Polycom has appointed the former Managing Director of Avaya Australia and New Zealand, Tony Simonsen to the role of Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand.
Effective immediately, Simonsen will be responsible for delivering Polycom’s growth across both sides of the Tasman, as one of its largest markets within Asia Pacific.
Prior to joining Polycom, Simonsen headed up local operations at Avaya, and will take charge of all aspects of operational management - reporting to Geoff Thomas, President, Polycom Asia Pacific.
“Ensuring our customers achieve success and driving profitable business growth are our top priorities and Tony brings a deep understanding of the market and industry,” says Geoff Thomas, President, Polycom Asia Pacific.
“While Polycom is a leader within the A/NZ collaboration industry, it’s time to shift gears and accelerate the next phase of our growth plans with renewed focus on cloud, managed services and new solutions.
“Having Tony join our team will provide the depth of senior leadership needed to create the required momentum.
“He is a well respected executive and brings rich experience within ANZ and the wider APAC region.”
Simonsen has more than twenty years of leadership and management experience in multiple roles across Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific.
Prior to Avaya, Simonsen was the Managing Director of Equinix Australia and New Zealand while also serving in key leadership roles with technology giants Cisco and EMC.
“As one of the world’s fastest adopters of cloud, Australia and New Zealand businesses continue to embrace productivity-enhancing collaboration solutions across diverse industries and user experiences," Thomas adds.
“Tony’s depth of ICT knowledge along with his proven leadership skills and understanding the needs of A/NZ CIOs, makes him the ideal executive to join our senior APAC leadership team at this time.”
In taking the role, Simonsen believes Polycom is a leader in collaboration across the local market, and aims to work with the channel market to drive profitability and growth streams for partners.
“In such a fluid environment, it is critical to focus on the needs of our customers, building and enhancing our partner relationships and executing effectively in all we do,” he adds.
“I am very much looking forward to leading Polycom into a new era of providing human collaboration solutions that help our customers expand and grow their business.”
