Margrith Appleby - outgoing Lenovo A/NZ Channel Director
Lenovo Australia and New Zealand Channel Director, Margrith Appleby, is stepping down from her role with the vendor after just over a year heading up its channel operations in the local market.
The company revealed on 13 March that Appleby had decided to move on to "explore new opportunities", and that the move is a continuation of the work she started when she joined the business in early 2016.
Appleby was named Lenovo’s local channel head in March last year, after spending more than two decades at Hewlett Packard (HP), where she oversaw segments of the vendor's channel operations over several years.
During her time at HP, Appleby held a variety of roles, including Director of Commercial Channel Sales – Printing and Personal Systems, Director of Enterprise Sales – Personal Printing Group and Sales Manager of its Personal Systems Group.
Appleby replaced former Lenovo A/NZ Channel Director, Fred Viet, who announced in February 2016 that he would step away from the role to head up Microsoft’s Surface commercial channel in A/NZ, after more than 10 years of service with Lenovo.
When Appleby was handed the role, she was tasked with handling all aspects of Lenovo’s channel strategy, driving sales growth, developing its sales channel and strengthening its partner offering.
Additionally, Appleby was in charge of growing the company’s business in the small to medium-sized business space.
"And as we consider what our partners want in terms of programs around the offerings we have, how we go to market with them, the simplicity of interactions with us, Margrith will be responsible for making sure we got the right routes, tools, and enablement for these," Lenovo A/NZ Managing Director, Matt Codrington, said at the time.
Appleby was at the helm of Lenovo’s channel local channel operation when the company launched its PC as-a-Service offering in May last year, a move that Appleby suggested would be positive news for local channel partners.
"It provides the value-added service offering for a channel partner to their customers and they can package it as it makes sense for each of their unique customer engagements," she said at the time.
As Appleby steps away from her role at Lenovo, Codrington said that she had injected a "renewed dedication to our already well regarded channel program" during her tenure.
“Margrith is one of the most passionate and dedicated people I know when it comes to our channel," Codrington told ARN.
“She has built up an incredibly strong team, worked to simplify some of the complexities that existed within our former programs and has set us on the path for a continued journey of transformation.
"Her legacy is a team that is primed to continue to deliver new innovations to our channel,” he said.
At the same time, Appleby said that she is pleased with the shape in which she is leaving Lenovo's local channel landscape as she moves on from the company.
“The Lenovo business has a strong channel focus and is now ready to move to next stage of focus across both PC and Data Centre businesses," Appleby told ARN. "I am confident that Lenovo will continue to go from strength to strength with such a strong team in place.
"I am genuinely excited to be leaving the business in great shape and I am personally looking forward to shifting gears and exploring new opportunities."
Lenovo plans to announce Appleby’s replacement shortly.
