Cradlepoint also says that it will be announcing major new channel initiatives at their Global Partner Summit in early May.
Purcell, Cradlepoint’s SVP, Global Partner, and Alliances
Boise-based WAN wireless edge networking specialist Cradlepoint has announced a significant strengthening of their channel infrastructure with the appointment of four VP-level senior managers. It’s part of a general enhancement of channel resources which has been ongoing for months, with further reveals being scheduled to be made at the Cradlepoint Global Partner Summit May 5-6.
Cradlepoint was acquired by Ericcson last year, and now operates as a standalone subsidiary of Ericcson. The acquisition made it easier for Cradlepoint to deepen its channel resources, but the company’s global channel chief stressed that this strategy was already under way previously.
“We were on this path before,” said Eric Purcell, Cradlepoint’s SVP, Global Partner, and Alliances. “It was accelerated and supported by the Ericcson acquisition, but we had our strategy and structure in place before that happened.”
Purcell said that what dictated the need for channel expansion was the combination of an explosion of opportunities in the space last year, combined with the fact Cradlepoint is a 100% channel strategy in their Go-to-Market.
“The shift to wireless WAN accelerated with the pandemic, with use cases accelerating significantly,” Purcell said. “It will also ramp up exponentially as 5G networks and private LTE go on. It’s an incredible opportunity for the partner ecosystem. Cradlepoint is all partner, all the time. We don’t have consulting services or implementation services. We have to enable to do everything through our partners.”
The hiring of four senior channel leaders over the last few weeks gives the impression of a major leadership purge, but Purcell said that these are not replacements for departed executives, but net-new hires, which reflect an increase in resources.
“This is a focused effort to bring in the best of the best, people with global or theatre-based experience,” he stated.
Krissy Kelley has been named VP of Global Partner and Field Marketing, responsible for partner enablement, scaling, and co-marketing efforts. Her background features senior marketing and channel leadership roles at Fortinet, Citrix, and RSA.
Lisa Wight is another new resource, as VP of Global Distribution and Partner Program. She will play a critical role in implementing a compelling and scalable distribution and partner program worldwide. She has extensive global distribution and channel experience at VMware and Dell.
Steve Benvenuto, who has 20 years of channel leadership at Cisco, has been named VP of Partner Sales, Americas to drive partner success and growth in North America.
“Since coming in, Steve has doubled the resource investments in Canada, and hired a completely new partner team in Mexico,” Purcell said.
Darryl Brick has been named VP Partner Sales, EMEA. His background includes channel roles at Juniper Networks, Infoblox, Imperva, and ServiceNow.
“Darryl has added four new channel managers in EMEA in the last nine days,” Purcell indicated.
Programmatic changes are on the horizon as well.
“We have the industry’s first 5G to enable holistic LAN practices, and last year we rolled out a complete specialization framework that enables our partners to become trusted advisors and build their own consulting services,” Purcell said. “It’s the first one in the industry that focuses on this. We will be enhancing it throughout the year. We will also be announcing more investments at our partner summit in May, including training and certification programs.”
