Commvault hires Dale Smith to lead North Europe channel

Commvault has appointed Dale Smith as Senior Director, Channel Sales for North Europe, adding a senior partner executive to its regional leadership team.

Smith will lead channel sales across the UK, Ireland, Benelux and the Nordic countries. Commvault said the remit covers channel strategy, growth of its partner ecosystem and expansion of its partner presence across the region.

Commvault positions its products around cyber resilience and data protection. The company sells through partners as well as directly, and it works with service providers, resellers and technology alliances in EMEA.

Leadership changes

Smith joins a Northern Europe leadership group that Commvault has expanded in recent months. The company recently named Martin Gittins as Area Vice President and Mark Molyneux as Field CTO for the region.

Commvault has linked its latest leadership moves to a broader strategic push across the EMEA region. The company identified North Europe as a critical territory within its European, Middle Eastern, and African operations.

Smith joins the team from Juniper Networks. His previous experience includes serving as UK&I Channel Director before being promoted to Senior Channel Director, EMEA in 2022.

Commvault said Smith also held leadership roles at Exclusive Networks and Arrow ECS.

Partner focus

Channel leaders often play a central role in how vendors recruit and manage partners, set partner programme priorities and align regional sales motions. In North Europe, Commvault's channel strategy will now sit under Smith's direction.

In a statement, Smith set out how he views Commvault's market positioning and the role of partners.

"Commvault is leading the charge in cyber resilience, working hand-in-hand with partners to keep customers in a state of continuous business," said Dale Smith, Senior Director, Channel Sales North Europe, Commvault. "The company's vision for unified resilience is unlike anything in the market and I'm excited to expand our ecosystem to bring this vision to life in our region."

Commvault's EMEA channel leadership also framed the hire in the context of product development and partner engagement.

"We are delighted to have Dale join us at such a pivotal time," said Jamie Farrelly, EMEA VP Channel Sales, Commvault. "We are fresh off the back of announcing Commvault Cloud Unity, one of the most substantive platform releases in the company's history, and with Dale's leadership, we can help our partners and customers in an important region within EMEA advance end-to-end resilience."

Product backdrop

Commvault has been highlighting Commvault Cloud Unity as a recent platform release. The company announced the release in November at SHIFT, its annual end-user conference in New York City.

SHIFT has become a regular point in Commvault's calendar for product and programme announcements. The company uses it to brief customers and partners on its roadmap and go-to-market priorities.

Commvault said a SHIFT Roadshow event in London will include Smith alongside other regional and global executives.