Channel Change: All the October movements you might have missed
This month saw lots of farewell posts on LinkedIn and executive appointments.
For October in the Aussie IT channel, there were several big moves in the industry.
NetApp made three director appointments this month, including hiring a new partner and alliances director within its ANZ business.
Also channel industry stalwart Yasser Elgammal finds a new role after departing Dicker Data late last year.
Plus several notable departures within the indusry.
Read more of all the Aussie IT channel movements that happened in October.
Yasser Elgammal steps into new Hitachi Vantara role
After 11 years at Dicker Data, Yasser Elgammal stepped into a new role as ANZ channel partner and alliances director.
Elgammal will lead Hitachi Vantara’s channel and alliances strategy across ANZ, with a focus on deepening strategic partner relationships.
Announcing his new role on LinkedIn, he said, “I’m looking forward to working alongside our partners, customers and team to strengthen our partner ecosystem, accelerate channel growth and build strategic alliances that deliver measurable business outcomes.”
At Dicker Data, he was the head of sales and vendor alliances. He also has experience at VMware and APC by Schnieder Electric.
NetApp ANZ makes three director appointments
NetApp ANZ has made three director appointments, including, Sally Hakim senior director, enterprise and government, Andrew Moffat, director commercial and Bridget Maritz, partner and alliances director.
Hakim will help organisations accelerate digital transformation, strengthen cyber resilience and governance, and optimise performance across increasingly complex IT environments.
Moffat will focus on expanding customer engagements and helping organisations simplify data management, strengthen resilience and prepare for AI-growth.
Maritz will lead NetApp’s partner and alliance ecosystem across ANZ. Bringing more than a decade of channel leadership experience.
Before joining NetApp, she held several channel leadership positions at HPE.
Pattigrace Lupari faces new mountain
Former group head of marketing at Infotrust Pattigrace Lupari has left her role, and has her sights set on a new obstacle, Mount Everest.
Lupari announced on a LinkedIn post that before she tackles anything else, she will be climbing the Himalyan summit.
In the same LinkedIn post, she explained how proud she was of the impact made shaping brands and elevating market presence.
She said, “A heartfelt thank you to the executive leaders who placed their trust in me, the wonderful customers, the exceptional vendor partners and teams I've had the privilege of working alongside. You know who you are!”
Kelly Johnson leaves Pax8 for Datacom
Former Pax8 ANZ sales director Kelly Johnson has left the distie for a new role at Datacom.
At the ITSP, she will step into the role of associate director of sales, PSG Australia.
On LinkedIn, Johnson said, “I’m incredibly excited about what lies ahead. My focus is on listening, learning, building strong relationships and working alongside our teams to unlock opportunities, accelerate growth and deliver exceptional outcomes for our customers and partners.”
Discussing her role at Pax8, she said what she will value most from her time at the distributor is the relationships.
“Thank you to the many colleagues and friends at Pax8 - past and present who have been part of the journey. I’m grateful for my incredible sales team, the experiences, the events, the travel, the challenges, the successes and plenty of laughs along the way,” she said.
Johnson began her role a few weeks ago.
Belinda Jurisic leaves Veeam
Belinda Jurisic has left Veeam after nearly a decade at the vendor. Prior to leaving she was the VP global SDR based in Singapore.
Announcing her departure, Jurisic said as she closes this chapter she realised success is about the people.
“The people who became friends, the leaders who encouraged me, the teams who trusted me, and the shared experiences that made the journey more rewarding than I could ever have imagined,” she said.
During her career she has held several leadership roles at HPE and Citrix, including channel sales director at HPE.
No word on her next role.
Jonathan Tini heads over to Microsoft
Jonathan Tini has headed to vendor land as Microsoft as Partner Solution Sales Manager, AI Business Solutions.
He was previously at MSP BlueApache as practice lead for Microsoft.
Announcing his new move, he said, “Having spent much of my career within the Microsoft partner ecosystem, I'm looking forward to bringing that experience to Microsoft, working alongside partners to accelerate growth, strengthen strategic relationships and deliver meaningful outcomes for customers.”
He began his role last month.
David Quist leaves Rapid7
Rapid7 APJ channel director David Quist has left the organisation after internal structural changes.
After more than 7 years at the organisation, Quist said, “My tenure here was very much due to the great people, the opportunity and a strong alignment to both the values and the cause.”
After leaving the business in July and taking some time off, Quist said he is now looking for a sales leadership position within the ANZ ecosystem.
He said, “Looking back, I am incredibly proud of what we achieved and the success we had together, helping build Rapid7 in ANZ and APJ from a fledgling office with just a handful of people into the significant part of the global R7 business it is today.”
Zoom appoints Andrew Hindmarch as APAC Head of Channel
Andrew Hindmarch has been appointed as Zoom’s new APAC head of channel.
Hindmarch will lead the company’s channel strategy across the region, working closely with Zoom's network of distributors, resellers, systems integrators and service providers to expand market reach, strengthen partner capabilities, and create new growth opportunities across Zoom’s AI-powered portfolio.
He will report to Carlos Quaderi, Head of APAC at Zoom.
Discussing his new role, he said in a statement, “Having spent much of my career in CX and scaling channel businesses, I’ve seen the critical role partners play in turning technology into real outcomes for customers.
“The breadth of Zoom's AI-powered solutions provides us with a strong opportunity to help partners address our customers’ needs and grow their businesses across APAC.”
BeyondTrust hires Brendon Thwaites as director partner ecosystems APAC
Brendon Thwaites has stepped into a new role as director of partner ecosystems APAC at BeyondTrust.
Based in Sydney, Thwaites will help partners build and scale BeyondTrust practices across APAC.
In a statement he said, "Over the next few months, I’ll be working to reinforce BeyondTrust’s partner-centric direction, delivering clearer engagement paths, stronger enablement, and more coordinated co-selling designed to accelerate mutual growth.”
Previously, Thwaites served as Field Channel & Alliances Director at HashiCorp. He has also worked at Bitglass, Palo Alto Networks and F5.
ArdentEdge appoints new chair of the board
AI consultancy ArdentEdge has appointed Alan Key as chair of the board.
Key is best known as the founder and long-serving Managing Director of Dialog Information Technology.
Discussing his appointment, Key said in a statement, "My job as Chair is straightforward, help Glenn [Irvine] and the team scale this into a category-defining Australian AI services business, without losing the discipline and honesty that got them here."
Through this appointment, Irvine, founder at ArdentEdge said this will help the company become a national AI firm.
NextGen founder becomes 1KE chairman
Former NextGen CEO and founder John Walters has become chairman at presales platform 1KE.
Walters retired from his executive chair role at NextGen in May this year after nearly 15 years at the helm.
In a media statement, he said, "I love the channel and have always tried to bring innovative models, platforms, and programs to the vendor and partner community. What excites me about 1KE is the ability to change the economics of growth for channel vendors and partners.
“For years, the number of opportunities a business could pursue has been tied to the capacity of a relatively small group of experienced people. I believe AI gives us a real opportunity to break through that constraint through a unique augmentation and automation model.”
DX1 hires new group CTO
DX1 has appointed Tim Hope as its new group chief technology officer (CTO).
In his new role, Hope will lead DX1’s technology strategy and strategic technology partnerships, including its deep relationship with AWS.
Hope explained why he joined DX1.
“Its strong background in DevOps and DevSecOps and its engineering-led culture provide key ingredients to help Australian organisations move from talking about what AI could do to actually putting it into their operations, backed by the data, security, governance and AWS expertise needed to scale with confidence,” he said.
Kinetic IT hires Pierre Tagle as head of cybersecurity
ITSP Kinetic IT has hired Pierre Tagle as its head of cybersecurity.
Tagle will lead Kinetic IT’s cybersecurity practice nationally and work across its Professional Services and broader technology portfolio as the company continues to expand its security capabilities.
Tagle holds a PhD in Computer Science and brings more than 25 years of technology and cybersecurity experience across Australia and the Asia-Pacific, including senior roles with DXC Technology, Secureworks, and NTT.