Avnet interim CEO confident of securing job permanently

Bill Amelio thinks he's the 'frontrunner' for job vacated by Rick Hamada

Avnet interim CEO Bill Amelio claims to be the "frontrunner" in the race to become the global distributor's new boss.

Amelio (pictured) stepped into the role on a temporary basis to replace Rick Hamada, who left the firm after more than 30 years when Avnet's Q4 expectations were slashed.

In line with the new expectations, Avnet announced a revenue drop of eight per cent for the quarter, with adjusted operating income plummeting 20 per cent.

On a conference call following the results announcement, Amelio declared his ambition to take on the job permanently.

"I would assume I'm the frontrunner," he said. "I think we're in a great market [and] I think this is a great opportunity, so I'm very interested in it.

"The board, of course, has its fiduciary responsibility to make sure that we do a credible search and make sure that we leave no stone unturned.

"I expect the search to be done relatively rapidly and I'm hopeful for good news some time in the future."

Amelio expects the Avnet Technology Solutions arm of the firm to see datacentre business fall as sales shift from being hardware focused to software focused.

He claims the firm's new specialised business units - focusing on cloud solutions, security and networking, data analytics and mobility solution - will drive future success.

Some 450 Avnet specialists will work in the units, which Amelio says have three aims.

"The first one is to come up with a differentiated value proposition because, again, it's a software sale, so the skills required are going to be different; the solutions required will be different," he said.

"The second priority is going to be to recruit partners, so new partners who are specialised in those areas, but also enable our existing partners while building practices in those areas.

"And the third is going to complement our existing line card [by adding new vendors] where needed so that we come up with the best value proposition and line card in the market."