Brown Leaving Dimension Data, New CEO To Double Down On Cloud

Slaga, a 13-year Dimension Data vet, shared his plans with CRN after being appointed Dimension Data Americas CEO on Tuesday. Slaga was formerly COO of Dimension Data Americas and will succeed current CEO Jere Brown, who is set to retire in October. Brown has been Americas CEO since 2006.

Slaga said his goal of tripling Dimension Data Americas' revenue over the next half decade stems from Dimension Data's broader goal of doubling its global revenue -- which sits at roughly $5.8 billion today -- over the next five years, as well.

[Related: A Cloud Services Culture War: Dimension Data Vs. AWS ]

"Dimension Data, globally, wants to double the business, and if you look at the business going from about $6 billion to $12 billion, and you look at the major markets, Europe and U.S. are the key ones," Slaga told CRN.

This $12 billion growth plan was first outlined by Dimension Data CEO Brett Dawson in May. Dawson noted at the time that much of this growth will come from Dimension Data's continued investments in cloud and providing its own Dimension Data-branded IT service offerings.

Dimension Data, a Cisco Gold partner and SP500 powerhouse, has emerged as a leader in the race among solution providers to deliver a new generation of cloud and IT services. In May, the Johannesburg, South Africa-based company bolstered its cloud practice with a new, three-tiered cloud storage service rivaling those from cloud storage giants like Amazon Web Services and Rackspace.

Three days later, Dimension Data acquired a privately owned, Australia-based managed security services provider, Earthwave Corp., in another move meant to bulk up its cloud and IT-as-a-Service offerings.

Slaga said he will help fuel Dimension Data America's growth in the services and cloud arenas through both internal or "organic" growth, along with further acquisitions across the Americas regions.

"What you will see is that we will build off the back of the business today, and the cloud, data center and outsourcing will be three areas we will be expanding organically," Slaga said. "You will see an expansion across both North and South America."

Slaga will officially take the Dimension Data Americas CEO seat on October 1, after a 90-day transition period with Brown. "Jere has built a great foundation for this business and he's been a great leader," Slaga said. "And that foundation is set for us to really accelerate."

Dimension Data said Scott Macfee, head of the Americas procurements and logistics team, will assume the role of Americas COO upon Slaga's move.

PUBLISHED JULY 9, 2013