Channel round-up: Who’s gone where?

Sophos

Sophos has given cyber security veteran Jason Ellis the chance to make a difference as vice-president of the channel for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Ellis was most recently at FireEye, but his CV also includes a spell as vice-president of Symantec’s EMEA channel.

“We are thrilled Jason has joined Sophos. He is well-respected in the industry and is an inspirational leader who has the expertise to drive Sophos’s channel strategy forward throughout the region,” said Kevin Isaac, vice-president of sales in EMEA at Sophos. “With ransomware and other cyber attacks constantly changing and targeting organisations of all sizes, Sophos is focused on ensuring partners have the most advanced security portfolio of products available for their customers.”

Exclusive Networks

Denis Ferrand-Ajchenbaum has joined distributor Exclusive Networks to lead global vendor strategy and relationships. His career spans three decades, with more than two decades of that working in distribution, including time at IBM and Arrow. His brief will be to maximise the current relationships Exclusive Networks has with vendors, as well as going on the hunt for more to add to the portfolio.

“Our success to date has been a story of always being different in order to maintain momentum and keep our value model intact,” he said. “We now need to consolidate and expand our global specialism in trusted digital infrastructure by filling out all market segments related to this, continuing to drive innovation, and investing in our alliances with existing and new vendor partners.”

Future Processing

Software development company Future Processing has expanded its UK team after recording growth of up to 16% in the region. New hires include Paul Blowers as commercial director, Chris Burns as head of sales and Jamie Witten as business development manager.

Managing director Paweł Pustelnik said: “Coming off the back of a very successful year for Future Processing, we are delighted to welcome Paul, Chris and Jamie as part of our growing team. We are confident that they will work closely with our customers in the UK market to ensure we can deliver projects to the highest quality.”

K3 Business Technologies

K3 is on the hunt for a fresh CEO after it announced that Adalsteinn Valdimarsson would leave the firm and current chairman Tom Crawford would become interim CEO. 

Valdimarsson had been at the firm for five years. During his spell as CEO, the firm has improved its financial position and, due to the recent sale of its Starcom Technologies managed service provider operation, is now significantly stronger financially. That sell-off appears to have been the moment that Valdimarsson felt that his job as CEO was done.

“K3 has significant growth potential and with the business on a firm financial footing, I am confident that it will thrive under new leadership,” he said. “I would like to thank all my colleagues for their commitment to the group, and wish them every success for the future as they take the business forward.”

Darktrace

Cyber security player Darktrace has added a well-known name to its board, with Peter Bonfield taking a non-executive director position. There cannot be too many who have not heard of Bonfield, who has been in the industry for half a decade, including a high-profile spell as CEO of BT Group. Darktrace will be leaning on bags of experience as he brings that knowledge to the boardroom.

“Darktrace is a critical technology for thousands of organisations around the world as they contend with increasingly sophisticated cyber attackers,” he said. “I am excited to be working with Darktrace’s board of directors to advance the company’s important mission and success.”