Cisco Names New Channel Chief; Mountford To Head Emerging Markets Post

Cisco has tapped senior vice president Keith Goodwin to replace Paul Mountford as head of worldwide channels at the world leader in networking gear. The change comes as Mountford, the executive credited for restoring profitability and improving partner satisfaction inside the Cisco channel, accepts a new post inside the company--head of emerging markets. The newly created position will see Mountford oversee operations and sales in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and Africa, Russia and other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and eastern European nations.

The changes are slated to take effect July 31, in conjunction with Cisco's new fiscal year.

Mountford tells VARBusiness that Goodwin is "a solid leader with a proven channels track record," and notes, for example, that as senior vice president for Cisco's Americas International Theater (LATAM and Canada), Goodwin drove 90 percent of his theater's business through channel partners. Goodwin also successfully implemented the worldwide channels strategy across the entire theater, and saw partners improve the levels of customer service they provide. In addition, Goodwin also managed to help drive VIP bookings growth by 70 percent year-over-year this year.

Mountford, who ran channels for three-and-a-half years, helped launch a number of initiatives that have redefined the channel, not just within the Cisco community, but also in the channel as a whole. Since he took over the position and built his executive channel management team, Cisco was among the first to adopt a "value versus volume strategy," and among the first to aggressively implement deal registration successfully. Cisco has also made pioneering steps in the area of partner business consulting and created a number of uplifts that rewarded channel partners for closing business with new accounts and for selling advanced technologies. That has paved the way for the company to emerge as a leading supplier of VoIP technology.