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NetApp has appointed Chris Greenwood (pictured) as senior sales director and managing director for its key UK and Ireland business. Along with France and Germany, the UK makes up around 65% of NetApp's EMEA sales, with about 90% of them going through the channel.
Reporting to Alexander Wallner, senior vice president and general manager for EMEA at NetApp, Greenwood will be focused on enhancing relationships within NetApp’s existing customer and partner portfolio to deliver organic growth. He aims to continue to maintain the “strong sales momentum” for NetApp’s hybrid cloud infrastructure (HCI) offerings, said the vendor, and win new accounts in target sectors such as healthcare and financial services.
Greenwood replaces Nick Thurlow, who has been in the role for the past 2.5 years. Greenwood has spent the past nine years at NetApp in a variety of senior roles, predominantly in the Northern European Region.
He has over 23 years’ experience of the enterprise technology industry and in that time has worked for organisations such as BT and Sun Microsystems. Greenwood started his career as an officer in the Royal Navy in 1993.
“We are delighted to promote Chris Greenwood into this key role for NetApp in the UK and Ireland. It is well deserved as Chris has proven himself to be a true leader when it comes to understanding and educating others on the value of NetApp’s services,” said Alexander Wallner. “The UK and Ireland are important markets for our future growth, and Chris has proven himself a powerful advocate for our customers and partners.”
Greenwood added: “It has been a pleasure to have taken the lead on key sales initiatives for NetApp EMEA over the last nine years. NetApp has a compelling Data Fabric strategy, a strong portfolio of products, a vibrant partner network and relevant expertise which is well suited for today’s data-driven businesses.”
NetApp is in the process of re-organising the way its reaches the EMEA market, having recently closed some offices in specific countries and instead relying on existing distributors to serve customers and partners on the ground.