Having had a front-row seat while president Terry Walsh tripled Cisco Canada’s business over the last five years, Nitin Kawale understands well the big shoes he has had to step into as head of one of the networking vendor’s top performing subsidiaries.
Kawale, a Cisco Systems Canada veteran, took over the presidency of the Canadian operation this spring following Walsh’s return to his native Australia.
From a partner perspective, Kawale says he sees channel partners as the basis of Cisco’s market success and execution. He’s looking to build-up Cisco’s partner presence and strength in key industry verticals such as oil and gas, and the recruitment of SMB partners is also a priority.
“I want to establish in Canada a rich tradition of innovation and I want to accelerate that. We have a unique opportunity here with a quality team and I want to take innovation to the next level. As networks become more pervasive we have to build an environment for people to live, work and play and drive that,” says Kawale.
That team, however, won’t include long-time channel executive Ross Pellizzari, who resigned from Cisco Canada as its Canadian channel chief in July of this year after nine years with the company to pursue other opportunities.
To date, Pellizzari’s position has not been filled even though an extensive search was started months ago.