30 Notable IT Executive Moves: March 2022

Ingram Micro, CDI, Citrix, Google, Microsoft and VMware were among the tech giants to make executive hires during the month.

A new chief product and platform officer at Ingram Micro, a new chief technology officer of modern applications at Computer Design & Integration (CDI) and a new Citrix chief information security officer are among the major executive hires of March 2022.

Ajay Agarwal, formerly of Amazon Web Services; Russell Pope, formerly of Ahead, and Ricardo Johnson, formerly of Dropbox, are just some of the names featured on CRN’s March 2022 executive moves list.

Google, Microsoft and VMware were among the other tech giants to make executive hires during the month as companies invest in resources for sales, technology and partners.

Those executives were Adam Gray, formerly of Amazon; Marco Casalaina, formerly of Salesforce, and Jennifer Chronis, formerly of Verizon.

The job changes come during a period dubbed the “Great Resignation” due to elevated rates of Americans quitting their jobs. The number of Americans quitting did grow slightly in February, totaling 4.4 million quits, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The quits rate increased to 2.9 percent.

What follows are 30 notable IT executive moves from March 2022.

John Teltsch Jr.

In March, Converge Technology Solutions hired former IBM channel executive John Teltsch Jr. as chief revenue officer.

The Toronto-based company – No. 34 on CRN’s 2021 Solution Provider 500 – brings in Teltsch in the middle of an acquisition spree aimed at buying $1 billion in revenue per year from M&A.

Teltsch comes to Converge after about 40 years with IBM, most recently serving as general manager of technology sales for the U.S., Canada and Latin America. He worked with IBM Hardware Systems, Cloud & Cognitive Software and Technology Support Services to help clients adopt IBM’s hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence offerings.

Ajay Agarwal

Last month, Ingram Micro hired Ajay Agarwal as chief product and platform officer as part of an expanded Global Digital Solutions organization.

The Irvine, Calif.-based distributor brought Agarwal over from Amazon Web Services. Agarwal worked at AWS for more than five years, leaving the company with the title of general manager and head of product for AWS Marketplace.

Agarwal’s resume includes about two years with health technology company Philips, serving as senior director and head of UltraMobile product management and marketing. He also worked at Dell Technologies for more than 16 years, leaving in 2013 with the title of general manager and senior director of enterprise workloads, according to his LinkedIn.

Rupal Hollenbeck

In March, Check Point Software Technologies brought on former Oracle and Intel marketing leader Rupal Hollenbeck to lead the company’s global sales and marketing operations.

The San Carlos, Calif.-based platform security vendor has tasked Hollenbeck with building a unified go-to-market organization based out of Silicon Valley as chief commercial officer. She starts Monday and will replace Chief Customer Officer Dan Yerushalmi, who is based in Israel and has managed the company’s global sales organization since 2018 and is leaving to focus on family and personal interests.

Hollenbeck was appointed to Check Point’s board in January 2021 as an independent director following a two-year stint as Oracle’s chief marketing officer. Prior to that, she spent 23 years at Intel, culminating in a two-year stint as corporate vice president and general manager of data center sales and marketing. Hollenbeck most recently spent a year as chief marketing officer at AI computing firm Cerebras Systems.

Mac Avancena Jr.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise hired Mac Avancena Jr. in March as vice president of GreenLake-as-a-service solutions.

Two years ago, Avancena put in place an HPE GreenLake on-premises cloud services deal for Kern County, Calif., while serving as its chief information technology officer. He spent nearly four years in the role.

Before taking on the CIO job at Kern County, Avancena spent 16 years in various IT roles at NBC Universal including director of infrastructure technology and senior director of product management.

Jennifer Chronis

In March, Jennifer Chronis joined VMware as vice president of public sector, according to her LinkedIn.

She came to the Palo Alto, Calif.-based virtualization and cloud vendor from Verizon, according to her LinkedIn. Chronis worked at Verizon for more than a year, leaving with the title of senior vice president of public sector.

Chronis’ resume includes more than four years with Amazon Web Services, where she served as general manager for Department of Defense work, according to her LinkedIn. She also worked at IBM for more than eight years, leaving in 2015 with the title of vice president of the Department of Defense integrated account.

In 2010, Chronis retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel from the U.S. Army after about 21 years of service.

Lane Brannan

Lane Brannan joined Pax8 in March as chief revenue officer for the Americas, according to his LinkedIn.

Brannan comes to the Greenwood Village, Colo.-based distributor from ethics and compliance software company Convercent, where he worked for more than three years. He left with the title of CRO, according to LinkedIn.

He previously served as CRO at digital sign company Four Winds Interactive, where he worked for more than three years. He left Four Winds in 2018, according to his LinkedIn.

His resume includes more than 12 years with Cbeyond, leaving the company in 2013 with the title of west region vice president of sales, according to his LinkedIn. Birch Communications bought Cbeyond in 2014.

Russell Pope

Last month, Russell Pope joined Computer Design & Integration (CDI) – a member of CRN’s 2022 Managed Service Provider 500 – as chief technology officer of modern applications, according to his LinkedIn.

Pope came to the New York-based MSP from Ahead, where Pope most recently served as field CTO.

Pope joined Ahead with the 2020 acquisition of Kovarus. He joined Kovarus in 2011 as a principal architect, according to his LinkedIn.

His resume includes more than three years at 4Base Technology, according to his LinkedIn. He left the company in 2011 with the title of principal architect.

Stephen Williams

Stephen Williams joined Oracle last month as senior vice president of enterprise transformation, according to his LinkedIn.

Williams joined the Austin, Texas-based cloud and database giant after more than three years at the Heathrow airport, according to his LinkedIn. He left with the title of transformation program director and adviser. In this role, Williams was “modernizing antiquated back office, service systems and business processes with full cloud digitization and set ongoing operational policy,” and he set up “and maintained long-term infrastructure support functions, stood up DevOps teams, and enterprise architecture governance.”

His resume includes more than a year with data science and digital marketing company Dunnhumby. He left the company in 2019 with the title of transformation program director and adviser, according to his LinkedIn.

Krishnaraj Vanavadiya

Krishnaraj Vanavadiya returned to Intel in March as vice president of technology definition and modeling and design enablement applications and support, according to his LinkedIn.

Vanavadiya came back to the Santa Clara, Calif.-based semiconductor maker after more than two years with Wipro. He left Wipro with the title of vice president of very-large-scale integration (VLSI) and hardware engineering, according to his LinkedIn. In this role, he “delivered multiple designs across technology segments for diverse customers” and “led worldwide Engineering organization, transformed and grew business by delivering high quality deliverables, cost optimization and complete P&L responsibility.”

He previously spent more than 24 years with Intel, leaving in 2020 with the title of senior director, according to his LinkedIn. In this role, he led the “design automation and product integration engineering team to deliver CAD technology to enable IOT, SOC, Server and Client Core Products on different technology nodes and was “responsible for defining and delivering design tools, flows and methodology and support while constantly improving the efficiency,” among other responsibilities.

Marco Casalaina

Last month, Marco Casalaina joined Microsoft as vice president of products for Azure Cognitive Services, according to his LinkedIn.

Casalaina comes to the Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant from Salesforce, according to his LinkedIn. He worked at Salesforce for more than 10 years on and off. His most recent title was senior vice president of product management for Einstein.

His resume includes more than two years with RingCentral. He left the company in 2017 with the title of vice president of applications, according to his LinkedIn. In this role, he “managed both the product and engineering teams building the next generation of unified communications applications, including voice, SMS, IM, collaboration, video, and screen sharing.”

Adam Gray

In March, Google hired Adam Gray as vice president of product management for Google Assistant, according to his LinkedIn.

Gray joined the Mountain View, Calif.-based tech giant after more than 11 years with Amazon, according to his LinkedIn. His most recent title with Amazon was vice president and head of product and customer experience for Prime Video.

Before Amazon, Gray worked at software developer CDM Technologies for more than seven years, according to his LinkedIn. He left the company in 2008 with the title of senior manager of software engineering.

Ricardo Johnson

Citrix hired Ricardo Johnson in March as chief information security officer, according to his LinkedIn.

In this role with the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based virtualization and cloud vendor, Johnson is “responsible for Citrix‘s product engineering and corporate security programs, including board reporting,” and he will “orchestrate ultra-talented and brilliant Citrix engineers via collaborative programs to ensure our portfolio of products and services are worthy of our customers’ trust,” according to his LinkedIn.

Johnson previously worked at Dropbox for more than two years, leaving with the title of head of security, risk and governance for product engineering and ITS, according to his LinkedIn. In this role, he was “responsible for the identification and mitigation of risks as it relates to threat detection & response, data privacy, IT security architecture, and enterprise technology solutions for product engineering and IT organizations,” and he would “partner with business unit leaders to design modern and effective ways to automate the execution, remediation, monitoring, and enforcement of controls.”

His resume also includes more than five years with CrowdStrike, which he left in 2019 with the title of senior director of security, risk and compliance, according to his LinkedIn. He also worked at Burger King for more than two years, leaving in 2011 as chief privacy and IT compliance officer.

Apoorva Karan

In March, IBM hired Apoorva Karan as vice president of IBM cloud network security and services, according to her LinkedIn.

Karan joined the Armonk, N.Y.-based tech giant after more than 21 years with Cisco, according to her LinkedIn. Her most recent title with Cisco was senior director of engineering, developer productivity and infrastructure.

In this role, she led “Cisco’s DevX (Developer Experience) group, a central team at Cisco responsible for building critical tools and infrastructure” and drove “strategy for Cisco’s Digitization – a 10x disruption that delivers unprecedented visibility, automation, effectiveness, efficiency, and alignment for all functions and personas,” according to her LinkedIn.

Mike Burrows

Mike Burrows joined Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) in March as corporate vice president of the advanced graphics program, according to his LinkedIn.

Burrows comes to the Santa Clara, Calif.-based semiconductor company after about 14 years with Intel. His most recent title with Intel was chief technology officer and director of advanced technologies group, gaming and graphics, according to his LinkedIn.

His resume includes more than nine years with Microsoft and Xbox, according to his LinkedIn.

Richard Craighead

Cisco hired Richard Craighead last month as vice president of platform engineering and security, according to his LinkedIn.

Craighead came to the San Jose, Calif.-based networking company after less than a year with Cytracom, according to his LinkedIn. He left the voice-over-internet-protocol and unified communications company with the title of vice president of engineering.

He previously worked at McAfee on and off for more than 12 years, according to his LinkedIn. He left McAfee most recently in 2021 with the title of vice president of engineering.

Imran Mohiuddin

In March, Imran Mohiuddin joined Salesforce as senior vice president of product management for availability and big data, according to his LinkedIn.

Mohiuddin came to the San Francisco-based customer relationship management software company after more than 11 years on and off with Microsoft, according to his LinkedIn. He left Microsoft with the title of partner product manager for cloud cybersecurity.

In this role, he and his team were “responsible for securing Microsoft datacenters on which MS Cloud runs” and did “security monitoring & response to create full visibility across an industrial facility stack, running Get Secure/Stay Secure campaigns, and establishing security blueprints for all DC form-factors including modernized smart datacenters,” according to his LinkedIn.

His resume also includes more than a year with Amazon Web Services, according to Mohiuddin’s LinkedIn. He left the company in 2014 with the title of product manager lead. In this role, he “led the execution and launch of multiple key features to run high performance and high throughput workloads on EBS” and “helped increase overall revenues by more than 40% in 2013.”

Peter FitzGibbon

Peter FitzGibbon joined SADA in March as vice president of professional services, according to his LinkedIn.

Los Angeles-based SADA – a member of CRN’s 2022 Managed Service Provider 500 – brought FitzGibbon on after about five years with Rackspace, according to his LinkedIn.

He left Rackspace with the title of vice president of professional services. His responsibilities in this role included “delivering on our professional services (aka consulting) engagements for the Americas, including US, Canadian, and LATAM markets.”

Prior to his work with Rackspace, FitzGibbon worked for more than 13 years at Accenture. He left Accenture in 2017 with the title of managing director, according to his LinkedIn.

Anurag Chaturvedi

Kyndryl brought on Anurag Chaturvedi in March as vice president of operations transformation, according to his LinkedIn.

Chaturvedi came to the New York-based services provider after less than a year with cloud software company Axtria, according to his LinkedIn. He left Axtria with the title of principal. He previously worked for Axtria in 2015 doing “end-to-End data & analytics solutions on the cloud,” among other tasks.

His resume includes more than eight years with KPMG, according to LinkedIn. He left KPMG in 2021 with the title of global life sciences and health care alliances leader. In this role, he was “accountable for global life sciences alliances strategy and execution - working closely with client service teams on big transformational deals, addressing sector level issues beyond the capabilities of any one company.”

Chaturvedi also worked at Bristol-Myers Squibb for more than two years, leaving in 2015 as director of strategy and operations for enterprise services, according to his LinkedIn. He worked at Hewlett-Packard for more than five years, leaving in 2012 with the title of chief of staff and strategic programs executive for client engagement.

Tom DeMaria

Dell Technologies hired Tom DeMaria in March as senior vice president of engineering technology, according to his LinkedIn.

In this new role, DeMaria will lead a “team of technologists with a mission to ignite a digital ecosystem focused on co-creating and deploying the digital future of IT and IIoT and to move the world to an era of software defined everything,” according to his LinkedIn.

DeMaria came to the Round Rock, Texas-based tech giant from General Motors, according to his LinkedIn. He worked at GM for more than four years, leaving with the title of executive director of global connected car services. He served as the “global technology leader for GM’s 5G connected car services and partner ecosystem build-out,” overseeing a portfolio that “includes in-vehicle infotainment, OnStar, 5G telematics network, connected autonomous vehicles (AV), connected electric vehicles (EV), UHD media streaming and in-vehicle applications.”

His resume includes more than two years with Intel, leaving in 2016 with the title of senior product director of internet of things (IoT) Innovation and growth, according to DeMaria’s LinkedIn. DeMaria also worked at GE Digital for more than two years, leaving in 2014 with the title of director and chief technology officer of the industrial IoT platform.

Ray August

DXC Technology hired Ray August in March as president of insurance software and business process services (BPS), according to his Linkedin.

Before joining Ashburn, Va.-based DXC – No. 4 on CRN’s 2021 Solution Provider 500 – August led software business Benefitfocus as CEO. He left Benefitfocus in 2020 after more than six years with the company, starting in 2014 as chief operating officer, according to his LinkedIn.

August’s resume includes more than 16 years with DXC predecessor Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC). August left CSC in 2014 with the title of president of the financial services group. During his time with CSC, the financial services group “grew past $3 Billion in Revenue, over $10 Billion in Bookings and more than 10,000 employees,” according to his LinkedIn.

DXC was formed in 2017 from Hewlett Packard Enterprise spinning off its enterprise services business and merging it with CSC.

Mark Oliphant

Mark Oliphant joined ePlus in March, taking the title of vice president of IT strategic programs, according to his LinkedIn.

Oliphant joined Herndon, Va.-based ePlus – a member of CRN’s 2022 Managed Service Provider 500 – after about five years with Wipfli. Oliphant left Wipfli with the title of chief information officer and digital adviser, according to his LinkedIn.

Before Wipfli, Oliphant worked at Tatum for about two years, according to his LinkedIn. He left in 2017 with the title of partner.

Oliphant’s resume includes about 14 years with Fannie Mae, leaving in 2009 with the title of director of product development.

Jeff Andrew

Zones hired Jeff Andrew last month as senior vice president and chief delivery officer, according to his LinkedIn.

The Auburn, Wash.-based member of CRN’s 2022 Managed Service Provider 500 brought Andrew in from IT services company Pomeroy. Andrew worked at Pomeroy for about a year, leaving with the title of vice president of strategic alliances, according to his LinkedIn.

Andrew’s resume includes more than five years with CompuCom. He left the company in 2020 with the title of vice president and general manager of the South region, according to his LinkedIn. During his time with CompuCom, he was accountable “for the Revenue and EBITDA supporting over 150 Clients” and “responsible for Sales and growth targets, Service Delivery and contracted SLA’s, and Client Success through relationships and satisfaction metrics.”

Before CompuCom, Andrew worked at VizTech for more than eight years. He left the company in 2015 with the title of executive vice president, according to his LinkedIn.

Bogdan Udrea

Bogdan Udrea joined Unisys – No. 29 on CRN’s 2021 Solution Provider 500 – last month as vice president of solution development, according to his LinkedIn.

Udrea joins the Blue Bell, Pa.-based services provider after more than a year with visibility and remote endpoint company 1E, according to his LinkedIn. He left 1E with the title of chief technologist. His responsibilities in this role included “strategy and long-term planning for 1E Product Suite to drive alignment with the Modern Workplace vision” and “partner Management and Sales Enablement to accelerate go to market motions.”

Before 1E, Udrea spent more than four years with NTT Data Services, according to his LinkedIn. He left NTT in 2020 with the title of senior director of research and development and capability development for workplace services.

Udrea’s resume also includes about five years with Dell. He left the company in 2016 with the title of chief technical architect of the global solution design center.

Jason Martin

Databricks hired Jason Martin in March as vice president of professional services, according to his LinkedIn.

Before joining the San Francisco-based data and AI company, Martin worked at Google for more than six years, according to his LinkedIn. He left Google with the title of vice president of worldwide professional services.

Martin previously worked at Cumulus Networks for more than two years, according to his LinkedIn. He left in 2016 with the title of vice president of customer experience.

His resume includes more than seven years with VMware, according to his LinkedIn. He left the company in 2009 with the title of vice president of worldwide professional services.

Alex Saghatelian

Alex Saghatelian joined Okta last month as vice president of global business planning within the product organization, according to his LinkedIn.

He came to the San Francisco-based identity company after more than three years with ServiceNow, according to his LinkedIn. He left with the title of global vice president of monetization strategy and operations leader.

During his time at ServiceNow, Saghatelian “built and led global monetization strategy & operations to accelerate growth from $2B to $6B+” by simplifying “buying, increasing up/cross sell, future proofing pricing models, improving deal pricing & velocity.” As part of his work, he “built pricing team/org from the ground up, leading strategy & execution across all Product, Sales, Services, Channel/Alliance teams.”

Before ServiceNow, he worked at Hitachi Vantara for about a year, according to his LinkedIn. He left the company in 2018 with the title of senior vice president and chief pricing officer.

His resume also includes more than a year with Workday, leaving in 2017 with the title of global vice president of go-to-market strategy and operations and deals management leader. Saghatelian also worked at Cisco for more than eight years, leaving in 2016 with the title of senior director and overall lead of pricing and product strategy for software and cloud, according to his LinkedIn.

Tanya Shastri

Palo Alto Networks brought on Tanya Shastri in March as senior vice president of product management for its next generation firewall business, according to her LinkedIn.

Shastri came to the Santa Clara, Calif.-based cybersecurity company after more than two years with VMware, according to her LinkedIn. She left the company with the title of vice president of products for the blockchain portfolio.

Her resume includes more than five years with Google, according to her LinkedIn. She left Google in 2019 with the title of head of strategic business development for Google Cloud product partnerships. In this role, Shastri “led the Strategic Business Development team, responsible for developing complex first-of-a-kind partner driven products, new business and monetization models, and developing new partner programs for Google Cloud Platform and G Suite.”

In 2019, Shastri sold Natero, a big data and machine learning analytics platform she co-founded and where she served as chief product officer, to Freshworks, according to LinkedIn.

Bart Richards

Bart Richards joined SentinelOne last month as vice president of enterprise sales, according to his LinkedIn.

Richards came to the Mountain View, Calif.-based cybersecurity company after more than a year with Deep Instinct, according to his LinkedIn account. He left the security company with the title of vice president of the Eastern United States and Canada.

During his time with Deep Instinct, Richards “grew endpoint security startup sales from near zero to $4M ACV in just four quarters” and “created structure and environment to consummate largest OEM deal in the company’s history with Tanium,” according to his LinkedIn.

Before Deep Instinct, he worked at Oracle for more than two years, according to LinkedIn. He left the company in 2020 with the title of vice president of cloud infrastructure solutions. During his time with Oracle, he “defined the go to market and then led the organization through transition from on premise infrastructure sales to cloud sales with triple digit YOY growth” and was “trusted with the largest financial services, pharma, insurance, retail, utility, media and entertainment accounts in the Northeast, as well as all of the verticals across the entirety of Canada.”

His resume includes more than 11 years with NetApp, leaving in 2011 with the title of regional director, according to his Linkedin.

Gabriel Indalecio

NetApp hired Gabriel Indalecio in March as vice president of worldwide got-to-market operations, according to his LinkedIn.

In this role with the San Jose, Calif.-based hybrid cloud data management company, Indalecio is “responsible for strategic initiatives, programs, and processes that drive alignment of the organization‘s sales effectiveness and productivity,” according to his LinkedIn.

He came to NetApp after more than a year with Google, according to his LinkedIn. He left with the title of global head of the sales operations center of excellence and help desk at Google Cloud. Ironically, NetApp CEO George Kurian is the twin brother of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian.

At Google, Indalecio would “identify, structure, and lead key strategic initiatives for Google Cloud Go-To-Market (GTM) Strategy and Operations across regional and functional operations teams” and “drive Operational Excellence across Google Cloud teams to ensure drive of efficient sales processes end-to-end,” according to his LinkedIn.

Prior to joining Google, Indalecio worked for about 20 years at Microsoft, according to his LinkedIn. He left Microsoft in 2020 with the title of senior director of sales operations and strategy for Microsoft Dynamics.

In this role, he “designed and Implemented Cloud acquisition Sales strategy for Solutions and orchestrated quota setting, Go-To-Market, and compensation resulting in new customers pipeline contribution to +25%” and “led business process and resources to implement a Daily Recommended Pipeline sales tool to enhance productivity through automation, enablement of business solutions to prospect customers and continual AI learning resulted in better pipeline coverage +300% and Close Rates + 50%,” according to his LinkedIn.

Vishy Gopalakrishnan

ServiceNow hired Vishy Gopalakrishnan last month as chief transformation officer, according to his LinkedIn account.

Gopalakrishnan came to the Santa Clara, Calif.-based cloud software company after more than 10 years on and off with AT&T, according to his LinkedIn. He left AT&T with the title of vice president of transformation. In this role, he drove a “multi-year IT transformation strategy based on aggressive migration to public cloud and SaaS” and evolved “architecture and governance to reduce IT complexity and technical debt.”

Before AT&T, Gopalakrishnan worked at SAP for about two years, according to his LinkedIn. He left the company in 2013 with the title of vice president of mobility solutions. In this role, his responsibilities included “global GTM for SAP mobile portfolio” and he “led strategic global customer opportunities - enabling customers to take advantage of mobile-enabled business transformation across CRM, field service, retail operations.”

Jeff Schwartz

Jeff Schwartz joined CrowdStrike in March as vice president of general and administrative business applications, according to his LinkedIn.

Schwartz came to the Austin, Texas-based cybersecurity company after more than five years with Splunk, according to his LinkedIn. He left Splunk with the title of head of general and administrative applications. In this role, he “defined strategy to enable scale applications to support $5B in revenue and beyond” and led “software negotiations across multiple software and implementation vendors resulting in maximized value and flexibility in terms (over $70M in spend).”

His resume includes more than a year with mortgage processor Ellie Mae, according to his LinkedIn. Schwartz left the company in 2016 with the title of vice president of information technology and business systems.