EarthLink Promotes Former XO Exec to Channel Chief

**Editor’s Note: Click here to see which channel people were on the move in July.**

EarthLink has selected 20-year channel veteran Olen Scott as its new channel chief and vice president of channel sales.

Scott joined EarthLink in 2013 as vice president of sales for the company’s northern region. Sherri Turpin, EarthLink’s former channel chief, left the company to become CEO of video communication provider ZVRS.

Scott will lead all aspects of Atlanta-based EarthLink’s indirect distribution channel, tasked with positioning the partner program for future growth, including strategy, sales and partner development.

“Helping our partners bridge the gap between traditional telecom solutions and EarthLink’s more robust managed services offerings will differentiate them in the marketplace, and is key to our future success and our ultimate goal of providing a positive customer experience,” Scott told Channel Partners.

“Under Olen’s leadership, we plan to take our channel partner program to the next level by strengthening partner collaboration, investment and support, with the ultimate goal of delivering an ever stronger customer experience together,” said Gerard Brossard, EarthLink’s executive vice president and managing director of managed services and information technology.

In his first role with EarthLink, Scott transformed a sales team of more than 100 employees into a productive managed services unit, according to the company. He then was promoted to vice president of account management, where he worked with partners to support some of the company’s largest enterprise customers.

Before coming to EarthLink, Scott served as XO Communications’ vice president of strategic accounts, where he helped launch the service provider’s Systems Integrator Partner Program. He also held sales management roles at Verizon Business and MCI.

EarthLink provides managed network, security and cloud offerings for multi-location businesses, such as specialty retailers, restaurants, financial institutions, health care providers, professional service firms and local governments.

“EarthLink has so many great differentiating solutions and growth potential that it would be easy to ‘chase too many rabbits’ and thus water down focus,” Scott added. “It will be important to maintain as much discipline around the things we elect not to do as those we choose to pursue. Relentless prioritization and laser focus will be key to maximizing our collective success.”

The company on Monday released its quarterly earnings report, which showed that it’s slowly reducing the amount of money it’s losing each quarter.