Simkin departs ICL MC to head for Westcoast

Paul Simkin, former managing director at Enhancement Technologies Corporation (ETC) and erstwhile director of multivendor distribution at ICL Multivendor Computing, (ICL MC) has turned up as commercial director at Westcoast.

Simkin, who left ICL MC in March, joined Westcoast on 4 May and is on the distributor's board of directors. He will have the responsibility of co-ordinating Westcoast's Compaq business.

Simkin told PC Dealer: 'I will be spending a lot of time on the Compaq area. Westcoast has done great things with HP, but needs a different focus for Compaq.'

Simkin added that one of the main attractions for joining Westcoast was the opportunity to get away from hybrid distribution - both ETC's parent SCH and ICL MC are proponents.

'Westcoast has a very "can do" attitude, and is just there for one purpose - distribution. SCC shared resources with ETC and ICL is in the same position,' he said.

Commenting on why he left ICL MC after only 11 months, Simkin said: 'ICL is a £50 billion company with lots of things going on. It has so many choices to make. The distribution business is one of several items on the board's agenda, and I wanted to move to an organisation where it was the only agenda.'