Channel roundup: Who's gone where?

Another busy few days in the channel with several vendors looking to refresh their channel management as part of efforts to step up support for partners. the time seems to be right to bring in fresh leadership to try to make sure partner growth continues across the UK and Europe.

Twilio
The cloud player has chosen now as the moment to appoint its first ever chief partners officer to expand its channel base. Ron Huddleston will take up the position with a 20 year career that includes time building, scaling and leading partner programmes at vendor including Microsoft and Salesforce. "Twilio has the potential to revolutionise the communications industry in the same way cloud computing redefined the software industry. This is a massive opportunity for all types of partners to build new fast-growing businesses and continue to innovate for their customers across every industry. As we build out the Twilio partner organisation, our number one focus is to ensure that any partner who works with Twilio is wildly successful delivering on their vision," he said.

Synaxon
The organisation has added a couple of people to its team with Luke Steel becoming vendor channel manager and Chris Yule to the post of internal sales executive. with the fresh arrivals the headcount has now hit 15 and has added even more knowledge of the channel to its operations. Steel has been at Entatech and Yule joins from VIP Computers. “We’re delighted to have added these two experienced and talented individuals to our growing team. It’s great news for members and partners as it means we can give them even more support and assistance in achieving their goals," said Mike Barron, UK channel director at Synaxon.
 
Snow Software
The software asset management player has made a change at the top bringing in former Sophos staffer Alastair Pooley as CIO. He spent five years at the security vendor where he was vice president responsible for global IT infrastructure. The task ahead will be to ensure that Snow is developing tech that is innovative. "My priority will be accelerating the company’s IT development, ensuring Snow’s information systems provide the foundation for it to maintain its position at the cutting edge of Software Asset Management innovation," he said.

Equinix
The data centre firm has looked to a former Palo Alto Networks channel chief to take charge of its own EMEA partner efforts. Oren Yehudai will head up a 20 strong channel team and be responsible for activities across EMEA. “I am thrilled to be joining Equinix to further develop and grow the Channel Partner Program across EMEA. Building a successful channel business will increasingly be dependent on being part of the right ecosystems, with industry players needing to work with partners that can connect them with a broad range of vendors, service providers and cloud companies. My hope is that in a few years, Equinix is recognized by the partner community as the place to achieve this," he said.  

KnowBe4
The security firm set up a UK office last year and has built on that with the appointment of Ruth Schofield as managing director for the region. She has been running the EMEA channel for the firm and will be looking to add to partner numbers in her latest role. “We have built up a strong channel network in the UK over the past twelve months and this emphasis on partnerships and enablement will continue as we focus on assisting our partners to differentiate themselves and add value to their customers,” she said.

Upstream Works
The contact centre specialist has appointed Andy McDonald as senior vice president, worldwide sales. he will work with partner teams in the US and EMEA and look to drive more growth for the firm. He has recently been running sales across EMEA and took the firm into Europe. "At Upstream Works, we have an incredible opportunity ahead of us, to build upon our foundation into our next phase of development. Andy has an impressive record delivering growth, leading teams and significant experience in the industry serving end-to-end customer service requirements," said Rob McDougall, president and CEO of Upstream Works.

Polycom
Andrew Hug has been promoted to area sales vice president, systems engineer, EMEA and APAC. "Andrew’s new role is an opportunity to enable more fluid sharing of knowledge and best practices between regional teams and to learn from each other as much as possible. Andrew will be responsible for empowering and aligning regional teams as we add new solutions and products to our portfolio," said Ploycom president Marco Landi.