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Gass announces TD Synnex retirement plans
Long-serving senior staffer will leave the business next year, and bring the curtain down on a three-decade-long association with the channel player
Well-known industry figure Andy Gass has decided to announce his retirement plans.
The channel veteran is most closely associated with distribution, and specifically TD Synnex, holding senior positions at the channel player in its various incarnations over the past three decades.
The plan is for him to end his time as chief digital officer for global at TD Synnex, and exit the business in January 2024, with Matt Child, currently executive leader of the advanced solutions division in the UK and Ireland, then becoming senior vice-president of digital for Europe and a member of the company’s European executive team on 1 December 2023.
That move will leave a gap in the leadership teams, and the firm has started the recruitment process to find a successor to cover the UK and Ireland advanced solutions leadership position.
Gass has been with the distributor for 30 years, working in a number of roles during that time as he became an invaluable member of the firm’s executive team.
After qualifying as a chartered account, his story started with the channel back in 1993, with Gass joining as a finance executive in the design software division.
He rose through the ranks, and at one point was leading the business in the UK and Ireland, before stepping into more European and then global roles, which included masterminding some of the M&A activity the firm undertook to bolster the business.
Digital strategy
Five years ago, Gass became executive leader for the digital transformation and commercial excellence strategy in Europe, and in February last year was appointed chief digital officer with global oversight of the company’s digital strategy.
“I have had a challenging, rewarding and enormously enjoyable career with TD Synnex that has given me the opportunity to work with talented co-workers and world-class business partners in a dynamic industry,” he said.
“Throughout my tenure, our company has grown enormously, both in financial terms and in the breadth of offering we have for reseller partners and vendors,” said Gass. “In particular, it has been hugely rewarding to lead TD Synnex’s digital transformation on a European and global basis. We have been agile and innovative in laying the foundations of digital customer engagement that will continue to be a long-term growth engine for the business.”
Patrick Zammit, president for Europe at TD Synnex, thanked Gass for his service to the business, and pointed out the long-lasting impact he would have on the firm. “He left a great legacy from his tenure as leader of our UK and Ireland business and, as digital leader during the last five years, he has assembled a fantastic team that is breaking new ground with a truly customer-centric digital and commercial excellence strategy, which will serve as a platform for our future growth for many years to come.”
For Child, the changes coming later this year will start a fresh chapter for a TD Synnex staffer that has been with the business since 2015, starting as managing director of the UK mobile division before being appointed in 2018 to lead its UK endpoint solutions division. Since 2019, he has served as managing director of TD Synnex’s advanced solutions business in the UK.
“I am honoured and excited to take on the leadership of our European digital strategy, which is so fundamentally important to the future of our business,” he said. “The foundations laid by Andy Gass and his team are quite spectacular, and I am looking forward to building upon his legacy, continuing to drive clear differentiation for our internal teams and TD Synnex channel partners alike.”
