Nuvias founder Eccleston joins Exclusive Networks as new UK and Ireland boss

Eccleston takes regional role after predecessor Graham Jones retired earlier this year

Nuvias founder Paul Eccleston has been appointed to lead Exclusive Network's UK and Ireland operations following the retirement of Graham Jones from the role earlier this year.

Jones, Exclusive's former UK and Ireland boss, announced his retirement in April after 45 years in the industry and nine years with Exclusive.

Eccleston joins Exclusive Networks from cybersecurity vendor Zscaler where he served as VP of international channels and alliances.

He previously held senior roles at Computacenter and SCC in the 1990s and early 2000s. He moved into distribution in 2009, taking the CEO role at Specialist Distribution Group (SDG) before selling the firm to Tech Data.

Eccleston went on to found value-added distributor Nuvias in 2015, after Rigby Group acquired Wick Hill, where he went on to build a "multi hundred million-dollar" business with a pan-EMEA footprint.

Nuvias' cybersecurity and networking operations were sold to Infinigate Group earlier this year.

France-based Exclusive Networks, which placed #7 in CRN's 2022 distribution rankings with UK revenues of £385 in calendar 2021, describes Eccleston as an "accomplished senior executive and entrepreneurial sales leader" who has a proven track record of building and scaling channel organisations.

He will be tasked with leading the UK and Ireland business "through its next phase of growth".

"This is a tremendous opportunity to help further scale a highly successful business and I'm delighted to be joining the Exclusive family," Eccleston said.

"Cybersecurity is one of the defining technologies of our generation and Exclusive Networks has become synonymous with cybersecurity services in the channel in recent years. I'm really looking forward to working with the team to maximise growth opportunities, evolve our ecosystem, deliver service excellence, and create value for our vendors and partners."

Exclusive Networks CEO Jesper Trolle added: "The appointment of someone of Paul's calibre is a true testament to the power of the Exclusive brand and a real statement of intent as we continue to execute our successful growth strategy.

"Having known Paul for 10 years he has a strong entrepreneurial business acumen combined with an intimate knowledge and understanding of the evolving channel ecosystem, disruptive technologies, new consumption models and innovative services. These are an extremely rare mix of qualities and I'm really excited to see him joining Exclusive as we embark on our next phase of growth."