MD in, channel boss out: all change at HDS

Richard Gadd takes over top UK job this week as Harvey Smith prepares end-of-January exit

Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) has welcomed Richard Gadd as its new UK country manager at the same time as its UK channel boss Harvey Smith announced his plans to leave the firm for VMware next month.

Gadd began work in his new role yesterday and took over from acting country manager Tony Reid. Reid was put in place as an interim boss after former leader Steve Ball left last year.

New boss Gadd joins HDS from EMC where he ran the vendor's UK and Ireland global accounts for its Financial Services division. Prior to his EMC role he worked at Computacenter, Morse and Xerox.

HDS said it hopes Gadd's appointment will help the company reach new milestones.

As Gadd begins his time at the storage vendor, its current UK and Ireland channel director Harvey Smith (pictured) enters his final few weeks at the firm after more than 12 years.

Smith will leave HDS at the end of this month to join VMware as its strategic partner team manager for the UK and Ireland, where he will report to channel boss Ed Dolman.

Smith told CRN he had enjoyed his time at HDS but was looking for a fresh challenge, and HDS' vice president for UK channels and alliances Neill Burton said he had done a brilliant job in his role.

"He has done a great job through [his 12 years] of building up the channel business," he told CRN.

"It is very much with mixed emotions - on the one side you never want to see a fellow HDS [staff member] leave, but on the other side it is a great opportunity for him to do something at VMware."