By
Jennifer Lawinski
27 July 2007 07:43AM
Tags:
ingram | president | steps | suddenly
Ingram Micro President and COO Kevin Murai said he plans to resign in order to care for his extended family in Toronto.
Ingram Micro President and COO Kevin Murai Thursday said he plans to resign in order to care for his extended family in Toronto. Alain Monie, executive vice president and president of Ingram Micro Asia-Pacific, will replace Murai as the company's new president and chief operating officer, effective August 1. Murai, a nearly twenty year Ingram Micro veteran who started as a manager in the company's Canadian IT department, said he will work with Monie during a five month transition period. Murai's resignation will take effect at the end of 2007.
In a prepared statement, Murai said his decision to leave the world's largest computer products distributor was "extremely difficult." "The timing of my departure is based solely on the needs of my family and was not influenced by any company-related issues," said Murai.
Greg Starr, COO of I.T. Works, an Ingram Micro VentureTech partner headquartered in Houston, Texas, said he was surprised by Murai's sudden departure. "I hate to see him go," said Starr. "I have the utmost respect for him. Murai is an industry leader. One of the things we have always respected about Ingram is they really get it and go out of their way to find out what's going on in the channel with each of us individually. Murai played a very big role in that. He always attended Venturetech meetings."
Starr said Murai was a strong advocate for Ingram's VAR customers and for the distributor's VentureTech network. "I understand the first priority has to be his family," Starr said. "I respect that but he is going to be missed. But I have very confidence that Alain Monie will be a very qualified replacement. Ingram's deep executive bench has always been one of their great strengths."
In the wake of Monie's transition to the president and COO position, the Asia-Pacific region will be overseen by two executives that will report to him. Meinie Oldersman will stay on to lead Ingram's China operations and Shailendra Gupta will oversee the rest of the region.
Monie joined Ingram in 2003 and became president of the Asia-Pacific region in 2004. He was previously the president of the Latin American division of Honeywell International and lead Allied Signal's Asia-Pacific operations. He will be based at the company's headquarters in Santa Ana, Calif.