HP Printing-PC Channel Veteran Jumps To Enterprise Unit, Says He's Bullish On Future

Hewlett Packard Vice President Scott Dunsire, who has led the channel charge in the Printing and Personal Systems (PPS) business in various roles for nearly eight years, is taking the top Americas channel job with Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

Dunsire, who was most recently vice president and general manager of U.S. channels for PPS, is taking the role of vice president of Americas indirect sales for the HP Enterprise group.

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Dunsire's decision to move to the enterprise side of the house comes as HP prepares to split into two publicly traded Fortune 50 companies: a $57 billion Hewlett Packard Enterprise business made up of enterprise systems, software and services, and a $57 billion printing and personal systems business known as HP Inc.

HP PPS is in the process of naming a replacement for Dunsire, who will assume his new role on Feb. 1.

"I have been in the PC and printer business for 25 years and have a lot of great experience there working with great partners. I still feel it is a great place to be within HP," said Dunsire. "But as I looked at my career, I saw a lot of partners investing in the EG [Enterprise Group] side of the house, whether it be cloud, storage, infrastructure, software and services."

Dunsire, who will report to HP Senior Vice President and Managing Director Americas Robert Vrij, will be responsible for Enterprise Group Americas channel, distribution, OEM, inside sales and SMB segment strategy.

Dunsire said he saw the Enterprise group post as a golden opportunity to leverage the channel skill set he built on the PPS side of the house to grow the HP enterprise channel business.

Under Dunsire's leadership, the percentage of sales going through the channel for printing and PC business grew dramatically over the last eight years. Approximately 85 percent of PPS sales now go through the channel, which is the highest channel sales mark in the unit's history.

Dunsire attributed his success driving PPS channel sales growth to strong collaboration between HP end user sales reps and channel partners. In fact, he said, that will be a hallmark of the HP enterprise group channel organization.

"I want to make sure that more of our business in the enterprise group goes through the channel and that really starts with collaboration, making sure our end user teams know which partners to work with and what the partner skill sets are," said Dunsire. "It is not much more difficult than sitting down and doing joint business planning, looking at the opportunities and building the trust between the channel and the end user teams."

Dunsire said he plans to spend the next 90 days on the road meeting with partners to get feedback on what HP Enterprise Group can do better. "I need to hear what's on the mind of partners," he said. "It's going to be good to get feedback on our programs, our people, where their pain points are and where they see the opportunity."

Dunsire said he has no plans to make any major immediate changes to the HP Enterprise Group channel organization.

The key to success going forward is a sharper focus on execution in the sales trenches and "doing what we say we are going to do," said Dunsire. "We need predictability. That worked for us in PPS. I know that will work for us in EG as well."

NEXT: Partners Predict Enterprise Channel Sales Growth Under Dunsire

Bob Venero, CEO of Holbrook, N.Y.-based solution provider Future Tech, No. 234 on the CRN Solution Provider 500, said he expects Dunsire's appointment to open the door for his company to more than triple its HP enterprise business.

"This is all upside for our HP enterprise business," said Venero. "I am ecstatic. If he can accomplish half of what he did in the PPS space, then partners are going to be extremely happy with the results. From my perspective, we finally have an individual who understands engagement in the channel in support of our goals and initiatives."

Future Tech more than doubled its HP business working hand in hand with Dunsire and the PPS channel team, said Venero."We invested together and grew the business together while he was at PPS. It was a win win. Scott's greatest asset is knowing how to build relationships and engagement with VARs and then measuring it."

Majdi "Mike" Daher, CEO of Denali Advanced Integration, Redmond, Wash., No. 91 on CRN's SP500 list, said he is looking forward to Dunsire bringing the same no-holds-barred channel commitment that he brought to the PPS business to the enterprise group.

"If you look at the success he enjoyed at PPS, I know he will bring that same energy and dedication to the channel to EG," said Daher. "Scott Dunsire has always done an amazing job building bridges of friendship with the channel. He is going to bring a focus on partners to EG. That is what I am excited about."

Daher said Dunsire has a "tremendous opportunity" to continue to build out the EG channel. "There is a lot of work that needs to be continued," he said. "Scott knows how to finish. He knows programs, channel partners and what motivates and drives channel partners."

Rick Chernick, CEO of Camera Corner Connecting Point of Green Bay, Wis., No. 291 on the CRN SP500, said he sees a bright future for his HP enterprise business with Dunsire at the channel helm.

"Scott understands what it means to be a reseller, he gets it, he cares about the reseller," said Chernick. "His word is golden. He has always done right by us and always has our back. If he says something then it happens. I work hard for people I like. I am going to work harder for HP in the enterprise business with him there."

Peter Larocque, president of North American distribution for Synnex, one of HP's top distributors, said Dunsire's appointment sends a "strong message" that HP is going to grow the enterprise channel business.

"Scott does a great job," said Larocque. "We have always grown the business working with him. I don't know how you can beat that. He is a doer. He gets stuff done. "

Dunsire, for his part, predicted a new era of enterprise channel growth.

"HP Enterprise has done a lot of great things over the last few years, but I think there are a lot of better years ahead," he said. "That is why I looked at this as a great opportunity to expand my experience working with partners I already know and to also work with a group of new partners."