The parent company closed the Canadian office in 2004 and since then has been running the Canadian operation from its U.S. headquarters in Marlborough, Mass.
Tidd, who is currently 3Com’s vice- president of North American channel sales, had been president of 3Com Canada from when 3Com acquired U.S. Robotics back in the late nineties.
Tidd became interested in technology as a child. His mother Norma was one of pioneers of the Canadian IT channel as an IBM reseller and later the national sales manager for Zenith Data Systems.
Tidd held senior positions with SRT, Antares Electronics and asap Computer Products. He arrived at U.S. Robotics as part of the company’s 1996 acquisition of Megahertz Corporation, where he founded their Canadian operations.
In 2003, 3Com ventured in China with its Huawei acquisition, a deal spearheaded by Tidd.
He’s also known for vigorously fighting grey marketers. He was named president of the Alliance for Gray Market and Counterfeit Abatement (AGMA), which combats high-tech counterfeiting and gray market around the world.
Small wonder that for his work Tidd has been twice named CDN’s No. 2 Newsmaker of the year.