Roy Rivers takes over top sales job at D&H Canada as Greg Tobin moves to advisory role

A triumvirate of Rivers, Tim Billing and Jennifer Walcott takes over the day-to-day management of D&H Canada, although Rivers certainly seems to be the first among equals.

Roy Rivers, newly-promoted VP of Sales at D&H Canada

Major changes are afoot at D&H Canada. Longtime General Manager Greg Tobin retains his title, but not his former authority. Roy Rivers, who joined D&H in July 2017, has been promoted by the position of vice president of sales. Tobin moves into what the company calls an advisory position, which is focused on longer term strategic initiatives for the organization.

D&H is emphasizing that the management role is now shared between three executives: Rivers, Jennifer Walcott, vice president of marketing, and Tim Billing, senior vice president of vendor management and purchasing. Walcott, who joined D&H last summer, had a long stint in senior marketing roles at Ingram Micro, and also worked at Tech Data. Billing, who worked for Ingram Micro for almost 17 years, came to D&H in 2015. While Billing was based in Toronto for his latter tenure at Ingram Micro, he has been at D&H’s main offices in Harrisburg PA since jointing the company. Rivers and Walcott are based in Canada.

Rivers, who appears to have much of the authority in the new structure, came to D&H following a long channel career, most of which was spent at 22 years at IBM, the latter years of which were distribution and partner focused. From there, he moved to Avnet Canada in 2012, and was there, and briefly at Tech Data after they acquired Avnet, until joining D&H. Rivers is explicitly designated as the executive lead for all sales, and overseeing all customer relations at D&H Canada under the new management structure. He came to D&H Canada in 2017 as director of sales, advanced solutions, managing D&H’s major vendor relationships in addition to VAR sales. Rivers spearheaded D&H’s addition of HPE’s and Aruba’s solutions, the HPE HERO (Heighten and Elevate Revenue Opportunity) program, Cisco’s Meraki line of wireless solutions, and the launch of the accompanying Driven for Cisco Meraki reseller program. He has also driven more than 35 per cent growth in the VAR sales segment in the past year with a focus on the SMB space in Canada.

Tobin will retain the title of General Manager through the transition in 2019. His title after the transition has not yet been finalized. D&H informed ChannelBuzz that while Tobin is available to advise the Canadian executive team, the executive team are responsible for the continued growth and development of the organization.

“I’m excited to focus my expertise more expressly on strategic efforts for D&H as it evolves, working to boost sales for our customers,” said Tobin, in a statement. “We’re confident that Roy will continue to establish crucial new relationships for D&H, increasing the company’s prominence in the market and enhancing its ability to deliver a competitive edge to its VARs. As D&H continues into its second century, its Canadian executive team will consistently play a more intrinsic role in the company’s ongoing strategic trajectory.”

ChannelBuzz will have more on this story moving forward – after the holidays.