Lenovo UK boss exits for EMEA supply chain glory

Marc Godin splits as HP gets act together on PCs – Dave McQuarrie named as successor

The arrival of Eric Cador at the top of Lenovo’s EMEA business has signalled a slight reshuffle, with UK boss Marc Godin elevated to a vitally important role running the supply chain in the region.

In a note to partners, Godin said the acquisition of IBM Systems x and Motorola means the business profile is “very different to what it was 12 months ago".

He said the company still has lofty ambitions, and “to fulfil those we are making a number of changes to our EMEA leadership team”.

With immediate effect, Godin becomes veep EMEA supply chain, “with the mission to drive best-in-class supply chain operations across our growing product portfolio”.

Under Godin’s guidance, Lenovo has given UK PC market top dog HP a run for its money in one of its major strongholds, climbing through the ranks to grab the second spot.

However, sources tell us that HP has put a senior channel account managers in place and created sales programmes to load up the incentives. “Finally HP is starting to challenge them [Lenovo] again in the UK,” said one reseller.

There was little evidence of this in Q1, according to figures from Context.

The sales success of Lenovo hinges upon the volume it can push through distributors and resellers, something the business recognised after a faltering start when it acquired IBM's PC division in 2004.

Since acquiring IBM’s x86 server operation, Lenovo has started to ship the kit by sea, which massively reduces the cost – Big Blue reactively dispatched the hardware by air freight. The company has yet to consolidate the Think Server and System x factories.

With a Godin-shaped hole in the UK operation, Lenovo has turned to David McQuarrie, currently veep and GM for the north region (Nordics, Benelux and the Baltics) to expand his remit further.

Prior to leading the north region, McQuarrie ran the SMB and consumer businesses across Western Europe, and Lenovo told us it means he knows the territories.

Channel partners told us Godin had done a grand job during his time on board – he took the UK reigns in 2012. “He was very channel-friendly, built relationships and followed through with what he said he’d do,” said one.

It looks like ex-Dell man McQuarrie has some big boots to fill. ®