Gary Grimes, VP of partner management and sales operations at Sun Microsystems, will be leaving the post in December. He will be succeeded by Greg Stroud, currently VP for the strategic partner area.

In her report for CRN, Elizabeth Montalbano noted that Stroud will continue his responsibilities for global systems even as he assumes those of his new position, uniting all of Sun's channel partners into a consolidated organization.

Grimes was assigned the responsibility of reinvigorating the channel partner business three years ago following the dot-com bust. Then, channel partners were disillusioned with the share of its business Sun had kept to itself during the days of the Internet boom.

"When you think of the variety of changes under his reign and the percentage of business that has moved to the channel, it's a phenomenal accomplishment," said Anna McDermott, CEO of GE Access, a Westminster, Colo.-based Sun distributor.

Under Grimes's direction, Sun has increased its channel business to 54 percent of total revenue. It was a mere 40 percent only two years or so ago.

McDermott continued her praise for Grimes, saying, "Gary by himself can't turn the switch. He has driven tremendous influence that has turned into benefits and opportunities for the channel," she said. "I personally will miss him quite a bit. He really understands what partnering means in business."

Grimes himself assesses his time in the role of channel chief by outlining his goals: "What I wanted to do were two things. One was to refresh our business proposition for the partner community and help them get back on their feet. And second -- and this was at least as important -- was to try to put a sense of optimism into the channel and reinvigorate our commitment to the channel and let them know they are part of a strategy we can't live without." Both goals were accomplished, he said, leaving Sun well positioned to help the channel develop revenue.

Stroud's assumption of command coincides with Sun bringing all its channel partners under a single organization. "Over the last couple of years, we've been unifying the channel strategy out of the business units moving that into a single partner framework," Stroud said. "There is a whole slew or reasons why we're doing that. One is that we need to provide clarity about what we're doing, and two is that engagement matters. And we're very focused about enriching the engagement for the partner community."

Stroud calls his strategy "the three R's,": reach, relationship and revenue. This approach is an evolution of what Grimes accomplished, Stroud observes. "The plan is about how we extend industry, business and market reach through partners. I believe if we have clarity around the reach, we will develop relationships that bring in revenue, which means new business for the partner community and new business for Sun." [...read more...]

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