Meet Mark Ridley :NetApp new Director, Africa
NetApp
announced today that Mark Ridley has been appointed as new regional director
for Africa. An experienced sales leader with over 15 years of experience in IT,
Ridley will be responsible for all NetApp business in Africa including offices
in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria. His role covers development and execution of
sales and marketing strategies, enhancing the channel ecosystem and expanding
the NetApp customer base in this region. He reports to NetApp’s newly appointed Director MEEEA for the Middle East,
Eastern Europe and Africa, Konstantin Ebert.
Ridley’s appointment demonstrates NetApp’s commitment to its African growth strategy and affirms
that NetApp will continue to develop and prosper in these markets, extracting
maximum impact from the expected high domestic growth. To answer local
customers’ challenges, the company will
look to the strength of its channel and technology alliances as well as the
innovation leadership as demonstrated by the depth of its portfolio and
best-of-breed quality solutions. These include the world’s leading branded storage operating system ‘clustered Data ONTAP’,[1] the high-performance
E-Series and the most comprehensive enterprise flash storage offering in the
business.
“With many markets emerging and
maturing at a fast pace, the African continent offers a very interesting
playing field. I am confident that NetApp’s solutions hold tremendous
value for partners and end customers such as telecommunications, utility or
commodity companies and service providers,” says Mark Ridley, regional
director Africa at NetApp. “Our approach in Africa is 100
percent indirect and we will rely heavily on our partners to execute. This
includes distribution and integration, but also high value opportunities such
as consulting and professional services. I am looking forward to working with
them to grow NetApp’s presence on the continent.”
“Mark demonstrates all the
skills and experience needed to bring our African business to the next level.
He is building a team that is 100 percent focused on further developing our
successful enterprise business and driving partner enablement on a wide front,” says Konstantin Ebert, Director MEEEA for NetApp. “All the puzzle pieces are in place now to drive a very
determined go-to-market strategy. We have a strong sales team and partners that
are willing to execute. Their concerted efforts will allow us to interact
directly with customers and prospects, delivering enterprise-class service
everywhere.”
Mark Ridley
has over 15 years’ experience in the IT industry
and worked for some of the globe’s most influential
companies. Prior to joining NetApp, Mark
was country manager for Dell Computers and responsible for Dell’s business across Africa. He has also held senior
management positions at Cisco, IBM, Microsoft and Panasonic where his
responsibilities included the development and implementation of strategic plans
and initiatives, creation of revenue streams, driving channel growth and
financial profitability.
Ends
For
further info, please contact:
Heike
Stautner
NetApp
Tel:
+49-89-90059-4425
heike.stautner@netapp.com
Or
Jsp
Communications, Lagos
favour@jspcommunications.com
About
NetApp
NetApp
creates innovative storage and data management solutions that deliver
outstanding cost efficiency and accelerate business breakthroughs. Our
commitment to living our core values and consistently being recognized as a
great place to work around the world are fundamental to our long-term growth
and success, as well as the success of our pathway partners and customers.
Discover our passion for helping companies around the world go further, faster
at www.netapp.com
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