Distributor Ingram Micro Inc. is consolidating its U.S. and Canadian executive teams into a single, North America management infrastructure.
As a result of the reorganization, three executives are leaving the Santa Ana, Calif.-based company, the world's largest IT products distributor, and several others are being reassigned.
In the process, the company is establishing its first unified sales infrastructure for all of North America. This reorganization will, in effect, allow the distributor's units in the United States and Canada to operate as a multinational company, rather than two separate entities, said Keith Bradley, president of Ingram Micro North America.
"Having a focused management team to drive consistent business strategies and implement best practices across borders and throughout our business will be a key component to our success," he said.
The moves are the latest in a series of strategic steps to cut costs, increase productivity and boost market share, according to Ingram Micro executives.
In April, the company said it would lay off 550 employees, and last week it acknowledged it is close to signing an outsourcing agreement with Progeon, a subsidiary of outsourcing and consulting provider InfoSys Technologies Inc.
The management moves the company made public Friday include the departures of three executives.
They are Dave Walsh, vice president of marketing in Canada, Murray Wright, general manager and vice president of sales in Canada, and Pat Capparelli, senior vice president of U.S. sales.
Walsh and Wright are departing immediately, and Capparelli, who the company says is leaving for personal reasons, is staying until June.
The executive reassignments include moving Brian Wiser, currently senior vice president of U.S. marketing, to a role he held previously as senior vice president of sales, North America.
In addition, Paul Bay, currently senior vice president of vendor management in the U.S. organization, will have his role expanded to include Canada as vice president of vendor management for North America.
Although the company will run North America operations as an integrated unit, certain positions will remain country-focused.
As such, Martin Kalsbeek, a 14-year veteran of Ingram Micro Canada, will become vice president and general manager for Ingram Micro in Canada.
And Mark Snider, most recently a senior sales manager at Dell Inc., will join the Canadian team as vice president of sales in charge of VAR, government, education and large account sales teams.
As of yet the company has not named a vice president of marketing for North America, but plans to appoint one soon.
Bradley said the consolidated North American management structure will allow the company to launch new customer programs and services across the region more effectively. He promised that no degradation of service will result from these moves.
It is the same pledge Bradley made in regard to moving certain job functions to the Philippines and India under the Progeon outsourcing agreement.
Customer-contact functions, such as basic technical support, will be handled in the Philippines and backroom transactional duties in India.
The transition will start after contract is finalized in the next few weeks and will take up to nine months.
So far, Ingram Micro's customers, the VARs and integrators that sell to user accounts, have been taking the company's streamlining steps in stride.
Chris Redshaw, president of Raleigh, N.C.-based Future Vision Inc., a member of Ingram Micro's VentureTech reseller network, said the consolidation between U.S. and Canada operations makes sense.
"We have been seeing a trend moving towards tighter integration between the United States and Canada, especially within the VentureTech Network, for a while now," she said. "I definitely see it as a positive move. We have customers that have a presence in the U.S. as well as Canada. This move allows us to tap into opportunities on both sides of the border more effectively. "
In another management change that appears to be separate from the North America consolidation, The Channel Insider has learned that Geno Marcoux last week resigned his post as vice president and general manager of components.
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