Ex-NetApp boss Thurlow rocks up at Arrow ECS

Distributor appoints Nick Thurlow as new UK vice president

Distribution giant Arrow ECS has handed former NetApp bigwig Nick Thurlow the tiller of its UK operations.

Thurlow left NetApp, which is one of Arrow ECS' core vendor partners, in January having held a variety of top-level roles at the storage vendor over a 13-year period.

In his new role as UK vice president of Arrow ECS, Thurlow will "support and complement" the operational responsibilities of newly crowned country manager Mark McHale, Arrow confirmed in a statement to CRN.

Thurlow will be based at the head office in Theale, while McHale – who was promoted from sales director earlier this year – is based in Harrogate.

Meanwhile, former UK vice president and country manager Steve Pearce moves up to the role of vice president of business innovation for EMEA.

In its most recent quarter, to 31 December, parent Arrow Electronics saw global sales fall one per cent year on year to $5.4bn (£3.5bn) as revenue at its component arm plunged seven per cent. The Arrow ECS division – which focuses on servers, storage, networking, virtualisation and software – saw sales rise by seven per cent.

According to figures filed with Companies House, Arrow ECS saw UK turnover rise by 17.9 per cent to £482.1m in 2011, thanks in part to its acquisition of VAD Sphinx. The firm's UK presence was also recently boosted by its acquisition of Symantec distributor Altimate.

Thurlow was most recently vice president of EMEA partners and pathways at NetApp, before that holding the role of vice president of EMEA sales and vice president of global services EMEA at the storage vendor.