Sarah Shields leaving Dell to join Computacenter

Popular vendor leader will join Computacenter in the Spring as group alliance director

Sarah Shields is leaving Dell after 15 years to join its largest EMEA partner, Computacenter.

The popular channel leader will join the LSE-listed reseller and IT services giant in April in the new role of group alliance director, CRN understands.

The move was referenced at Computacenter's annual sales kick-off in Manchester this weekend, which marked the first time Computacenter's global sales employees had come together for three years.

Shields is joining Computacenter as part of a wider revamp of its top team, with John Beard and Lieven Bergmans also being promoted to the posts of western Europe MD and CCO, respectively. This follows the appointment in January of a new permanent UK country unit director in the form of Steve Hatherly.

Shields has spent 15 years at Dell, including as vice president of Central and North Europe Channel for the last three. She ran the UK channel for a good stretch of that time.

Talking to CRN this morning, Computacenter Mike Norris confirmed that Shields will be joining the business in April, reporting into Bergmans (who effectively runs Computacenter's product business).

"She's worked on Computacenter for a long time - although not for a couple of years as she's been off doing Scandinavian stuff. We know her well, and we welcome her on board," Norris said.

One source familiar with the situation, speaking anonymously to CRN, emphasised that Shields' departure is unconnected to reports of layoffs at Dell this morning.

"Sarah has been working her notice at Dell and an announcement came out there in early January. She's leaving on the best of terms. Computacenter is Dell's largest EMEA partner, so it's perfect," they said.

The revamp in senior sales heads comes as Computacenter's veteran CFO, Tony Conophy, also prepares to retire later this year.

"Tony is the quiet man behind me, and that's a big change," Norris said.

"We have, for us, made quite a lot of changes in one go."