What Spierkel’s exit means for Ingram and solution providers

The bottom line for Ingram Micro,(NYSE: IM) its Canadian operation, and the many solution providers who rely on the distributor for products and services, is this: nothing will dramatically change now that Alain Monie will be running things.

The CEO of Ingram, Greg Spierkel, announced yesterday that he will be stepping down in April after a nearly seven year run as the big boss.

The Canadian-born Spierkel will be a hard executive to replace in this regard. He has charisma. I have found Spierkel to be a very effective communicator. Among other things, he’s worldly (the man partied with reggae legend Bob Marley in Cannes, for example). These are intangibles and may not truly relate to his business acumen, but think about it this way: Ingram has to deal with more than 185,000 resellers in around 150 countries. Not to mention thousands of employees. That is a ridiculous number of people you have to motivate and get on the same page with. It looked as if Spierkel handled all these people with ease. I never saw him stumble for a name when confronting a partner, colleague, co-worker or the media. He seemed to know everyone on a first name basis.

This is why I think Spierkel will be a hard act to follow for Monie, who is 61 and is currently the president and COO. Monie joined Ingram in 2003 as an executive vice president for the Asia-Pacific region. There is a blip, however, in his Ingram career. He left the distributor in 2010 to become the CEO of April Management Pte., a multi-national industrial company based in Asia, only to return in late 2011.

My sources inside Ingram say Monie has been groomed to be Spierkel’s replacement as part of a leadership succession plan. I, for one, would like to know why Monie left, only to come back. That is a strange move to make when you know that you will one day be the CEO of a Fortune 100 company.

Don’t expect any blip in service because of this change in leadership as processes and middle-management are firmly in place and Spierkel will be still running things until Apirl 15 of, which ensures a smooth transistion.

As for future direction, don’t expect any major changes from Monie. He has already stated that he will continue to execute the same strategy as Spierkel.

Monie is fluent in three languages, which will help, but he has to make himself known to the vendors and solution providers here in North America; more especially those in the VentureTech Network. VTN members in Canada and the U.S. that I have spoken too were big fans of Spierkel.

Monie needs this group to be fans of him too if he is to have a successful run as Ingram’s CEO.

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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Paolo Del Nibletto
Paolo Del Nibletto
Former editor of Computer Dealer News, covering Canada's IT channel community.

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