INDUSTRY APPOINTMENTS
Kristian Kerr appointed Head of EMEA
Channel Juniper Networks
Juniper Networks announced
that Kristian Kerr has been
appointed as Head of Channel,
Alliances and Commercial
for Europe, Middle East and
Africa. In this role, Kerr is
responsible for all aspects of
channel and partner strategy,
planning and operations
across Juniper’s EMEA business.
Prior to joining Juniper, Kerr ran the
EMEA partner organisation for Brocade
Communications. Overall, his management
career in networking has spanned nearly 20
years, in a range covering indirect
and direct sales roles, for various
leading technology vendors
and service provider enterprise
divisions.
“High-performance, secure,
and automated networking is at
the heart of successful business
transformation via the cloud. This
means Juniper’s virtualised and physical
security, routing and switching portfolio is in
a sweet spot of opportunity. The company
has always had a very strong partner-
driven go-to-market model,” said Kerr.
Avaya promotes Fadi Hani to VP META
Avaya announced the appointment of
Fadi Hani as Vice President for the Middle
East, Africa and Turkey. Hani will play
a pivotal role in promoting
Avaya’s customer-centric,
outcome-based approach in
this strategic region, working
closely with key customers to
help them achieve their digital
transformation objectives.
Since joining Avaya in 2007,
Hani has held senior sales
and management roles in the
company, including Managing
Director for Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain
and Pakistan, where he achieved double-
Pieter Bensch moves
from HPE South
Africa to Sage MEA
Sage announced that ICT industry veteran,
Pieter Bensch, has assumed the role of
Executive Vice President for Africa and
Middle East. Bensch will lead the growth of
Sage’s business across the region and focus
on expanding its leadership in the market
for cloud-based accounting, people and
payroll, and payments software. He will also
oversee the local strategy to help business
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Faraz Khalid joins
Noon as CEO
Noon, the Middle East’s soon to be
launched e-commerce platform, founded by
Mohamed Alabbar, previously announced
the appointment of Faraz Khalid as its Chief
Executive Officer. Khalid is the former Co-
founder and Managing Director of Namshi,
Middle East’s leading fashion online retailer.
digit business growth year-on-year, and
was recognised as Avaya EMEA Managing
Director of the Year in 2015.
Hani has also held senior
positions with other ICT and
software companies in the
region, including Oracle and NCR
Corporation. With his extensive
industry expertise and regional
awareness, Hani will ensure
Avaya operations are aligned
with customers’ needs in the
region, helping to drive adoption
of Avaya’s latest innovative
solutions in the areas of cloud, contact
centre and collaboration. With proven experience and hands-on
knowledge in building, launching and scaling
successful e-commerce enterprises in the
region, Khalid will lead a team of dedicated
professionals in driving the operations of
Noon. He is mandated to bring Noon to
market by establishing long-term strategic
partnerships, enhancing Noon’s infrastructure
capabilities especially in Saudi Arabia, and
building a robust technology platform that
enables a world class customer experience.
With an MBA from The Wharton School,
Khalid has experience in building e-commerce
platforms and in creating distinctive and
long-term value for stakeholders. Noon is
a $1 billion joint venture between Saudi
Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and a group
of prominent Gulf investors.
builders and entrepreneurs move to an
admin-free world by 2020. He will work
closely with Aaron White, Regional Director
for Sage Middle East, to
deliver the Sage vision in the
Middle East.
Bensch joins Sage from
HPE where he was Managing
Director for South Africa.
Prior to joining HPE, Bensch
held a range of senior
positions at Oracle, including
Vice President of Oracle
Europe, Middle East and Africa, Vice President of Customer Support
for MEA and Vice President and Managing
Director of Oracle SA.
Says Bensch: “I am joining
at Sage at an exciting time
when its business is enjoying
rapid growth through Africa
and Middle East and its cloud-
enabled products are gathering
momentum. I am looking
forward to working closely with
the regional team as we strive
to help empower entrepreneurs
and business owners.”
Issue 11
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS