and the storage industry, with more than 25 years of experience, most recently with Nexenta Systems where he was vice president of business development. He also held positions at SteelEye Technology and Sun Microsystems.

Daniel Rabinovitsj

Ruckus Wireless scooped up a former Qualcomm executive to serve as its newest chief operating officer. In his new role, Daniel Rabinovitsj will manage product operations, strategy, planning, development and more. With more than 25 years of experience, Rabinovitsj most recently served as senior vice president of infrastructure at Qualcomm.

"Dan joins Ruckus at an exciting time when demand for reliable wireless infrastructure and services has never been greater," said President and CEO Selina Lo in a statement. "Not only does Dan bring a strong understanding of the emerging trends and technologies in mobile communications, but his hands-on experience in operational management across so many disciplines will be invaluable to the continued growth of Ruckus, further sharpening our focus on delivering long-term value to our customers and shareholders."

Joann Farrar, Joe Schiavone, Tad Nikolich

Unified communications company Voxox made a raft of changes this month to its executive channel lineup, starting with former senior channel manager Joann Farrar assuming the role of vice president of agent channel. Voxox also moved national channel manager Joe Schiavone to vice president of dealer channel, and VP of business sales Tad Nokolich to SVP of business sales.

"I am extremely excited to see our business sales channels grow," said Bryan Hertz, CEO and co-founder of Voxox, in a statement. "With our highly competitive channel partner incentives, comprehensive portfolio of cloud services that offer high margins to the channel, and now, with Tad, Joann and Joe elevated in new leadership roles, we are positioned to make even greater strides with our channel partner program."