Exclusive: Misco boss Dale out in management rejig

Former Insight vice president Simon Taylor takes the reins following string of poor results

Systemax has enlisted a new head for its European business, drafting in ex-Insight vice president Simon Taylor, following a string of poor results in the region, CRN has learned.

The rejig sees the departure of previous EMEA chief executive Pim Dale, who had bossed Misco and the wider EMEA Technology Group since 2012 following an illustrious career at Dell.

In a letter to employees, seen by CRN, Systemax chief executive Richard Leeds confirmed Taylor will start his role as president of European Technology Products Group on 1 July. He was previously senior vice president of operations at arch rival Insight Enterprises.

Dale appears to have paid the price for a succession of poor results at the UK and European business, which under his watch has centralised some functions to Budapest and strove to diversify from box-shifting and into services.

In the New York-listed firm's most-recent quarter, Systemax blamed widening losses on "poor performance" in the UK, where it operates through the Misco brand.

“Pim had some good strategic ideas but struggled to bring people with him,” one onlooker said. “Misco got fingered in the most-recent quarterly results as being an underperformer, so you felt the clock was ticking.”

In the letter, Leeds said: “We have taken significant steps over the past several years in our EMEA business to improve our operating structure, enhance our pan-European capabilities and broaden our solutions and services offering.

“Our corporate team, including my brothers Bruce and Robert, as well as Larry Reinhold will work closely with Simon and the EMEA executive leadership team in driving the growth strategy and operational initiatives of our European business. We are already reaching out to vendors and customers to inform them of this change and introduce Simon to key accounts, many of which will already know him.”

Alex Tatham, UK managing director at distributor Westcoast, suspected the management change would not see Misco water down its services aspirations.

“Simon is a great guy and I’m sure his focus on processes will be particularly good,” he added.

In Systemax's most-recent quarter, the EMEA Technology Group saw revenue fall annually by 15.6 per cent to $272.6m (£171.2m), partly due to lacklustre performance in the UK.

We are waiting for Systemax to respond to our requests for comment but in the letter Leeds thanked Dale and "wished him well in future endeavours".

Mike Norris, chief executive of Computacenter, said he didn't see Misco as a competitor.

"I never met Pim, and now I guess I never will," he said.