NetApp has reinforced partner relations with the appointment of Bill Lipsin as the new vice president of Worldwide Channel Sales, reporting to Thomas Stanley, senior vice president, Global Partner Sales and Alliances.
With more than 30 years of industry experience, Lipsin will oversee NetApp’s channel strategy with a focus on maximising the value of partnering with NetApp.
“I’m extremely excited to have Bill join NetApp as our new channel chief,” Stanley says. “He is a respected and connected channel leader with a deep understanding of the channel’s evolving needs.
“I’m confident Bill will provide the focus, expertise, and innovative thinking required to deliver a world-class channel experience and drive new levels of growth for NetApp and its partners.”
Under Lipsin’s leadership, NetApp will be rolling out several new investments to improve partner profitability and increase NetApp marketing and partner engagement.
Partner program investments include doubling of global partner marketing resources as well as expanded demand and lead-generation initiatives to accelerate adoption of the NetApp clustered Data ONTAP operating system.
“This is a pivotal year for NetApp,” Lipsin adds. “As a company we will need to focus on optimising our channel visibility to demonstrate to our partners the strength of our commitment.
“Our partners want to see NetApp succeed and they want to succeed with us. I’m excited to join NetApp at this time in its evolution and look forward to helping our partners embrace the growth opportunities in front of us as we lead the customer transition to the hybrid cloud.”
Based in NetApp’s US corporate headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, Lipsin will represent the Channel Sales organisation across all of the company’s functional organisations and partner closely with NetApp’s global teams.
Prior to joining NetApp, Lipsin was vice president of Global Channels and Systems Integrators at Brocade, and he also held leadership positions at Arbor Networks, CA Technologies, and IBM.
