Avnet Inc., a Phoenix Ariz.-based value-added distributor, yesterday announced that John Paget, global president of its Avnet Technology Solutions (ATS) group was stepping down from his post effective immediately. The company has named Philip Gallagher, a long-time employee of Avnet, as its new global president effective March 2.
It was not too long ago that Paget joined Avnet. Prior to joining the company in 2007, Paget was the president of the technology solutions division at Synnex Corp. His corporate background also included positions at GE Technology Financial Services and GE Access, which was later acquired by Avnet in 2006 and renamed as Access Distribution.
CDN had the chance to speak with Paget last August at the distributor’s annual partner conference held in Colorado Springs, Colo. At that time, Paget said he was pleased with how the company was doing in the wireless mobility, unified communications, security, storage and virtualization spaces.
At this time, he said, “I think we’re in all the right places today. We’re growing in all the right places…in the high 40 per cent range year over year. Regarding Avnet in total, we’ve consistently told the marketplace…we’d like to improve our productivity by 10 per cent and we’d like to hit a 12.5 per cent return on capital invested, and we’d like to grow our business 10 per cent. For ATS, we expect to grow faster than the market grows.”
No information was provided on whether or not Paget will still stay at Avnet, or what his new position and plans will be. Michelle Gorel, a spokesperson for Avnet, said Paget will be helping out with the leadership transition, which will begin when Gallagher assumes the new position in March.
“John’s helping us through the transition,” Gorel said. “All I can say is that he’ll decide what he’s going to be doing after that.”
Gallagher, who will be Paget’s successor, is currently the president of electronics marketing for the Americas at Avnet and has been with the company for 26 years. In that time, he also worked in various sales, marketing and operations positions with the distributor.
“I believe there is a significant opportunity in every region,” Gallagher said. “And I look forward to challenging myself and the team to take our performance to even higher levels as we move forward.”
Once Gallagher’s in his new position, he will report directly to Rick Hamada, the company’s chief operating officer.
In the meantime, Hamada, will also assume the role of interim global president for ATS, in addition to carrying out his daily COO duties until Gallagher takes over the role in March.