Tech Data cuts C2000 execs
Computer 2000 has lost several key executives in its European and German operations after a corporate shake-up by parent company Tech Data.
Directors Manfred Gunzl and Harry Krischik have resigned from the distributor's European management board, while Joachim Prinz, one of two managing directors at C2000's German subsidiary, is departing to take a position with an undisclosed IT company.
Steve Raymund, chairman and chief executive of Tech Data, confirmed exclusively to PC Dealer that Pertti Ervi and Wolfgang Engeldinger would be the only existing directors appointed to the revamped European management board that will be finalised during the next couple of months.
Engeldinger and Ervi will retain their respective portfolios of IT/logistics and marketing while Bill Hunter, a Tech Data veteran who has spent the past two years in Europe, will head finance.
Ervi will also take the role of interim vice chairman until a permanent European president is found. The front-runner for the presidency is understood to be Karl Poehler, a former managing director of C2000 Germany.
Raymund would not divulge the identity of potential candidates, but confirmed that an external, Europe-based applicant was being sought for the role.
Meanwhile, Torben Qvist, who runs C2000 Denmark, will serve as temporary joint managing director of the distributor's German operations until a replacement for Prinz is appointed.
Raymund admitted Tech Data was 'still struggling' over whether to preserve the C2000 brand name but stressed its integration into Tech Data was largely complete and any further structural changes would be incremental.
He also revealed he would be leaving C2000's Paris office, where he has been based since the C2000 acquisition, to return to Tech Data's Florida head office in July.
C2000 AXES POST-SALES SERVICES UNIT
Computer 2000 UK will abandon its post-sales services division as part of a host of changes due to take effect on 1 July.
Andy Gass, deputy managing director of C2000, told PC Dealer the division, which provided supplementary services for resellers, had failed to operate profitably.
He acknowledged that closing down the unit also reflected C2000's strategy of acting as a logistics back-end to resellers focused on providing services.
'There was no real demand for the division. It duplicated the services that resellers provided.' Meanwhile, Jim Barnes, who left C2000 in March 1996 to take a position at Logitek, has returned to the broadliner as general manager of its retail business unit.
Barnes replaces James Morgan, who moved to Datrontech on 14 June to take over from Tony Wand as sales director. Wand is now business development director for Datrontech, responsible for building up the white box, storage and networking businesses.
Andy Dow, general manager of peripherals, will become general manager of marketing.
Barnes is the latest of a swathe of C2000 management changes. Julian Klein will take over as sales director on 1 July and Andy Sheppard will start as general manager of the networking unit.