Cisco has appointed Jim Sherriff as the new senior vice president of the U.S. & Canada Partner Organization, filling the post formerly held by Wendy Bahr, effective August 1. The move was expected after channel chief Keith Goodwin announced several key changes to the Cisco Worldwide Partner Organization (WWPO), which promoted Edison Peres to the role of senior vice president, WorldWide Channels; Bahr to senior vice president, Global & Transformational Partnerships (as well as leading Cisco’s Strategic Partner Organization and Technology Alliances groups); and Dave O’Callaghan to vice president, Worldwide Commercial Sales. Sherriff will head Cisco’s largest “theater," as part of the company’s three-pronged strategy to invest and develop new models for its channel partners; spur commercial and SMB sales through new partner-led business models, and establish “transformational" partnerships globally.
“Jim’s recent global experience and his deep understanding of Cisco’s field, customers, and partner needs make him the ideal leader for this key sales role," Goodwin blogged yesterday, who went on to praise Sherriff’s strong advocacy of Cisco’s partner base while senior vice president for the company’s U.S. Enterprise business, where he established “deep partnering" as one of the four key pillars of that group’s sales strategy.
Sherriff is a nine year veteran of Cisco, joining the WWPO after a two year stint in China. “During this time, Jim and his team helped build new capabilities across all major functions in China, while enhancing Cisco’s brand and government reputation through excellent coordination and execution of our commitments and investments," wrote Goodwin. Prior to that, Sherriff held several positions at Hewlett Packard, including vice president and general manager of HP Consulting and general manager of HP’s Asia Pacific Professional Services, and two years as CEO for system integrator and Cisco partner Stonebridge Technologies in Dallas. For his new post, Sherriff will be based in Austin, Texas.
One of his first tasks will likely be to further address Cisco’s recent issues with its supply chain, which has angered much of Cisco’s partner base. Goodwin apologized for the breakdown at last week’s annual Partner Summit in San Francisco.
“I am extremely excited about these leadership changes and confident that Jim, along with Edison, Dave, and Wendy in their new roles, will uncover great opportunities for Cisco and our Partners as we accelerate growth in FY11 and beyond," Goodwin concluded.
