Former Horizon chief Coburn exits Avnet

Gary Coburn leaves distributor following decision to combine IBM and enterprise product groups

Former Horizon boss Gary Coburn has left Avnet as part of a management reshuffle, the distributor has confirmed.

Coburn was chief executive of the Anglo-Irish distributor at the time of its 2008 acquisition by Avnet and was among a number of top executives to retain senior roles following the deal.

In his post as senior vice president of Product Business Group EMEA, Coburn oversaw relations with all Avnet's enterprise vendors, barring IBM.

However, the IBM Product Business Group and Product Business Group have been harmonised under the management of Miriam Murphy, who previously headed up the IBM group only.

Sukh Rayat will continue to head up Avnet's computer components business.

Graeme Watt, president of Avnet Technology Solutions, EMEA (pictured), described Coburn's departure - which was announced internally this week - as "straightforward and amicable".

"It is true that Gary has left, as a result of some organisational changes we have made internally in our enterprise business," he confirmed.

Murphy's role will encompass supplier relationships, EMEA marcomms, inventory and procurement and solutions selling for all Avnet's storage, software, server and security franchises, Watt added.

Several Horizon alumni, including Mark Walker, Joel Chimondes and Simon Welch, now work for rival Computer 2000. Meanwhile, ex-Horizon managing director John Unsworth recently resurfaced at IT leasing outfit Hamilton Rentals.

Watt stressed that many ex-Horizon staff remain with Avnet.