New sales leaders to focus on expanding high-touch enterprise customer engagements, leveraging key channel and alliance partnerships
PLEASANTON, Calif. - Jan 25, 2012 : Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM), the global leader in standards-based unified communications (UC), today announced the appointments of five new, North America based sales executives to drive the ubiquity of video collaboration in a rapidly evolving UC market. The sales leaders are tasked with accelerating the penetration and adoption of Polycom video collaboration solutions in the enterprise, including the fast-growing Polycom® RealPresence™ Platform – the most comprehensive software infrastructure for universal video collaboration – and video collaboration solutions that range from RealPresence immersive and room solutions to video software for laptops and mobile devices. The new sales executives bring proven track-records in enterprise IT sales leadership, having driven strategy and sales execution in key roles at some of the world’s largest technology companies.
Four new North America area vice presidents (AVPs) will focus on growing sales of Polycom UC and video collaboration solutions to enterprises: Greg Prindle, AVP of the Enterprise East region; Peter Elmgren, AVP of Enterprise West; Joe Vranicar, AVP of Enterprise Central; and Dean Ash, AVP of Enterprise South. All four report to David Ruggiero, president of Polycom North America, and each is tasked with developing and implementing go-to-market plans across the region, while working with Polycom’s alliance, service provider, and VAR partners to increase penetration in enterprise accounts.
Polycom also appointed Ashan Willy as its new vice president of Worldwide Systems Engineering. In this role, Willy will lead the System Engineering team globally, while also ensuring Polycom’s standards-based solutions meet the evolving needs of enterprises around the globe. He will also be responsible for igniting our partners’ investment in systems engineering. Willy will report to Tracey Newell, Polycom’s executive vice president of Global Sales.
“Video collaboration is mission-critical in the enterprise and is driving a more effective and productive workforce, and Polycom has the vision, strategy, and products to transform enterprise collaboration into a major competitive advantage,” said Newell. “With today’s appointments, we are refining the alignment of our organization, expertise, and sales motion around the needs of enterprises, to capture more opportunities and drive the network effect of video through traditional on-premises delivery, as well as new delivery platforms such as mobile and social. We’re delighted to welcome Greg, Joe, Dean, Pete, and Ashan to Polycom. All join Polycom with stellar reputations in the industry. We look forward to their leadership as we increase our coverage, expand our reach, and further our vision of driving the future of video collaboration for enterprises in North America and globally.”
Greg Prindle, a senior management executive with a track record for growing revenue, market share, and customer relationships, will manage the Enterprise East region from New York City. Prindle most recently headed the TRI-State Commercial Operation at Cisco Systems, where he managed a team of more than 100 who were responsible for product and service sales to Cisco’s top 500 accounts in the region. Starting with Cisco as an account manager in 1998, he quickly moved to management. Prindle holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of New Hampshire.
Peter Elmgren joined Polycom late in 2011 after spending the previous five years with Intel, where he held several executive sales and general management positions. Most recently, he was the managing director of worldwide sales and operations within Intel’s Software and Services Group. Elmgren had previously spent nine years collectively at AT&T, Lucent, and Avaya, during which time he served as AVP of Sales for the central region. He also directed sales programs and operations. Elmgren holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn. He also attended overseas programs in Tokyo and Jerusalem. He will manage Polycom’s Enterprise West territory from the company’s California headquarters.
Joe Vranicar comes to Polycom from Hewlett-Packard, where he was director of Sales for HP Networking in the central region. His 20 years in IT sales includes leadership positions at Juniper Networks and EMC, along with seven years at Cisco Systems starting as an enterprise account manager and later regional sales manager. Throughout his career, Vranicar has distinguished himself as a strategic and results-driven manager who regularly surpassed sales targets and consistently achieved significant revenue growth in his various roles. He holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Illinois State University and will manage the Enterprise Central region from Chicago.
Dean Ash brings over 20 years of sales and sales leadership experience to Polycom from Cisco Systems, Amdahl, and IBM. He has held several global, enterprise, service provider, and advanced technology sales leadership roles, with the focus on unlocking potential to achieve results through innovation, purpose, and drive. Ash most recently was director of Sales in Cisco’s Service Provider segment, growing revenues for four sales regions. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Texas-Austin. Ash will manage the Enterprise South region from Dallas.
Ashan Willy brings more than 20 years of leadership in engineering, worldwide strategy and planning, and sales management to his new role as vice president of Worldwide Systems Engineering at Polycom. He brings experience in the enterprise, service provider, public sector, and SMB segments. Willy most recently was vice president of Systems Engineering for the worldwide commercial business at Juniper Networks, where he was responsible for building the commercial market for Juniper worldwide, including go-to-market enterprise strategies. Prior to Juniper, he directed worldwide strategy and planning at Cisco Systems for their collaborations practice, after spending several years in a range of systems engineering and sales management posts. Before joining Cisco in 1996, Willy held engineering posts at Bell Sygma and ACC. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from McMaster University and an MBA from Pepperdine University.
