Director Wills and regional manager Cleaver join list of high-profile departures from the Ingram Micro Mobility team since radical restructure in August
Further cuts to the Ingram Micro Mobility team were confirmed this month, with UK director of sales and marketing Richard Wills (pictured) and regional sales director Mark Cleaver leaving to join rival Westcoast.
They are the latest to exit the company since a major restructure of the company in August which saw the mobility team reduced from around 30 to less than 10.Wills and Cleaver join senior manager for mobility services in Europe Marios Ktisti, VP of global vendor relations Fergal Donovan (both now at Data Select parent Brandpath) out of the company.
Wills, who joined Brightpoint in 2009 (acquired by Ingram for $840 million in 2012) has joined Westcoast as its new telco director as it looks to ramp up its efforts in the mobile market, whilst Cleaver, who joined in 2008 from Hugh Symons, takes the role of telco sales manager. Both positions are understood to be newly created.
Reading based Westcoast, formed in 1984, claims to have revenues of more than £1 billion from sales across the business. It offers handsets from manufacturers including Samsung, Sony, HTC, LG and recently partnered with Apple to stock the iPhone.
“I am delighted to be joining the team at Westcoast,” Wills told Mobile News. “Westcoast is doing great things in the UK market place with a growing mobile strategy. I look forward to bringing mine and Mark’s experience to the team and help move Westcoast to the next level in mobile distribution and associated services.”
Wills said he took the decision to leave Ingram to pursue new opportunities, whilst Cleaver is understood to have taken redundancy following the restructure.
A Westcoast spokesperson said: “Both Richard Wills and Mark Cleaver have joined the team at Westcoast.
“We are delighted to welcome them both and their wealth of experience in the mobile market place and both will be significant additions assisting our strategy around the mobile business.”
Ingram Changes
The departures follow a series of changes to Ingram Micro in recent months, which included the closure of its Mobility office in Verwood, resulting in around 20 staff cuts, relocating instead to Milton Keynes 125 miles away.
According to Ingram Micro country chief executive Brent McCarty(pictured right), formerly MD,the restructure is designed to help boost staff and company performance, bringing together business teams across mobile, marketing, technology solutions, supply chain and cloud for the first time.
McCarty told Mobile News previously: “These situations are difficult, but ultimately, we have to do what’s right for the company.”
Ingram employs 450 staff in the UK, excluding Anovo, which it acquired back in February.
Globally, Ingram is planning to cut around 540 jobs (two per cent of its 27,000 workforce) as part of a wider $100 million cost-cutting program for 2016.
