NetApp appoints new global channel man

NetApp has appointed Henri Richard as executive vice president of worldwide field and customer operations. He succeeds Rob Salmon, who is retiring following more than 22 years at the company.

Richard brings over 30 years of experience to the role. He has held senior management positions leading global sales, support and marketing teams at various large technology companies. He joins NetApp from SanDisk Corporation, where he was senior vice president of worldwide commercial sales and support. He oversaw the rapid growth and diversification of the company in the enterprise space.

“It’s an energising time at NetApp, and we welcome Henri to the team to help us take advantage of our unique position in the changing IT landscape,” said George Kurian (pictured), chief executive officer at NetApp. “Henri has a strong track record for results-oriented and hands-on leadership. His experience will be instrumental in helping NetApp build upon the strength of its Data Fabric strategy and its technology leadership position in flash.”

In his role, said NetApp, Richard will drive expanding relationships with NetApp’s strategic technology partners, resellers and customers across the globe. He will lead NetApp’s global customer success operations and field operations, which focus on customer-facing functions, and support NetApp’s ecosystem of channel, alliance and service partners.

Before joining SanDisk, Richard served in global executive roles at companies including Seagate, IBM, Webgain, AMD and Freescale Semiconductor. Richard started his career in IT at Informatique Haute Performance, a company in Paris that he founded to address the burgeoning need for PC-based computing in the 1980s.

@AntonySavvas