New Polycom Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand

oscartr — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 01:49:00 GMT

Polycom loses local head

http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Polycom_loses_local_head/0,130061791,339274634,00.htm

By Renai LeMay, ZDNet Australia 02 April 2007 11:46 AM

update Videoconferencing vendor Polycom has a new Australia and New Zealand managing director, with incumbent James Anderson unexpectedly flagging his departure in the next month for parts unknown.

Anderson told ZDNet Australia this morning he was still in discussions regarding his future after Polycom, but would leave the vendor after his notice period. Anderson had held the top job since June 2004.

Polycom this morning issued a statement naming Michael S Chetner as the new managing director, but without mentioning Anderson's fate. Chetner was previously the vendor's director of Sales Operations for the Asia-Pacific region, a position he has held since March 2005.

The executive has also worked for miner BHP Billiton and will report directly to Hansjoerg Wagner, Polycom's Asia Pacific regional managing director and vice president of Sales.

"Chetner will be spearheading Polycom's investment plan in the Australia and New Zealand markets, which is strengthened by the recent acquisition of [wireless communications vendor] SpectraLink. The launch of a new Polycom Melbourne office and an aggressive hiring plan are already in the pipeline," said the vendor's statement.

Chetner told ZDNet Australia by telephone this morning that his immediate priorities would see him focus on Polycom's strategic partnerships with large vendors such as Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya, Microsoft, IBM and Cisco.

"With our solution, we can tag along with a lot of these partners to add value to not only themselves, but to obviously the channels and increase the value proposition to our mutual customers, and new customers as well," he said.

In his previous role, Chetner was also based in Sydney, although he also reported to Wagner then, due to his regional role.

Microsoft Information Worker Australia : Alcatel-Lucent

New Polycom Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand