The cloud distributor hires a bilingual Canadian head of sales and a Canadian Microsoft Program Manager, reflecting the key influence of Microsoft in convincing Pax8 to finally put boots on the ground in Canada.
Nick Heddy, Chief Revenue Officer at Pax8
Canada has been a good market for Colorado-headquartered cloud distributor Pax8. But until 2021, they serviced the Canadian market out of the U.S. That’s no longer the case. In January, they hired the first Pax8 Canada employee, Diana Hakki, as Microsoft Program Manager. On March 29, barely a week ago, they named Mariane Louvet as Director of Sales, Pax8 Canada. The plan is to hire three more Canadian-based employees in the next two months.
It is significant that the Microsoft Program Manager was hired two months before the Sales Director.
“It was on the advice of the Microsoft Canada team that we established a local presence in Canada,” said Nick Heddy, Chief Revenue Officer at Pax8. “We had been thinking about it for a long time. Microsoft wanting us to do this was the final push.”
“We are excited about Pax8’s commitment to the Canadian market and the investment to providing the team, education, and resources to enable the partner community to grow their Microsoft business,” said Andre Faria, Channel Manager at Microsoft Canada. “We look forward to strengthening our partnership with Pax8 Canada through strategic initiatives, innovative solutions, and their exceptional partner enablement programs, producing phenomenal results.”
Heddy said that this move shows the company’s commitment to having a Canada-based Pax8 Canada team.
“We have had a Canada team since our very inception and have some of our best partners in Canada,” he noted. “But up until Diana was hired in January, we had no in-country presence. As part of our commitment to Microsoft Canada, we committed to growing our presence in Canada.”
Pax8 has had a significant team in place to support the Canadian business, which has worked out of the U.S. It includes 16 Productivity Solutions Consultants, 13 Security Solutions Consultants, and eight Infrastructure Solutions Consultants. This support will continue for Pax8 Canada going forward.
Pax8’s growth in the Canadian market is roughly proportional to Pax8’s U.S. business, about 100% Year-over-Year, Heddy said.
“The significance of the Microsoft business in Canada is also about the same as it is in the U.S.,” he noted, with the Canadian Microsoft business growing at a 73% rate since June of 2020. “85% of our partners active in Canada purchase Microsoft along with other products.”
Mariane Louvet, based in Montreal, also provides Pax8 with a bilingual senior presence in Canada. She came to Pax8 from ForcePoint, where she was responsible for the distribution channel as Director Channel Distribution – NAM/Cloud Distribution. Before that she spent six years at Symantec, with her last position there being Director Service Provider Development NAM. She began her career in the 1990s with distributor Globelle, which was acquired by Tech Data.
As befits a Microsoft Program Manager, Dianna Hakki came from Microsoft, where she spent close to five years. For more than three of those, she had been Modern Workplace sales enablement Specialist – Microsoft 365. She earlier spent six years at Oracle.
