Power At Every Position: Dell Fills Exec Lineup With Seasoned Channel, Sales Veterans

Dell Technologies has put together a strong lineup of channel and sales executives, drawing mostly on longtime Dell leaders and bringing on former EMC channel chief Gregg Ambulos as North America channel chief. The lineup was solidified just a couple of months after John Byrne was made global channel chief in July and given the task of choosing which executives would push the $74 billion company's channel agenda.

Ambulos will report to Byrne, and his appointment came along with a host of other executive moves designed to streamline and unify the Dell Technologies sales and channel operations. Byrne reports directly to Marius Haas, Dell COO and president of commercial solutions.

Ambulos' appointment is also another sign that Dell, after closing its landmark $58 billion acquisition of EMC, intends to lean heavily on EMC's channel expertise. The company has made several program changes, including a move toward partner-led customer engagements, that mirror EMC's program.

[RELATED: CRN's Coverage Of Dell EMC World 2016]

Here's a rundown of the executives leading Dell Technologies' sales and channel operations.

John Byrne: Byrne was brought into Dell as global vice president of sales strategy and operations a year ago on the advice of Chief Integration Officer Rory Read, who had previously worked with Byrne at AMD. Byrne, a Scottish tech entrepreneur who began his career in London, spent about nine years at AMD in a variety of international executive sales and channel positions. His title is president of global channels.

Gregg Ambulos: Haas said choosing Ambulos to run the company's North America channel operation was "absolutely the right decision." Ambulos is a 20-year EMC veteran and spent the better part of 15 years as that company's channel chief, implementing portions of EMC's channel program that are beginning to take hold at Dell, including a "hard deck," a threshold below which all deals are handled by channel partners.

Jim DeFoe: Byrne called DeFoe a "sales warrior with outstanding customer relationships" when he told CRN about his appointment as head of global distribution. DeFoe is a 20-year Dell veteran, and has spent almost all that time as vice president of global sales channels and programs. As head of global distribution, DeFoe will assemble his own team of regional distribution leaders.

Cheryl Cook: The former global channel chief has taken a role as head of partner marketing, reporting to Nina Hargus, senior vice president of global field marketing. Cook was the face of Dell's channel operation for nearly three years after spending more than two years as Dell vice president of enterprise solutions. Before joining Dell, Cook spent about 15 years as a sales executive at Sun Microsystems and Nuance Communications.

Kimberley DeLeon: At Dell only about a year, DeLeon is one of very few new channel or sales executive appointments who hasn't been with Dell or EMC for a long stretch. DeLeon was hired last January and worked directly for former channel chief Cook as executive director of global channel planning and programs. Prior to joining Dell, she spent about 10 years at AMD, where Byrne was once an executive. As head of global channel programs at Dell Technologies, DeLeon will be responsible for channel processes, including governance, and ensuring partners are achieving the appropriate level of certification and financial objectives, Byrne said.

Randy Huey: A 17-year Dell veteran, and an economist by trade, Huey has held several planning, marketing and strategy positions at Dell in a number of the company's divisions. Most recently, he worked directly for Haas as executive strategist. Now, as head of channel strategy, Huey will lead channel strategy and planning. He and Byrne will map out plans for partner spending and coverage across Dell and EMC, Byrne said.

Pilar Schenk: For the past year, Schenk has been working on the integration of Dell and EMC as executive director of integration. She's been with Dell for more than a dozen years in a number of sales roles, including almost five years as chief of staff, global sales operations. Byrne appointed her head of channel sales planning and operations.

ROUNDING OUT THE GLOBAL TEAM

Byrne also named a group of experienced Dell veterans to lead Dell Technologies' regional channel organization, including Tian Beng Ng as head of Asia-Pacific and Japan channel sales. He has been with Dell 17 years, most recently as vice president and managing director, South Asia and Korea. Alvaro Camarena was made head of Latin America channel sales. Camarena has been with Dell eight years as executive director of Latin America channel programs. Michael Collins will head Dell's EMEA channel sales operation. The 14-year Dell veteran was most recently vice president of strategy and channel, EMEA.

MARIUS' HOUSE

In addition to Byrne, Haas named a slate of senior sales executives who will report to him, including leaders for several regions of the world and specific product lines. Like Byrne's appointments, Haas' are mostly longtime Dell executives.

Bill Rodrigues: Haas named Rodrigues president of North America commercial sales. Rodrigues has been at Dell for about 18 years, and was previously president of North America and global sales.

Jay Parker: Parker was a marketing executive at Dell between 2003 and 2007 before spending more than seven years at Lenovo, two of them as North America president. Amid upheaval in Lenovo's executive ranks last year, Dell lured Parker back to Austin, Texas, as general manager of North America enterprise systems and part of what solution providers called Haas' enterprise dream team. Now, Parker will take on a role as head of global server and networking sales.

REGIONAL POWER

Haas' regional team includes Amit Midha, a 20-year Dell employee, as head of APJ commercial sales. Midha was most recently president of APJ and chairman of global emerging markets. Haas also tapped Diego Majdalani as head of Latin America commercial sales. Majdalani has been with Dell 10 years and has been vice president and general manager of Latin America for the last four. Haas made Chenhong Huang head of Greater China commercial sales. He has been with Dell about two years, and spent about 14 years at Nortel Networks. As head of EMEA commercial sales, Aongus Hegarty 's job doesn't change. Hegarty has been a regional sales executive at Dell for more than 11 years. Haas also named Prakash Jothee as head of sales strategy planning and operations.