Tara Ridley has taken charge of Cisco’s partner business group across Australia and New Zealand, with Jason Brouwers now leading the vendor’s commercial sales business.
Following an internal reshuffle, ARN can confirm that Ridley will oversee all partner relationships and strategies going forward, alongside volume sales responsibilities and a small to medium business growth remit.
Since joining the tech giant in 2007, Ridley has worked across a range of divisions, with roles including partner account manager, sales manager, enterprise segment director and services sales director.
Prior to Cisco, Ridley represented Macquarie Telecom in senior management roles, having first entered the technology industry with Hewlett Packard in 1994.
“My Cisco career commenced in the partner organisation, and I’m thrilled to be back working with partners, who are a critical part of everything we do,” Ridley told ARN.
Meanwhile, Brouwers has spent many years across a range of roles at Cisco including product specialist, enterprise account management, sales management in the commercial segment and most recently as trans-Tasman channel chief.
“I’ve really enjoyed working with our partners across A/NZ, building our relationships and joint go-to-market offers,” Brouwers said.
“Partners are critical to growth in our commercial business and I am committed to continuing those relationships. I’m looking forward to this new challenge and working closely with Tara in her role.”
The reshuffle comes less than a month after the vendor bolstered its natural language capabilities through the acquisition of MindMeld.
As reported by ARN, the US$125 million acquisition is expected to close in Cisco's fourth quarter of fiscal year 2017, following customary closing conditions and regulatory review.
Specifically, Cisco’s third acquisition in as many weeks brings a new conversational platform based on natural language understanding (NLU), adding to the vendor’s collaboration suite.
