Intronis, a leading provider of cloud-based backup services sold exclusively through the channel, has appointed industry veteran Rick Faulk as its new chief executive, positioning the company for accelerate growth amid an increasingly crowded market segment.

Faulk assumes Intronis’ leadership post, relieving interim CEO Jay Bolgatz who has overseen operations since September when former CEO Kent Plunket left the company. Bolgatz will return to his previous position, vice president of engineering.

The leadership change as Intronis and other next-generation cloud backup vendors face a market of increasing competition. While backup remains one of the hottest technologies in the services segment, no single backup vendor stands out as the dominant market leader. And, with more than 60 percent of the channel offering backup services and more than 50 percent of the market already converted over to some form of cloud or hybrid service, the competition among vendors for customers and growth is fierce.

“The cloud backup market is reaching a pivotal point in its maturation cycle, which makes it an exciting time to join Intronis and use my experience to help the team build a differentiated go-to-market strategy for the company and our channel partners,” says Faulk. “I am looking forward to building on our successes to make Intronis the clear market leader.”

Faulk comes to Intronis with an impressive resume. He served as CEO of Intranets.com, chief marketing officer and president of WebEx Small Business, president and CEO of Landslide Technologies, general manager of j2 and president and CEO of Mzinga. He’s credited with building high-profile services-based businesses, as well as strong experience in shepherding restoration of suffering enterprises and integration of acquired businesses.

“We’re pleased to announce Rick’s appointment and have him take the helm during this important time in the company’s history,” says George Roberts, and Intronis board member. “Under Rick’s leadership and vision, Intronis will accelerate its growth strategy and continue to deliver the IT channel’s best-performing cloud-based backup and recovery solutions.”

The appointment of Faulk is just the latest in a series of leadership changes at Intronis. Earlier this year, Intronis appointed Neal Bradbury to head channel sales and management, replacing Ted Roller. Additionally, channel marketing manager Carol Ferrari moved on to head Intronis’ partner training and enablement efforts.