Chris Fabes brings three-sided channel view to TD SYNNEX Canada

**Robert Dutt:** Hello and welcome to In The Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel community for the last 16 years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor at ChannelBuzz.ca, and your host for the show.

Today I’m joined by Chris Fabes, who’s just a couple of weeks into his new role as president of TD SYNNEX Canada. Now, TD SYNNEX is of course the largest technology distributor in the world, and the Canadian operation has been a fixture of this channel for decades. But this is a transition moment. Mitch Martin ran the Canadian business for more than 35 years, starting out with Merisel Canada, through the Synnex acquisition, the pandemic, mergers with Westcon, and finally the merger with Tech Data.

He retired earlier this year and TD SYNNEX went outside the organization for his replacement. They found Chris Fabes at SHI International, where he was running the Canadian operation. Before SHI, he spent a decade at Lenovo Canada, where as the channel chief he tripled channel revenue to $1.2 billion in three years. And before that, he started his career at a reseller. So, he’s one of the very few people in the industry who’ve held senior leadership roles on the reseller side, the vendor side, and now the distributor side. A 360-degree view that I think is worth exploring.

We talked about what he’s seeing in his first two weeks, what partners should expect from TD SYNNEX Canada under his leadership, the Quebec market, which he calls home, AI, program simplification, and why he thinks the Canadian channel ecosystem should be, in his words, “proud and loud.” Let’s get right into it. My chat with Chris Fabes.

Chris, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it.

**Chris Fabes:** Thanks for having me. I also appreciate it.

**Robert Dutt:** Pretty epic way to get the distributor side of things on your channel bingo card, having already done the reseller solution provider and vendor side. Congrats on the new gig and I guess in general, your thoughts on taking over the leadership of TD SYNNEX Canada at this moment.

**Chris Fabes:** I appreciate that. And look, how could I not be excited? It’s an incredible opportunity. As you mentioned, I’ve been on the vendor side as well as the value-added reseller side, but distribution is definitely not new for me. I’ve been working with TD SYNNEX for many, many years in different capacities. So it’s exciting having known the organization, knowing a lot of the people, and just quickly being pulled into internal and external conversations about, “Hey, what can we go do to go big?” So it’s just really exciting and I couldn’t be happier.

**Robert Dutt:** As we touch on there, you’ve had senior leadership roles reseller side, most recently SHI, the vendor side with Lenovo, and now you’re adding the distributor side—a perspective that not many people have at the senior level especially. How has seeing that ecosystem from all three of those sides changed what you think a distributor actually needs to do for partners?

**Chris Fabes:** I think it gives me a perspective that is rather unique. I always like to look at what the market is asking of the channel ecosystem and for each of those components, where do we add value and how do we focus on the outcome that our customers, vendor partners, and the ultimate end user are looking for. I think we can all agree that while technology, the whole industry is an exciting place to be—and I think we’d be doing something different if we all wanted things to be simple—the pace of change and the pace of innovation is really exciting. I think with all of the growth and now complexities built into the ecosystem, distribution plays an even more pivotal role in being able to service the demand. That’s what’s really exciting looking at the future.

**Robert Dutt:** At Lenovo, one of your signature achievements was tripling channel revenue to $1.2 billion over the course of three years. What was the thesis and the plan behind that growth in that time, and is any of that transferable to the distributor context where you’re one step further removed from the end customer?

**Chris Fabes:** I think it absolutely is relevant and it aligns. It all starts with planning around what the expected demand is and making sure that the differentiation and the capabilities are aligned with that opportunity. Even answering your question from the Lenovo side of things, it was: where’s the appetite? Where are the routes to market? How do we pull the levers at the right times? How do we make sure that we’re talking to the customers, being the channel partners as well as the end customers, so that we can pivot as required? Looking at the distribution side of things, it’s really no different. In the Canadian market, it is really: where’s the spend coming from, who is touching those spend requirements, and how do we participate in a meaningful way where we’re adding value to the equation?

**Robert Dutt:** You spent a decade at Lenovo on your way up, literally working your way up the organization. How does that kind of ground-level experience shape your leadership style and what are you looking for in the teams you’re building now?

**Chris Fabes:** Great question. I’ve always looked at myself as being someone that respects people at all levels. I don’t see myself any different from anyone else in any organization. So I really seek to understand, look to build relationships, and listen first. I lead with trust, which I think allows you to operate with very low friction, allowing people to outperform at their best levels. I make sure that I celebrate success along the way, but also hold people accountable.

It’s been fun being able to work for people and then have a flip-side relationship as I was able to grow into different leadership positions. Being humble and respectful of all those relationships has benefited me as I’ve moved into positions where the relationships, even if they might be different now, are very much respectful. I’m happy for them; they’re happy for me. We have a short memory when we want it to be short, but long when it matters. In this channel, being that it’s large yet very small at the same time, leaving those relationships better off has been an important part of the way I’ve looked at people.

**Robert Dutt:** I asked you a little while ago your perspective on what you can bring from the vendor side to the distributor side of things. Sort of the same question, but coming at it from your more recent point of view from the reseller side at SHI. A massive reseller—what did your time there teach you about where distribution adds value, where it doesn’t, and what you wanted from distribution when you were in that seat?

**Chris Fabes:** Sure. There were a lot of conversations. Most of my conversations at that point were internal around building strategy. I think we’ve touched on that quite a bit, but the other side was just talking with CIOs, CEOs, and VPs that were responsible for technology decisions. The technology decisions almost became the easy part. It was: Where can you help me around optimization? Where can you help me on cash flow? How can you do things that are lower friction? What happens when something might not be going perfectly? Is there an escalation path?

So, process—that’s what I started to learn and be able to apply to that business. Again, I think having that lens of those customer expectations and understanding the flow down through the complete channel ecosystem allows me to look at distribution from a strategy and execution lens, combined with the ultimate goal of satisfying those that are ultimately deploying the technology—whether they be SMB, mid-market, enterprise, or large public sector.

**Robert Dutt:** Mitch Martin ran this business for 35-plus years. That’s a pretty extraordinary tenure and he went through pretty wild changes in the industry and in the organization in particular. What do you see as the foundation that he left there? And what do you see, especially in your early days, as the biggest opportunities for fresh investment or new ideas?

**Chris Fabes:** Respect the legacy. That’s first and foremost. In my first couple weeks of talking with the staff, what I recognize is there was a strong hand on the business. The foundation was strong, mature, and very well operated, but that doesn’t mean we still can’t look at areas of opportunity—the nuances, the incremental spend, and how we bring additional value. So I’ll be spending my time respecting the mature foundation and the expertise that already exists in the business, listening and having an open mind, but looking at that three-to-five-year future of where TD SYNNEX needs to be based on the market appetite.

I want to underscore that in speaking to many people in my first days, it was so incredible to hear the tenures—10 years, 20 years, 30 years—and the passion that they’ve had as they’ve gone through their career with TD SYNNEX through multiple mergers and acquisitions. What they shared with me was just the trust and the love in the organization and the people. I consider myself very lucky to be taking that baton and moving forward with it.

**Robert Dutt:** TD SYNNEX is the largest distributor in the world and the competitive landscape is shifting. You’ve got Ingram Micro as the other big traditional broadline folks, and you’re both redefining yourselves in your own ways. As always, there are specialists and newcomers. You’ve got cloud marketplaces. I guess I’m curious, where do you think from where you sit now that TD SYNNEX needs to differentiate itself most urgently to stand out in the current marketplace?

**Chris Fabes:** We’re absolutely looking at how we maintain a position of leadership, and that comes down to understanding the market and understanding—and respecting—our competition. Those are going to be the conversations we’ll be having in terms of: How is the ecosystem changing? How is the appetite for technology changing? Are we in a position to meet the demand but also accelerate the demand? Obviously, there’ve been several tailwinds driving the appetite for various technologies, but there’ve also been headwinds where budgets have shifted in how the spend is being distributed. There’ll be that “tech talk” cycle of how we look at the opportunities and how we partner—and who we partner with—to make sure that we’re positioned to grow at scale but continue to take a leading position.

**Robert Dutt:** The press release that announced your arrival at TD SYNNEX emphasized enterprise and public sector. Those are areas that you focused on at SHI. Is that a signal that that’s an area where we’re going to see TD SYNNEX push harder in Canada, or more reflective of your background in recent history?

**Chris Fabes:** I don’t think we want to read too much into my background. There are no assumptions that I’ll take what I was doing and immediately deploy something like that in this new structure. But where I think there is an opportunity is looking at the buying flow of goods and where in the Canadian market we expect to see the need for services, partnerships, and guidance. There have been several announcements within Canada where there’s going to be increased spend in certain industries—defense is one. We can call that the broader public sector. We also continue to see from an ICT spend that security remains a high priority across the country, as well as the continued investment in readiness in the infrastructure stack. Ultimately, it’s what is driving that demand, and I will be looking at the segmentation and how we best support the customers and partners.

**Robert Dutt:** TD SYNNEX’s operational heart—the offices of both legacies that have come together over the years—is typically in the western side of the GTA, and you’re out of Montreal. I’m curious how you’re thinking about the geographic balance of the Canadian business writ large, and with your presence in “La Belle Province,” is there an opportunity to lean harder into Quebec and the francophone market?

**Chris Fabes:** Absolutely. The Quebec market is booming. It’s very attractive for us to continue to focus on the areas of growth. We will be taking a national approach, but it’s important that each market has its nuances and its differences. Yes, we have most of our team members within central Canada, on the west side of Toronto, but we’ll be looking at where the demand is. I’m lucky enough to be in Montreal and speak both official languages. I look forward to working with our Quebec partners and vendors to understand if there’re any areas of opportunity that we can help them address. It probably won’t hurt that I am local—born and raised here—and understand the market and the people.

**Robert Dutt:** As we speak, you’re two weeks into the role. As this airs, it’ll probably be more like three—”grizzled veteran” territory, clearly. Can you tell me a little bit about what you’ve been focused on for that first fortnight in the role and what you’ve heard from the crew, from resellers, and from vendors?

**Chris Fabes:** It’s been nothing but positive. If my wife was here, she would confirm the conversations that she’s overheard! I want this to be a very intentional and honest response. Whether it be the folks that I’ve worked with in the industry, the customers that we serve, or the staff I now have the opportunity to work with, it has been very positive. I was in the Mississauga office for the past few days. I intentionally spent multiple hours walking the floor, shaking hands with all of our people, and asking for feedback.

My goal is for our vendor partners and customers to see the value we can bring scale when we understand their business. I personally will hold my team accountable to understand the business drivers of our partners and customers. I will personally make sure that I’m involved in those conversations and in that planning—the good and the bad—so that I have a pulse on what’s expected of us. It’s really about decisions being rooted in reality and relationships.

**Robert Dutt:** Last month at ChannelNext Central, you talked about MSPs as “AI ambassadors” for a million or more Canadian SMBs. Now you’re running the biggest distributor in the country. How do you enable that? What’s the distributor’s role in making MSPs successful as AI adoption accelerates and especially SMB customers start looking for more on that front?

**Chris Fabes:** Absolutely. There are going to be some additional opportunities to look at how we provide services to the broader MSP market and how we serve them in the infrastructure build-out. There’s also a real conversation around the FinOps change—whether it be consumption or traditional SaaS moving to tokenomics. I think we as a distributor have an opportunity to listen, adjust, and build supporting models that support their build-out. We already do have programs in place to be able to support the MSPs in Canada, so we’ll continue to engage through our partner-led events and continue to build out what that model looks like.

**Robert Dutt:** Internally, we touched on AI with the last question. All the distributors are trying to build the business of the future around what AI will mean to the kind of data you can provide. I’m curious about your assessment of TD SYNNEX’s stature in that race at this moment and where you see the biggest opportunities for next steps.

**Chris Fabes:** I would say, honestly, I need to spend more time understanding where TD SYNNEX is from an AI perspective. I say that with honesty because my message to the team is that I need to observe and understand the ins and outs of our business. But what I will say broadly is that the appetite for AI is absolutely there and it requires a lot of readiness. Each of our customers is at a different stage.

We will meet you where you are, whether it is services readiness, policy, governance, and compliance where we can help at scale, or modernization around infrastructure. We will make sure that we are absolutely ready and take a leading position, because the opportunity is insatiable. Most critically, it’s: how do our partners and their customers use AI to increase their competitive edge and optimization? We’ll be right there beside them.

**Robert Dutt:** Back to your Lenovo days, another one of your big projects was simplifying the channel program. “Deadpan Simple” was a phrase I think you liked to use at the time. Distribution programs tend to be on the complex side. I’m curious if you see a simplification opportunity for TD SYNNEX Canada?

**Chris Fabes:** In the early feedback that I’ve already received, what customers focus on is the execution. While maybe there are a lot of moving parts, if we execute and communicate seamlessly, that’s the experience that our customers are getting. Is there an opportunity for me to go validate your statement? Absolutely, and I will. It will be a focus of how we make sure we’re bringing the right outcomes and operational excellence. I don’t have a future statement yet, but I’ll be looking at it over time. Our platforms and programs have to be best-in-class if we want to continue to take a leading position.

**Robert Dutt:** You’ve been in this community for two decades. What do you see as the big differences between the Canadian channel ecosystem and the US? And what do American-headquartered companies get wrong or misunderstand about the Canadian market?

**Chris Fabes:** Part of the reason why this was attractive for me is that there is a respected understanding of how the regions operate. Having leadership and teams that understand our market and our ecosystem was absolutely important. But at the same time, when you can centralize resources and apply the scale at a global level and then bring that to a market like Canada, that allows us to speak with our customers with a much bigger toolkit. I think there is a really interesting balance at TD SYNNEX between the centralized functions of a larger organization and the regional focus and ability to execute based on what the local market desires.

**Robert Dutt:** So it sounds like it’s a matter of finding the right balance between the global playbook and local use.

**Chris Fabes:** Absolutely. We can learn from anywhere in the world, whether it be at a technology level or a thought leadership level. I’m a big fan of best practices—some people would say “shamelessly borrow”—and you apply it to the market. There’s magic in being open-minded and collaborative but not losing sight of what’s expected locally.

**Robert Dutt:** Wrapping it up, what can Canadian VARs, MSPs, and solution providers expect from yourself and from the team at TD SYNNEX going forward?

**Chris Fabes:** Expect us to be collaborative. I really mean it. That is the way I operate and it’s what I’ll hold the team accountable for. A partner doesn’t tell the other partner how to do it without listening or understanding. We are going to win together. That is a commitment that I have to our team in Canada and to our customers and partners—that engagement and interest in growing in the right ways.

**Robert Dutt:** And one last one, mostly just for fun. If you could wave the proverbial magic wand to change one thing about how the Canadian channel works today, what would it be?

**Chris Fabes:** I would say the people and the execution—the level in which the Canadian market has, from time to time, outperformed other areas of the ecosystem. I think the Canadian ecosystem should be “proud and loud” in terms of the accomplishments that we’ve been able to achieve. I look forward to being part of that voice that we can further raise within the local community.

**Robert Dutt:** All right, so just be louder and keep doing it better. Sounds great. Chris, good luck with the new role and I look forward to keeping track of things going on at TD SYNNEX. Thanks once again for taking the time to chat.

**Chris Fabes:** Thanks, Rob. I enjoyed the conversation and look forward to connecting again soon.

**Robert Dutt:** There you have it. Chris Fabes from TD SYNNEX Canada. I’d like to thank Chris for taking the time just two weeks into a new job to sit down and talk about where he’s been and where he thinks TD SYNNEX Canada is headed. Really appreciate his candour around AI. He basically says, “still learning where we’re at,” which is a lot more credible in week two than a rehearsed vision statement might have been. And I think his challenge to the Canadian channel to be “proud and loud” about what this ecosystem has built is worth thinking about.

There are a few things I’m going to be watching for as he settles in. Whether TD SYNNEX makes a real push into Quebec now that they’ve got a bilingual Montreal-based president; what a program simplification effort might actually look like given his history of stripping complexity out of partner programs; and how he thinks about the distributor’s role in a world where more and more transactions are moving through non-traditional models like cloud marketplaces.

If you enjoyed this episode, I’d really appreciate it if you followed or subscribed to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts. We’re at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and most of the major podcast directories. And if you have a moment to leave a rating or review, we appreciate it. Until next time, I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca and I’ll see you in the channel.