Dell bids farewell to UK channel boss Harrison

Paul Harrison to be replaced by Bill O'Shea as he leaves to pursue opportunity outside Dell

Dell's UK channel lead Paul Harrison is moving on after 11 years at the vendor, according to an email sent to partners today.

Harrison (pictured) will leave the vendor at the end of this week to "pursue an opportunity outside of Dell".

Bill O'Shea, who has led Dell's UK channel account management team in Dublin for two years, will assume Harrison's duties as of today - although he has been given a different job title from Harrison, namely UK commercial channel director.

Harrison took the UK channel reins in February 2009 following the departure of predecessor Andy Dow. He will perform a handover with O'Shea this week.

Writing to partners, Emmanuel Mouquet, vice president of EMEA channel sales at Dell, said: "This is sad news to us, as Paul has been with Dell for 11 years, and he has been a great contributor to our EMEA channel team over the past two and a half years."

Mouquet said O'Shea possesses an "intimate knowledge" of the UK channel business and already has personal relationships with many partners.

He added: "Paul and Bill will work jointly this week on the handover to ensure the best possible transition. Our day-to-day engagements will also remain unchanged through the channel development managers, channel solution specialists and channel account managers. We therefore expect a very smooth transition for our UK partner community."

Terry Betts, managing director of Dell partner CCS Media, said: "I am sad to see Paul go but am pleased it is Bill who is succeeding him. We already deal with him and he knows the channel, and I could not think of anyone better."

Warwick Everett, director of Dell partner Freestyle IT, said: "Paul did an excellent job in his time and I am sorry to see him go."