Channel moves: Who’s gone where?

 BCS Consultancy

The channel player has welcomed Chris Coward as its chief operating officer, which follows on from the decision by Scott Shearer, one of the first co-founders of BCS, to step down. Coward was one of the first employees to join BCS in 2017. Over the past eight years, he has worked closely with founders James Hart and Scott Shearer to build the business to a leading position in the market.

“I’ve had the privilege of working closely with James and Scott for much of my career, and I want to thank them both for their leadership and trust, which have shaped both my journey and the culture of BCS,” said Coward. 

“As BCS becomes an increasingly global business, my primary focus is to ensure we have the right operational structure, technology and support in place to deliver consistently for our clients, while staying true to the ethos that makes BCS different – a people-first, human-led business, backed by deep, technical, datacentre expertise.”

Pax8

The marketplace player has appointed Avery Moon as its chief technology officer (CTO) with responsibility for the firm’s product and engineering vison.

“Pax8’s vision for where the industry is headed, and a corresponding strategy to deliver scalable managed intelligence, inspires and energises me. We are now at the productivity inflection point for AI, where intelligence is shifting from being embedded in tools to being delivered through autonomous, outcome-driven systems,” said Moon. “I’m thrilled to join Pax8 to continue the momentum and technical prowess built over the last decade to deliver the most effective and efficient infrastructure to empower SMBs and managed intelligence providers.”

Acronis

The security vendor has bought Jo Holliday on board as general manager for the UK and Ireland (UK&I). The role includes tightening partner relationships as part of the hunt for growth. She has a CV that includes plenty of channel experience and helping to build up partner ecosystems.

“UK&I is an important region for Acronis, and Jo’s depth of experience across channel strategy, revenue leadership and team development makes her the right leader to drive our next phase of growth,” said Ronan McCurtin, regional vice-president of Europe, Israel and Africa at Acronis. “Her partner-centric approach and proven ability to scale high-performing organisations will strengthen our momentum with MSPs, service providers and the broader partner ecosystem across the UK and Ireland.”

Recast

The endpoint management player has chosen industry veteran Jake Mosey as chief product officer. Mosey had a 17-year career at Jamf and comes with plenty of experience that will benefit Recast.

“The market is rapidly evolving, and Recast is attuned to how these shifts are profoundly affecting our customers,” said Will Teevan, CEO of Recast. “An ever-increasing number of organisations adopts Intune each year, and our solutions work beautifully in tandem with this technology. With his finger on the pulse of the IT community, Jake will ensure the voice of the customer informs our strategy in creative new ways as we continue to help our 70,000+ global users navigate a changing industry.”

Schneider Electric

Matthew Baynes has been named the firm’s vice-president for Schnieder’s secure power and datacentre division in the UK and Ireland. He has a CV that includes two decades of experience.

“The UK is one of Europe’s most important and vibrant digital infrastructure hubs, and with AI accelerating demand, the next few years present a major opportunity to strengthen its global leadership position,” said Baynes. “At the same time, Ireland continues to play a critical role in the region’s digital ecosystem, with its datacentre market serving key customers globally.”

Leaseweb

The cloud services and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) provider has appointed Jan Willem des Tombe as its global strategic relations director. His CV includes more than two decades worth of experience in SaaS, IT managed services and cloud.

“Leaseweb is one of the best kept secrets in the hybrid cloud industry,” said Willem des Tombe. “The company is sovereign by design, technically strong, globally present and highly adaptable, and has everything it takes to become the global reference in sovereign hybrid cloud. I am excited about the opportunity to make Leaseweb’s proposition more visible and differentiated, and to help accelerate growth in today’s hybrid cloud landscape.”

Kyocera Document Solutions UK Group

The firm gas welcomed Andrew Smith as managing director and general manager. He was previously chief information and strategy officer, and will now lead the group, including Annodata and MCL.

In addition to Smith’s appointment, Steve Doust has been named group sales director of direct sales, while Suki Purewal takes on the role of group service and operations director. These appointments follow the return of Pete Lunn as indirect sales lead in November last year.

“My focus is on ensuring our managed services remain rooted in genuine customer value, delivered in close collaboration with our talented team and channel partners,” said Smith. “As we move into 2026, we will double down on our heritage of innovation, forging new value in our core print market while aggressively scaling our IT and cyber security capabilities.”

Umbraco

The open source specialist has cut the ribbon on a Melbourne office and appointed Emmanuel Tissera as head of APAC. The former technical director of Luminary has come on board to grow sales and bolster the firm’s efforts in the region.

Umbraco CEO Mats Persson said: “We are thrilled to have someone with Emmanuel’s depth of technical expertise, business acumen, community involvement and interpersonal skills to lead, grow and strengthen the Umbraco APAC team. He brings more than two decades’ experience of guiding strategy, implementing technology and shaping solutions architecture for leading enterprises. Clients, colleagues and the community can be reassured that they are in safe hands.”