Channel roundup: Who’s gone where?

It has been easy to forget, given everything that is happening in the world, that executives are still making moves across the industry. The past few days have seen a few firms move to strengthen their teams, and given the stature of the position, all eyes will be on the fresh face at the helm of IBM UK and Ireland.

Big Blue is rolling out the welcome mat to Sreeram Visvanathan, who has been named chief executive of IBM in the UK and Ireland. He replaces Bill Kelleher, who had been in the role since mid-2017, and moves into a UK and Ireland chairman role. Both start their fresh challenges from the start of next month. Visvanathan has 18 years under his belt at the firm, and comes from a recent spell as global managing director, leading Government, Education, Healthcare and Life Sciences industries at IBM worldwide.

“We are at a pivotal point in shaping the future of our industry. The current global crisis is accelerating disruption and the need for digital transformation at scale and pace,” said Visvanathan. “It is a real privilege to be appointed into this role and I am personally excited to be returning to the UK. Through my existing work with clients in the UK public sector, I am familiar with the market and look forward to making new connections as we work together to continue to navigate the global pandemic.”

SD-WAN player Adaptiv Networks has given Frederick Parent the chance to make an impact as chief technology officer. He comes with a CV that stretches back over two decades and includes plenty of time in the networking world. He co-founded Victrix and Elfiq Networks, which is now part of Adaptiv Networks. “We are delighted to welcome Frederick to the Adaptiv Networks team,” said BernardBreton, CEO of Adaptiv Networks.

“Frederick brings considerable experience and expertise, and will enable rapid integration and continuity for our recent acquisition of Elfiq Networks, as well as a strong strategic path forward. His success in developing market-leading edge networking solutions is an ideal complement to Adaptiv’s cloud-native SD-WAN products.”

Corelight is making a double welcome to former executives from SentinelOne and Cylanc, who are joining to help with the sales and channel efforts. Gareth Green, former vice-president of sales for EMEA and APAC at SentinelOne, joins as vice-president of sales for EMEA and the Eastern US, and Stuart Quinsey joins as senior director of EMEA channels. Quinsey has helped the likes of LogRhythm, Juniper Networks and Cylance build their partner programmes and has the depth of channel knowledge that will help in his latest challenge.

“I am excited to join the team at Corelight, a company whose mission is geared towards ensuring enterprises have the visibility they need to make the right decisions and fend against security risks,” he said. “I look forward to working with partners that are looking to add strong network security monitoring solutions to their technology portfolios.”