His sudden departure came as a surprise to many in the industry. But then again, John Paget has been switching jobs a lot lately.
The former president of Synnex’s Technology Solutions Division will become global president of Avnet Technology Solutions on March 5.
Paget was often credited for driving Synnex’s focus on higher-end solutions – a focus that Synnex doesn’t plan to change just because of his departure. But we shouldn’t be surprised to see some changes happening over at Avnet.
Prior to his time at Synnex, Paget served as senior vice-president and general manager of GE Technology Financial Services. And prior to that, he was president and CEO of GE Access, a Sun distributor, which was renamed Access Distribution and acquired by Avnet last November.
It seems fitting that Paget is coming full circle, since Avnet has acquired VARs from Access Distribution. Much of his time has been spent in the distribution business where he has consolidated acquisitions and heterogeneous channels. And this is a skill he brings with him to Avnet, where he will have to integrate new VARs into the existing distribution channel. Perhaps we’ll even see another acquisition.
Paget also brings his knowledge of solutions distribution to the table. He believes the distribution model is shifting to focus more on integrated solutions delivered in a solutions distribution model, and that Avnet will benefit from his experience working with enterprise and broadline distributors.
Avnet does business in 30 countries, with a focus on enterprise computer products and embedded systems. Paget plans to grow Avnet’s business by broadening its offerings from enterprise solutions to industry-standard x86 products for small and mid-sized businesses – a market where he sees plenty of growth, particularly in Canada. Now he just has to convince Avnet partners of this.
The new job moves him from a North American focus at Synnex to a global one, as Avnet tries to expand its business in Europe and Asia. But this is still good news for Canadian VARs.
Paget is knowledgeable about the Canadian market, and it bodes well for the channel to have someone like him in charge of a global organization. He also has experience at different levels of the channel – in the past he worked for two large VARs, Innalogic Trace and CIC Systems – so he knows what’s important in the reseller community. And this reseller experience, he says, will help him shape policy at Avnet, since his focus is still on VARs.
But Synnex says it won’t be steered off course now that Paget is gone. It’s still in good hands with Jim Estill, who’s now co-leading Synnex’s technology solutions group – and doesn’t plan to change its distribution model any time soon.
