Ingram MD's exit makes it a triple whammy

Three of the distributor?s top UK staff, including UK MD Gretton, have quit amid rumours of personality clashes and poor sales

Ingram Micro?s commitment to value-added distribution was called into question last week following the departure of two senior managers of its enterprise computing division (ECD), coupled with the surprise exit of UK MD Bill Gretton.

The distributor confirmed that it had lost three long-term members of staff after Gretton left on 15 April, alongside Rob Johnson, European vice president of ECD, and Jim Calderbank, ECD UK general manager. The division is responsible for supplying HP high-end boxes as well as IBM RS/6000s.

A number of sources claimed that the departures had come about because the UK operation was not hitting its sales targets. One insisted that Ingram had been left with a lot of HP kit in its warehouse because the company was unable to shift it.

One source said: ?We know that Ingram didn?t make its target in March and it has not made its total Q1 figure. But it is not necessarily just Ingram ? most distributors didn?t hit their figures in March.?

Last month, resellers and distributors predicted that smaller firms would be forced out of business because the industry has suffered from lower than expected sales during the past two months (PC Dealer, 2 April).

John Winklehaus, president of the European division, denied the distributor would pull out of the valued-added side of business. He refused to comment on sales figures, but said: ?We are very excited about our business in the UK and Europe.?

He added that Ingram UK had taken the lead in distribution and closed the gap between itself and top distributor Frontline.

Gretton refused to comment on suggestions that there had been personality clashes and poor sales. He told PC Dealer: ?I am going to consider what to do next.? Gretton had been at Ingram since 1996, moving over from Frontline.