Heath to become Dell’s UK channel lead

Dell is shuffling its UK channel leadership, with Rob Tomlin exiting the business after a five-year stint at the helm of the partner business.

Tomlin’s time included the decision by the vendor to go partner first on storage last summer, and the introduction of various incarnations of the partner programme to support growth and to offer simplified processes.

The exit of Tomlin means Ian Heath will step into the role of channel and distribution lead for the UK at Dell technologies from the start of April.

In the weeks leading up to that date, Heath will be working with Tomlin on a transition to make the change in leadership a smooth one.

Heath has been with Dell for a decade, with spells managing the UK public sector business and the UK alliances team. Most recently, he oversaw the EMEA cloud partners business that involved striking relationships with cloud service providers, telecom providers and multicloud specialists.

Heath said that he welcomed the opportunity to lead the channel business and help to deliver growth and improved partner experiences.

“My experience has taught me how essential partners are to our business; it takes an ecosystem of suppliers and solution providers of all types to deliver on the promise of digital transformation. At Dell, we have an ingrained recognition that when we work together with partners, we innovate faster for our customers,” he said.

Alexandre Brousse, head of channel for EMEA, said that the change of leadership was occurring against a backdrop of the vendor updating its partner programme, with ambitions to support more channel growth.

“As we launch the 2024 partner programme, I look forward to working with Ian and the incredible ecosystem of channel partners and distributors within the UK to unleash innovation, drive mutual success and ultimately deliver for our customers,” he said.

“We have unwavering confidence in the power of partnership and are resolutely focused on collaboration through our partner programme and partner-first strategy for storage. Ian’s relationship-centric approach and deep knowledge of the UK market will be fundamental to capturing new growth, driving impact, and extending our leadership,” he added.

Steve Young, UK senior vice-president and managing director at Dell Technologies, said that Dell was turning to a staffer in the form of Heath who had a proven track record with partners across EMEA.

“I am confident that Ian’s leadership, strategic vision, and industry experience will help deepen our relationships within the channel in the UK and ensure we continue to deliver best-in-class capabilities to our customers, together,” he said.

Tomlin, who has a CV that also includes time in senior roles in distribution, did not comment on the leadership change.