Tomlin in at Dell to run UK channel

The move by Dell’s UK channel chief Sarah Shields into a European role created a vacancy that the vendor has been quick to fill.

Shields moved to take up the position of EMEA vice president of Channel Enterprise Europe in June after just shy of two years in her most recent position at the vendor, running the UK channel.

Stepping into her shoes will be Rob Tomlin, who comes with a strong distribution background having been managing director UK & Ireland at Tech Data Advanced Solutions. He will take up the role early in the fourth quarter.

The decision to appoint a channel veteran with experience in senior positions at a global distributor means that the firm will benefit from Tomlin’s market knowledge. He will be charged with keeping going some of the main themes in the vendor’s recent engagements with partners, including encouraging more to sell across the complete Dell and EMC portfolio.

“Rob’s appointment comes at an exciting time as the Dell EMC Partner Program gets firmly into its stride 20 months after its official launch,” said Michael Collins, senior vice president, Channel, Dell EMC EMEA.

“More and more partners are joining our Partner Program, and our customer and partner satisfaction scores are breaking previous records. All this has contributed to double digit growth across all of our strategic lines of business in the UK and Ireland,” he added that Tomlin would be expected to keep that momentum going.

Over at Tech Data the vacancy created by Tomlin’s departure is something the firm will now start work on filling. In the meantime  managing director David Watts will take on the responsibilities of Tomlin’s old position.

A spokesperson for the distributor stated: "Rob has been a key player in the integration of both SDG and Avnet Technology Solutions into the Tech Data business and we thank him for the work he has done in setting up the Advanced Solutions division.  He leaves a very strong management team behind him in which we have every confidence. The leadership of the Advanced Solutions management team will be picked up by Watts and we have total belief that the division will continue to grow and build upon the value it is bringing to the channel."