CMS Distribution scalps Griffiths amid £500m sales push

Former Insight UK boss Justin Griffiths enlisted to spearhead enterprise sales growth at fast-growing VAD

CMS Distribution has recruited former Insight Enterprises UK boss Justin Griffiths to head up its enterprise division as it chases a 2020 turnover target of £500m.

Griffiths is the second former Insight executive to join the distributor this year, following the arrival of Thierna Henry in the role of group software manager in March.

He spent 11 years at reseller giant Insight – including a 16-month stint as UK MD – before joining CMS in the newly created role of enterprise sales director.

Based in Enfield and Waterloo, CMS' enterprise division houses about 15 vendors, including Red Hat, Commvault and Quantum. The distributor also has a B2C-focused retail division, which serves the likes of Amazon and eBuyer, and a commercial volume division supplying hard drives, NAS, flash and SSD to the broader reseller market.

"We're continuing to invest in people as well as systems, so Justin has come on board to help broaden our enterprise division," Frank Salmon, chief executive of CMS Distribution, told CRN.

"We are looking to recruit more vendors into our enterprise space. Justin is a well-known figure in the industry and is very much part of our thrust in that enterprise space and getting to our 2020 vision."

CMS's parent company, Storeit, yesterday unveiled a 30 per cent hike in 2014 sales to £174m and Salmon said the distributor's quest to make an acquisition every 18 months – its last was Interactive Ideas in 2013 – is on track.

"We're out there in the market, but until a deal is over the line, it's premature to comment," Salmon said.

"Last year, there was a lot of disruption in our business. We had four relocations to handle and did that seamlessly and didn't let any customers down in the process. This year, we're very much focused on growth."

He added: "2014 was the best year in the history of CMS. We continue to try to push ourselves up the value chain and create differentiators. For us, knowledge of our product sets is key. Maintaining that knowledge, matched with slick systems, are our key value-adds for us to maintain the momentum we have created and help us deliver our ultimate goal of £500m sales."