Mitel U.S. Channel Chief Departs

Mitel has announced its U.S. channel chief Philip Keenan is leaving the company after just more than two years in the role.

Mitel has not named a replacement for Keenan, whose official title at the company was executive vice president of sales for North America and, formerly, vice president of Mitel's U.S. Partner Business, but it said President and CEO Richard McBee will assume his responsibilities on an interim basis.

Keenan, a 25-year channel and UC vet, was a driving force behind Mitel's channel overhaul the past year. Under his lead, the UC and VoIP vendor grew its channel business by 30 percent and launched its Authorized Partner Service Program (APSP), which shifted much of Mitel's services and support offerings from direct to indirect sales. What’s more, Keenan helped in the development of Mitel's inside channel support team.

[Related: Mitel Adds Distribution, More Channel Resources Coming ]

Mitel did not immediately respond to CRN's request for comment.

Prior to joining Mitel, Keenan held senior positions at Nortel, where he was responsible for establishing and overseeing Nortel's Telepresence and Multimedia services business. Keenan also had a decade-long run at Polycom, where he was a member of the executive management team and held a range of positions, including senior vice president of strategy and solutions marketing and senior vice president of worldwide sales.

The announcement of Keenan's departure was rolled into Mitel's preliminary third-quarter earnings results, in which the company projected revenue of approximately $142 million, which would be down from the $145.5 million it reported during the close of its second fiscal quarter in November.

Mitel, which outlined plans in 2011 to restructure and shift its focus to midmarket UC solutions and virtualization, has been struggling financially since its April 2010 initial public offering. In August of last year, Mitel announced it would trim about 200 jobs from its global workforce in an attempt to cut costs.

PUBLISHED FEB. 20, 2013