Dell's Shields takes on new European role

Sarah Shields to become channel chief for Austria, Switzerland and the Nordics

Channel veteran Sarah Shields has been appointed Dell's VP of central and northern Europe.

She moves into the role from her previous position as vice president of the EMEA enterprise channel at Dell EMC.

Shields (pictured) starts in her new role this week and it will see her run Dell's channel across Austria, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, according to her LinkedIn profile.

She lists the position as making her "responsible for developing strong relationships and enabling partners to achieve amazing growth across the Dell Technologies portfolio".

She will continue to be based in the UK and told CRN that she is looking forward to the fresh opportunities provided by her new job.

"I'm lucky to have amazing support at home that enables me to stay in the UK and still do this role - and have happy kids! And, of course, I can get anywhere within my new region within a couple of hours," she said.

"I'm looking forward to new people, new partners and a new challenge. I have seven beautiful countries, each with huge opportunity, an experienced team and a network of great partners. I am incredibly excited about this role - and I get to ski!"

Shields is the latest Dell exec to take on a new title, following newly minted EMEA president Adrian McDonald and new UK general manager Dayne Turbitt.

The changes come as the vendor gears up to consolidate its commercial and enterprise sales units, which was instigated by CCO Marius Haas announcing his retirement late last year.

Shields had previously headed up the UK channel for Dell EMC, before telling CRN in June 2018 that she would be moving to an EMEA role, looking after the vendor's enterprise channel.

Rob Tomlin, formerly of Tech Data, stepped in to take on the UK role.

In a recent interview with CRN Shields said that she was enjoying the scope of her pan-European role.