CCOOMMMMSS N NEEWWSS - MOVERS & SHAKERS
BYTES...
HOWELL
Xelion UK has appointed Craig Howell in
a business development role. Craig will
be responsible for expanding Xelion’s
footprint in the UK market and will
also take on the account management
of some of Xelion’s existing channel
partners.
FURLONG
Avaya is planning to accelerate the
success of its global cloud strategy
in Ireland following the appointment
of Aidan Furlong. As Country General
Manager, Aidan will help to champion
the evolution of new and existing
customers and partners to cloud-centric
communications
CHANNEL VETERAN
CHRIS LEE JOINS
NORTH SUPPLY
INNOVAPHONE AND YEASTAR
distributor North Supply has
appointed channel veteran
Chris Lee (pictured) as Sales
Manager as the company seeks
to widen its channel reach.
Lee, who has spent his entire
career in the ICT sector, had
previously spent time in senior
channel positions at GPT/
Siemens, Inter-Tel and latterly
Mitel, where he was their Sales
Director for Indirect Sales in the
south of the UK.
Lee commented, “North
Supply is an impressive fi rm
with a long heritage in providing
customer service excellence to
a client base that includes BT.
Now, with the addition of
Yeastar and Innovaphone, we
are set to provide UK channels
with two solutions that offer
ways of differentiating their
customer portfolios.”
RORY READ STEPS INTO VONAGE CEO CHAIR
VONAGE HAS APPOINTED Rory
Read (pictured) as Chief
Executive Offi cer and a member
of its Board of Directors,
effective July 1, 2020. Mr. Read
will succeed Alan Masarek,
who will be stepping down as
Chief Executive Offi cer and a
member of the Board of
Directors. Mr. Masarek will work
closely with Mr. Read to assist
in the transition.
Mr. Read brings to Vonage
more than three decades of
global technology industry
experience. He joins Vonage
from Dell Technologies, where
he has most recently served as
its Chief Operating Executive
and as CEO and President of
Virtustream, a Dell
Technologies business.
Jeffrey Citron, Chairman of
will be able to leverage his
the Vonage Board of Directors,
signifi cant expertise to further
said, “With the support of our
transform the business and
experienced Board, I know Rory
position the Company to create
substantial shareholder value.
We look forward to embarking
on this exciting new chapter
together.”
THOMPSON TAKES ON ALL
INDIRECT CHANNELS
TALKTALK BUSINESS (TTB) HAS announced a reshuffl e
of its senior leadership team to drive and shape the
growth of one of the UK’s largest B2B providers of
broadband, fi bre and ethernet data services.
Ruth Kennedy, currently Director for Carrier and
SI’s, will move to a brand-new role reporting
directly into the CEO to lead and build a new team
looking specially at Business Development across
all business units. Ruth will lead a strategic team
that will focus on creating long-term value by
utilising TalkTalk assets, customers and
relationships to identify new revenue streams, or
expanding existing ones, bringing incremental
value to TalkTalk and its Partners.
Richard Thompson (pictured), Managing Director
of Indirect, will now expand his current role as the
Director of Partners to take on Carrier and SI
alongside the Marketing and Partner Sales teams,
with a view on encompassing all our indirect
channels to market.
WHITEHEAD JOINS AIR IT
AIR IT HAVE announced the appointment of Mark
Whitehead in a new role as Sales Director.
The new appointment follows Air IT’s recent
backing from private equity fi rm, August Equity,
and several changes to the leadership team
including John Whitty succeeding the company’s
Founder, Todd McQuilkin as CEO.
Having spent more than a decade across sales
and marketing within the IT and communications
sector, Whitehead will lead Air IT’s sales strategy
to drive ambitious plans to grow organically and
through acquisition.
Speaking for the fi rst time in his new role as
Sales Director, Mark Whitehead (pictured) said, “My
experience and success in the IT industry have
been stimulated by introducing new technologies at
the right time that are game-changing for
businesses.
“To join the company at this time is a really
exciting prospect. I’m eager to continue to build on
Air IT’s success as a
leading MSP having
grown 30% year on
year for the past 3
years, and to help
new and existing
clients transform in
the post-pandemic
era with the
technology and
support they need
to thrive, providing
them with a
competitive
advantage over
their peers.”
14 | Comms Business Magazine | July 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
/www.commsbusiness.co.uk