30 Notable IT Executive Moves: July 2018

Start It Off

Google Cloud lost one of its top executives at the beginning of July when Diane Bryant, the company's chief operating officer, lef the company. But that wasn't the only big executive move that impacted the channel last month.

July also saw big leadership departures at Texas Instruments, Apple, ePlus, McAfee, Entisys360 and Micro Focus. In addition, several companies made significant executive appointments, including Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, AMD, Rubrik and Informatica.

Other companies that saw big personnel changes were Accenture, AllCloud, ForeScout Technologies and Tableau Software. In the following slides, check out our picks for the 30 most significant executive moves that took place in the channel last month.

Brian Crutcher

Crutcher resigned as CEO of Texas Instruments roughly a month after taking the role.

The Dallas-based company said the CEO stepped down after he demonstrated personal behavior that violated the company's code of conduct. The company declined to elaborate.

Crutcher had taken over the role from Rich Templeton, the company's chairman and former CEO, who is taking the company's top leadership role again indefinitely. The company said it will not search for a replacement.

Diane Bryant

Diane Bryant stepped down as Google Cloud's chief operating officer after serving in the position for less than a year.

Bryant, a longtime Intel executive, has been seen as a potential candidate for Intel's CEO job, which opened in late June following the sudden resignation of Brian Krzanich.

The executive joined Google in November 2017. An Intel veteran, Bryant spent 25 years at the company serving in various roles such as corporate vice president, CIO, and general manager of the company's data center division. Bryant took temporary leave from Intel in May 2017, citing "family matters," but then jumped ship to Mountain View, Calif.-based Google instead of returning to Intel.

Tom Gruber

Gruber, one of the co-founders of Siri, left Apple as the head of Siri's Advanced Development Group, according to a report by The Information.

The executive had joined Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple through the company's $200 million acquisition of digital assistance startup Siri in 2010. His two co-founders, Dag Kittlaus and Adam Cheyer, both left Apple several years ago and formed digital assistant startup Viv Labs, which Samsung acquired in 2016.

Vipul Ved Prakash, Apple's head of search, also left the company. He had joined Apple through the company's acquisition of search engine company Topsy in 2013.

Carolee Gearhart

Google named Gearhart, a former GE Digital executive, as its new channel chief. According to Gearhart's LinkedIn profile, she is now responsible for Google Cloud Platform, G Suite and the Chrome channel business globally.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based tech giant's channel chief seat had sat empty for the past 10 months since former channel chief Bertrand Yansouni stepped out of that role after a tenure of less than one year.

Prior to her new position with Google, Gearhart served as chief ecosystem and channels officer for GE Digital for a year, and before that, the IT executive was senior vice president of customer success and global channel for Adaptive Insights.

Phil Davis

Hewlett Packard Enterprise turned to sales chief Davis to lead the company's Hybrid IT business group.

Davis has been with HPE since 2014 and chief sales officer since late last year. Before taking that position, he was vice president and general manager of the Storage, Enterprise Group, Asia-Pacific and Japan.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company also saw the departure of Pointnext leader Ana Pinczuk, who is leaving "for new opportunities," according to CEO Antonio Neri. Pinczuk had led the company's Pointnext business since it was formed early last year.

Randy Pond

Pond, a Cisco veteran, was appointed CFO of Pensando Systems, a networking startup founded by four former Cisco executives.

He left Cisco in 2015 after working there for 22 years and most recently served in the role of executive vice president of operations.

Based in San Jose, Calif., Pensando was started by Mario Mazzola, Prem Jain, Luca Cafiero and Soni Jiandani, and it's reportedly working on a chip for networking and storage purposes.

Martin Ashton

Ashton, a former Intel executive, joined Santa Clara, Calif.-based AMD as a corporate vice president for the company's Radeon Technologies graphics division.

He was most recently a vice president within Intel's Core and Visual Computing Group, a relatively new division that is in charge of developing the company's core CPU and graphics technologies. Ashton joined Intel in 2016 after spending 25 years as the executive vice president of engineering for PowerVR at Imagination Technologies, a company he co-founded.

AMD also promoted "Zen" chief architect Mike Clark as an AMD corporate fellow; Darren Grasby to senior vice president of Global Computing and Graphics sales and AMD president for Europe, Middle East and Africa; and Robert Gama to senior vice president and chief human resources officer.

Omar Abbosh

Accenture appointed Abbosh as the group chief executive for the company's Communications, Media and Technology Group, succeeding Robert E. Sell, who is retiring at the end of August.

Abbosh was most recently the Dublin-based global consulting firm's chief strategy officer, a role that put him in charge of the company's strategy, innovation programs and investments. He has been with Accenture for 29 years and has held several management roles.

"He is an outstanding leader with a proven track record of successfully running different parts of our business, delivering innovation and providing the highest level of service to our clients," Accenture CEO and Chairman Pierre Nanterme said in a statement.

Jonathan Corini

ForeScout Technologies North American channel director Corini ascended to the role of global channel chief to boost international business and drive more services sales.

Corini took over global channel leadership from Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales Brian Gumbel, who has had that additional responsibility on his plate since the November 2017 departure of former global channel chief Todd DeBell.

Corini joined ForeScout from Tanium a year ago as senior director of North American channel sales, and will lead both ForeScout's global channel as well as its Americas theater for the time being, Gumbel said. ForeScout's longer-term plan is to find someone to take over Corini's North America-specific responsibilities, according to Gumbel.

Rahul Kashyap

Awake Security, a provider of network detection and response software, named Kashyap, a former Cylance executive, as the company's new CEO.

Kashyap is taking over from founding CEO Michael Callahan, who is taking a technical leadership role and will continue to serve as a director on the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company's board.

Most recently, Kashyap served as chief product officer and then chief technology officer at Cylance. Prior to that, he was executive vice president of products at Bromium and head of vulnerability research at McAfee.

Philip Norton

Norton, the visionary leader who transformed ePlus from a leasing company into a billion-dollar consulting powerhouse, announced his plan to retire at the end of July. Norton will continue to serve on the board of directors as executive chairman.

Norton joined ePlus, based in Herndon, Va., in 1993 – three years after the company started -- when he was named chairman and CEO. At the time, ePlus, No. 34 on CRN's 2018 Solution Provider 500, was a leasing provider and a value-added reseller. Norton took the company public in 1996 and grew it into a provider of complex IT solutions.

In June 2016, Norton rang the opening bell at the Nasdaq to celebrate 20 years trading on the exchange. Later that year he passed the CEO title to Mark Marron, who is also president of the solution provider.

Elizabeth Strohl

Strohl retired as CFO of Concord, Calif.-based solution provider Entisys360, the company -- then known as Entisys Solutions -- she co-founded with her husband, George Strohl, in 1988.

Strohl's son, Matt General, currently Entisys360's CTO, was named COO and took over financial operations for the company. Her stepson, Michael Strohl, is CEO of Entisys, No. 183 on CRN's 2018 Solution Provider 500.

Her technology career spanned more than 50 years and included some of the earliest forms of computer coding, pioneering leadership roles at one of the nation's largest banks, and helping to create a company from scratch that continues to grow today.

Peter McGoff

Cloud data management provider Rubrik named McGoff, a Box and Informatica veteran, as its first chief legal officer, and Jeff Vijungco, an Adobe veteran, as its first chief people officer.

Prior to joining the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company, McGoff was chief legal officer and corporate secretary at Box, where he helped lead the company's through its 2015 initial public offering. Prior to that, he was senior vice president and general counsel at Informatica.

Vijungco was most recently vice president of employee experience and global talent at Adobe, where he helped the company grow from 3,000 employees to 18,000 globally.

Tracey Newell

Cloud data management provider Informatica appointed Newell, a Juniper and Cisco veteran, as president of global field operations and Eric Brown, a McAfee veteran, as CFO.

Newell joined the Redwood City, Calif.-based company after serving as executive vice president of global field operations and customer success at Proofpoint. Prior to that, she was executive vice president of global sales at Polycom. She has also held senior leadership positions at Juniper and Cisco.

Brown most recently worked at Machine Zone. He has also held CFO and chief operating officer roles at McAfee, Polycom and Tanium.

Damon Fletcher

Fletcher was appointed CFO of Tableau Software after serving in the role on an interim basis since February 2018.

He first joined the Seattle-based analytics software company in January 2014. In that time, he has served in various roles including most recently as senior vice president of finance. Prior to joining the company, Fletcher was a certified public accountant with PwC.

"Over the last few months, Damon has proved without a doubt that he is the right person for the job of CFO," Adam Selipsky, CEO of Tableau, said in a statement. "We are pleased and excited to be able to fill this role from within the Tableau family and look forward to Damon's continued expertise and leadership at the company."

Eran Gil

AllCloud appointed Gil, co-founder of Cloud Sherpas, as CEO on the heels on the company's recently closed $7 million funding round.

Gil will help the Tel Aviv, Israel-based company expand into North America following its acquisition of Figur8, a Platinum Salesforce partner. He had previously served as executive board director at AllCloud.

At Cloud Sherpas, Gil had served as senior vice president of global business development leading up to Accenture's 2015 acquisition of the company.

Kyle Malady

Telecom giant Verizon named Malady as its interim chief technology officer to fill in for Hans Vestberg, who is becoming the company's CEO.

Malady is the New York-based company's senior vice president and chief network officer. He previously served as vice president of new product development for Verizon Wireless, where he was responsible for developing new products and services. He helped to launch platforms such as VCast Music, VZ Navigator, Push to Talk, VZ MobileWeb and the Verizon App Store.

Lowell McAdam, Verizon's CEO, announced in June that he will retire at the end of the year and be succeeded by CTO Hans Vestberg.

Michelle Johnston Holthaus

Intel promoted Holthaus, the company's general manager of the Sales and Marketing Group who had previously served in various channel roles. Her title was upgraded to senior vice president from corporate vice president.

Holthaus also serves as Intel's interim chief marketing officer, a role she took over from Steve Fund, who was moved into a "special projects" leadership position earlier this year. Before she took over as the head of Intel's Sales and Marketing Group, Holthaus was the general manager of channel for Central Marketing and Operations, where she led channel efforts for Intel's Client Computing Group.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company also promoted Dan McNamara, head of Intel's Programmable Solutions Group, and Allon Stabinsky, chief deputy general counsel of Intel's Law and Policy Group, to senior vice presidents from corporate vice presidents. McNamara joined the company in 2015 through Intel's acquisition of Altera while Stabinsky joined in 2005.

Sue Barsamian

Micro Focus said Barsamian, the company's executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer, is leaving the company.

Barsamian is a seasoned channel executive with years of experience from Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Micro Focus, which is based in Newbury, U.K. The two companies completed the merger of their software businesses last year. Prior to that, Barsamian spent 11 years at HPE and its former parent company Hewlett-Packard, and left HPE as chief sales and marketing officer for Micro Focus' software business.

Barsamian said her plan is to focus on working with multiple companies as a board member. Cloud content management and storage provider Box named Barsamian to its board of directors in May.

Scott Hill

Hill joined MobileIron as its CFO.

Prior to joining the Mountain View, Calif.-based mobile device management software provider, Hill was senior vice president of finance at Symantec, where he also held other senior finance roles. Prior to that, he was an investment banker focused on technology at J.P. Morgan.

"Scott is a seasoned finance executive who has a deep understanding of the enterprise security market and a wealth of relevant experience to bring to bear at MobileIron," Simon Biddiscombe, CEO of MobileIron, said in a statement.

Matt Hurley

OneLogin tapped former Juniper channel chief Hurley to serve as the San Francisco-based unified access management vendor's vice president of global channels, strategic alliances and professional services.

Hurley most recently spent six years leading Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Juniper’s brand, field marketing and channel program teams, which included a redesign of the company's channel program in 2015 to address all business segments.

Brian Rosenberg, who became Juniper channel chief about a year and a half ago, will continue to drive channel strategy, while Helda Lopes runs the day-to-day operations of the vendor's partner program. Lopes had been working closely with Hurley on Juniper brand initiatives and demand generation.

Richard Steranka

McAfee global channel chief Steranka is no longer with the company as part of a broader set of layoffs affecting the organization, sources told CRN.

Steranka was one of between 12 and 15 McAfee executives let go, sources said. News about the departures was disseminated July 10, with the layoffs impacting several people in McAfee's channel organization as well as a few people from other divisions, according to one source.

Steranka joined the Santa Clara, Calif.-based vendor from Avaya in August 2015 as head of global channel sales and operations.

Phillip Merrick

Fugue, a provider of security and compliance automation software, named Merrick as CEO.

Prior to joining the Frederick, Md.-based company, Merrick was CEO of email service producer SparkPost. Before then, he served in chairman roles at VisualCV, RollStream and EnterpriseDB. He also co-founded webMethods and served as its CEO.

Merrick is taking over from founding CEO Josh Stella.

Will Cappelli

Moogsoft, a provider of artificial intelligence software for IT operations, named Cappelli, a former Gartner analyst, as the company's chief technology officer, EMEA, and global vice president of product strategy.

In his role, Cappelli is tasked with accelerating the company's market leadership in AI-driven IT operations. "Moogsoft has seen massive growth over the past year, and this momentum will only continue as industry leaders like Will join the stampede,” Phil Tee, CEO of Moogsoft, said in a statement.

During his time at Gartner, Cappelli focused on research in IT innovation, including the application of machine learning and other forms of AI to IT operations and application management.

Paul Fox

Fox, global head of sales at Getronics, replaced Pomeroy's sales leader, who left following Getronics' purchase of the MSP powerhouse.

Fox was for a time CEO of Getronics in the U.K. and also has worked as director of sales and marketing for Samsung’s IT operation. He started his career at Lexmark, where he climbed the ladder from graduate trainee to director of business development in EMEA, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Following the sale of Pomeroy to Getronics in July, two key leaders are no longer with the company. Among them iss Peter Thelan, who has headed up the Pomeroy sales team for the past eight years. Thelan was known for his strong customer relationships and deep knowledge of the Pomeroy operations.

Also no longer with Pomery iss Chris Froman, who is widely credited with building the company into an MSP powerhouse. Froman was CEO from January 2009 to October 2017 when he took an executive chairman role on the company's board of directors.

Anthony Diaz

Optiv appointed Diaz, an EY veteran, as global vice president and general manager of Emerging Services.

Diaz joined the Denver-based solution provider, according to his LinkedIn profile, after serving as the global lead for cyberdefense at EY, where he worked for more than seven years.

Prior to that, Diaz was a senior manager of security and DMZ network services at HSBC. He has also worked at Merrill Lynch, Breakaway Solutions and Imagine Software.

Bill Miller

The Hylan Group, a Holmdel, N.J.-based provider of specialized engineering and construction services, appointed Miller as an executive vice president.

In his new role, Miller will oversee the company's Hylan Datacom and Electrical Business, which provides services for communications infrastructure, electrical contracting, telecom and electrical maintenance and utility construction, among other things.

Michael J. Yokay

Yokay was named vice president of strategic planning at Inteserra Consulting Group, a Maitland, Fla.-based firm specializing in telecom, VoIP services, internet and wireless industries.

In his new role, Yokay is tasking with working on the company's long- and short-term planning, as well as product development and strategic partnerships.

Most recently, Yokay was president of CCMI, a business unit of Simplify Compliance. Prior to that, he was an account executive at RR Donnelly and an account manager at IBM.

Joe Cecin

Cecin, a telecom veteran, was appointed chief operating officer of The Hylan Group, a Holmdel, N.J.-based provider of specialized engineering and construction services.

With his appointment, Cecin will be responsible for the company's portfolio of businesses, including Hylan Datacom and Arcturus Telecom. His main charge is to integrate all of the company's acquired businesses.

Previously, Cecin was executive vice president at Unitek Global Services, president of Pinnacle Wireless and COO of RCN Corporation. He also served as group head of the Telecom Investment Banking Practice at BB&T Capital Markets.

Donough Roche

Infomart Data Centers named Roche as chief operating officer.

The San Jose, Calif.-based provider of carrier-neutral data centers said the COO role was created to support Infomart's growth strategy, which includes the recent completion of six new data center suites in northern Virginia.

Roche was most recently principal of consulting firm Datacentrs.com. Prior to that, he led global sales engineering for Digital Realty. He has also served in operating, sales and engineering roles at Lee Technologies, Citibank and Verizon/MCI.