BTIC chief in surprise departure
Mark Hollister leaves to 'pursue another opportunity'
BT Indirect Channels (BTIC) suffered a blow last week when it lost its second head in just over 12 months. The news came as another senior executive accepted voluntary redundancy.
BTIC said director Mark Hollister decided to leave to "pursue another opportunity". Chris Jagusz, general manager of chapter management will lead the division for the time being.
Neil Watson, head of specialist sales and growth markets at BTIC, has also left, taking up an offer of voluntary redundancy.
"Mark made the decision and leaves on amicable terms to take up another position," said Jagusz. "When John Thornhill (the previous director) left it had been planned for a while, but Mark's departure is more of a shock."
Jagusz declined to give any further details on the departure.
Manny Pinon, sales and marketing director at BT distrib-utor Norwood Adam, claimed Hollister struggled to fill the gap left by his predecessor, who he replaced in May last year.
"Thornhill was more channel-facing than Hollister," he said. "It will be interesting to see if the replacement is somewhere between the two."
The management changes come at a time when the telco is putting its weight behind what it calls 'new-wave' sales, with technologies such as CRM contributing more to turnover as its traditional business declines.
But Jagusz said BTIC's commitment to this will not change. "Mark created a vision and strategy in the management team that (remains) in place," he said.
John Carter, managing director of BTIC distributor DMSL, said Jagusz is a good stand-in for Watson. "Businesses today are all about relationships, whether it is customers or partners, and we see Jagusz a lot," he said.