Gilroy To Step Down As OnForce CEO

Gilroy said he will be involved in the selection of a new CEO as part of a search committee, which already has kicked off an executive search that will include internal and external candidates. He said he will remain a company adviser and shareholder.

Gilroy said spending each week at New York-based OnForce, away from his Philadelphia home and his wife and three teenage daughters, had taken its toll on him and his family.

"They need me and I need them," said Gilroy, who in retrospect noted he should have taken some time off after a 24-year career at Hewlett-Packard before signing on with OnForce. "Life is going fast, so I'm looking forward to going to their ball games, teacher conferences, helping them with their homework and playing hoops in our driveway. I'm working too many hours, and I live in a different city than my family."

Gilroy added that he will be looking for a new channel assignment that doesn't interfere with his family. "Being CEO of a company like OnForce in the emerging startup phase is an 80-hour-a-week, seven-days-a-week job. It really came down to two loves: being the CEO of OnForce and my family. My life is a little upside down right now. So I'm going to get it straightened out and go home."

Gilroy joined OnForce as a strategic consultant in October 2005 after taking on some high-profile channel assignments at HP, including the tough task of merging the HP and Compaq channel programs after the companies' blockbuster merger.

At OnForce, Gilroy moved up the ranks quickly, taking a full-time position as senior vice president of sales and general manager in November 2005 and then the president's job in April and the CEO post in June. "We took the company to the next level, and our awareness in the marketplace is 10 times what it was just six months ago," he said.

Gilroy said he's optimistic about OnForce's future, noting that the company's sales are growing by double digits sequentially and triple digits year over year. Since Gilroy took the president's job in April, the company has grown its service provider installed base and new accounts by double digits. During that period, OnForce also eliminated providers that weren't meeting services standards.

OnForce's prospects to reshape the IT service provider marketplace also remain promising, according to Gilroy. "It is dramatic change, epochal change for some customers," he said. "It feels odd to outsource to a marketplace vs. outsourcing to a traditional outsource partner. But once people get through some of the initial discomfort, they really embrace it and adopt it."

Some organizations are sending out service work orders that are being picked up by service providers on average in only 13 minutes, he added. "Early adopters are killing it with OnForce," he said.One of OnForce's big pluses for the channel is that it allows small solution providers to compete against large, national service providers by leveraging the online marketplace, Gilroy said. "This levels the playing field so small and medium providers can compete against the big services companies. This gives them a national services operation at their calling."

Gilroy credited OnForce with having a strong, deep management team, including Senior Vice President of Operations Jose Bernal and Senior Vice President of Sales Laura Blackmer, an 18-year HP veteran who followed Gilroy to OnForce. "Between Laura and Jose, the company is in good hands," Gilroy said.

Solution provider Decisive Business Systems joined the OnForce community after Gilroy took the helm, said Pete Busam, vice president and COO of the Pennsauken, N.J.-based VAR. "Gilroy brought that company to the forefront by leveraging his established channel relationships," Busam said. "This gives us an opportunity to both sell and augment our services."

Busam said he looks forward to working with Gilroy in any new venture. "He delivers what he says he is going to do," Busam said. "He has integrity, and he leverages the channel."

Gilroy said he plans to take some time off and then look for a new position in the channel, either in the Philadelphia area or in a channel post where he can work from home.

"Working remotely just doesn't work at this stage of OnForce," Gilroy said. "You'll see me back in the channel. I love being in the channel. The channel and small/medium business is what I do. The OnForce experience has given me a heightened perspective and understanding of the needs and pains of small and medium businesses."