Tumbleweed Communications (NASDAQ:TMWD), an industry leader in managed file transfer and content security, today announced the appointment of Craig Whitney as managing director for EMEA, based at the company's office in the United Kingdom.
In this role Craig will be responsible for developing overall strategy, direction and vision for Tumbleweed's operations in the EMEA region, with particular focus on facilitating Tumbleweed's move to becoming a channel-centric vendor.
Mr. Whitney's appointment comes at a time when Tumbleweed is actively expanding its channel-driven sales model and experiencing a significant increase in demand for its products. With major data breaches hitting the headlines on regular basis, there's been a surge in regulatory demands worldwide (most recently with PCI DSS) and growing momentum in support of "full disclosure" in the UK and parts of the European Union. As a result, Tumbleweed has seen a significant increase in demand among the large- and mid-sized enterprises across an array of industries. Tumbleweed's channel strategy is designed to help fill this increased demand. Tumbleweed has a proven track record with the world's most security-conscious companies including some of the world's largest central banks, over 50 percent of the Fortune 100, at least 9 of the top 10 U.S. banks, at least 8 of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies, and a vast array of blue-chip companies in the retail, technology, manufacturing, telecommunications, healthcare, education, and energy industries.
Mr. Whitney has more than 11 years experience in the messaging security industry, and most recently he held leadership positions strengthening channel and sales operations at ScanSafe, FrontBridge Technologies (which was acquired by Microsoft), and ISS (which was acquired by IBM).
"Craig's depth of experience and strong track record will fuel significant channel growth and adoption of Tumbleweed's highly differentiated content security products," said Nick Hulse, executive vice president of Worldwide Field Operations at Tumbleweed. "His industry experience will bolster our partner recruitment in the region, which in turn will deepen our relationships within the finance, healthcare and government sectors and broaden our reach to new vertical markets, including retail, manufacturing, energy and education."
On a global basis, Tumbleweed has made a sizeable investment in growing a differentiated partner programme and a long-term commitment to driving channel success. The company recently launched the EMEA Tumbleweed Alliance Programme (TAP), and the benefits of this programme to channel partners include:
- Ease of adoption - Complete on-boarding programme with tools and training designed to drive immediate success
- Favorable margins - Strong revenue potential across all product lines and professional services
- Outstanding growth opportunity - Distinguished product lines offer growth opportunities for national and regional channels and those with niche traction in verticals such as retail, technology, manufacturing, insurance, and energy
- Strength and stability - An established leader in content security, Tumbleweed has made sizeable channel investments, which will only continue to grow
- Innovative programme - That helps partners nurture and protect customer deals