Former Cisco executive, Samuel Poh, has been named as Tech Data’s new vice president of operations for Asia Pacific, a role that will see him provide strategic direction and leadership for business operations across the region.
Poh comes to the role from global enablement firm, VMI Collective, where he held the position of managing partner until May, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Prior to VMI Collective, Poh held the dual roles of Cisco Systems China’s general manager and director of operations, a post he occupied between 2011 and 2015. The two years prior, Poh was Cisco Systems’ inside sales director for Asia Pacific, Japan and China (APJC).
Between 2002 and 2007, Poh was the data centre and storage general manager for Dimension Data’s Asia Pacific business (Datacraft).
Based in Singapore, Poh will report directly to Tech Data Asia Pacific president, William Chu, and is set to focus on the growth and evolution of the distributor’s business across the areas of customer service, process optimisation and financial performance.
Poh’s professional background sees him draw on more than two decades of experience in the IT channel as he steps into the new role, with Chu suggesting his experience and skill will help the company grow in the local region.
“Samuel is a strong addition to the Tech Data Asia Pacific leadership team,” Chu said. “His proven ability in leading significant global augmentation and technology deployment projects across the region, paired with his vast experience in next-generation technologies, will enable him to drive growth, agility, and enhanced service levels for our valued channel partners.”
The appointment comes as Tech Data’s operation in Australia and New Zealand making its own top-tier hires, with the company appointing former Dicker Data (ASX:DDR) board member, Wendy O'Keeffe, as its new A/NZ country general manager in September.
O’Keeffe replaced former A/NZ general manager, Darren Adams, who revealed in July that he would be leaving the company 15 years after he began his tenure at Avnet Technology Solutions, which was acquired for US$2.6 billion by Tech Data early this year.
Since Adams’ departure, the distributor’s local operations had been led by Tech Data’s Asia Pacific vice president of marketing, education and supplier management, Michael Costigan, on a temporary basis.
O’Keeffe's arrival at Tech Data came as the distributor bulked up its local leadership team with other tech talent. On 12 October, for example, Tech Data revealed it had appointed former Insight commercial sales director, Pia Broadley, as its new director of sales and operations across Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ).
At the same time, Tech Data bade farewell to its cloud services and strategic growth director for Australia and New Zealand, Winston Wong, in October, as he took up a new role with VMware.
