DLT Solutions Taps Former immixGroup Leader Art Richer As Next CEO

DLT Solutions has brought in the former CEO of another pure-play public sector solution provider to drive growth in cloud, cybersecurity and big data analytics.

The Herndon, Va.-based company, No. 39 on the 2016 CRN Solution Provider 500, has named longtime immixGroup leader Art Richer to be its next permanent CEO. Richer will replace channel veteran Alan Marc Smith, whose departure from DLT Solutions was reported by CRN last week.

"We're delighted to have Art join our executive team," Rick Marcotte, DLT's chairman of the board, said in a statement. "His leadership skills and management experience will be a tremendous asset to DLT as we continue to grow the company and enhance the foundation of industry-leading sales and marketing support for our core vendors within the public sector value-added reseller space."

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Richer previously spent 18 years at McLean, Va.-based distributor and solution provider immixGroup, No. 37 on the 2014 CRN SP 500. He joined the company a year after its inception as a vice president and was promoted to the president role in 2007, where he grew annual sales from $221 million to $1.1 billion and headcount from 76 to nearly 300 employees.

He took over as immixGroup's CEO in November 2013, and spearheaded the company's sale to Centennial, Colo.-based distributor Arrow Electronics in March 2015. Arrow Electronic Computing Solutions President Sean Kerins said in April 2015 that immixGroup's focus on software-based solutions in the data center had provided Arrow with more breadth and depth in the federal government space.

Richer left immixGroup in October 2016, according to his LinkedIn profile.

"I have long known DLT as a value-added reseller partner of immixGroup and have been impressed with their professionalism, scale and dedication to their public sector customers," Richer said in a statement. "I look forward to leading the DLT team in driving enhanced value across the end-user customer base."

Richer's arrival comes less than a month after DLT said Joe Donohue would be its new chief financial officer, replacing longtime CFO Craig Adler. Donohue previously spend eight years as CFO of Agilex Technologies, where he successfully led the sale of the solution provider to Accenture Financial Services in 2015.

Former DLT CEO Smith joined the company in January 2015 when it was acquired by private equity powerhouse Millstein & Co. Smith had been a Millstein & Co. operating partner, and took an unspecified equity stake in DLT at the time of the Millstein acquisition.

DLT Solutions has $1 billion in annual revenue and more than 250 employees, making it similarly sized to the organization Richer built at immixGroup. DLT did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment.

At immixGroup, Richer supported more than 800 VARs, solution provider and service providers in the federal, state and local government spaces. DLT Solutions also exclusively serves the public sector, Smith told CRN in August, with roughly three-quarters of sales coming from the federal government and the remaining 25 percent of sales going to state and local government as well as educational institutions.

Richer told CRN in 2014 that immixGroup handles IT products from more than 250 vendors including IBM, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, CA Technologies, Brocade Communications, Red Hat Software and Oracle. DLT Solutions also works closely with Oracle and Red Hat, Smith said in August, but takes a far smaller and more focused approach from a vendor perspective, working with just 40 supplier partners.

DLT Solutions derives roughly 95 percent of its revenue from software, Smith said in August, with just 5 percent coming from hardware sales.