Dell left critical questions unanswered for its nascent channel program partners when it announced a reorganization of its major divisions on Dec. 31. A Dell spokesman said Dell had yet to reveal its plans about potential personnel changes for its three regional channel chiefs and also the division or divisions that those chief or chiefs would report into.

But Dell's reorganization – creating three global divisions organized around customer segments and dumping its current three geographic divisions – will not affect the company's year-old channel efforts, according to a Dell spokesman.

"Our channel program is key to what we are doing," the spokesman told Channel Insider. "We continue to anticipate growing our channel." But Dell declined to answer questions about the reporting structure of the channel into the three new divisions and how the changes would affect the company's three regional channel chiefs

"We aren't saying which one [of the new divisions] the channel will report into yet," the spokesman said.
Dell's Americas Channel Chief Greg Davis previously reported into Dell's President of the Americas, Paul Bell. But under the new structure, Bell is heading up the new Public Sector division – one of three new global business divisions organized around customer segments. Dell's previous divisions were organized around three geographic regions, and each of those regions still has its own channel chief.

Dell's new global divisions will serve large enterprise, the public sector, and small and medium businesses. Dell's consumer division, led by Ron Garriques, already served the global market, Dell said in a statement.

When asked whether Dell would consolidate its regional channel chiefs into a single leader for the channel, as the rest of the business had been reorganized, the spokesman declined to answer. He added that Dell was not ready to reveal any personnel changes that might occur around the company's channel business. Queries to Dell's Americas Channel Chief Greg Davis were referred to the spokesman.

Dell's channel partner program "PartnerDirect will not be directly affected by the reorganization," the spokesman said.

Dell's reorganization calls for a handful of executive changes at the top of the company.
Steve Schuckenbrock, previously president of Dell's Global Services and chief information officer, will now lead the Large Enterprise division. Dell said, in a statement, that "a single large-enterprise unit will further Dell’s advantage in delivering globally consistent innovations, solutions and services to the world’s largest IT users."

Steve Felice will lead Dell's Small and Medium Business division. Felice, based in Singapore, is currently president of Dell Asia-Pacific and Japan. Dell says that this division will "accelerate creation and delivery of SMB-specific solutions and technology."

As part of the reorganization Dell will say goodbye to two executives it worked hard to woo. Mike Cannon, Dell president of global operations, will retire. Michael Dell enticed him to join the company with a $2 million signing bonus, according to a Reuters report. And Dell's marketing chief, Mark Jarvis, is also leaving. His signing bonus was $250,000.

Cannon will be succeeded by 21-year company veteran Jeff Clarke.