Red Hat hires Intel veteran as a top sales exec

Greg Symon

(Credit: Red Hat)

Ever since June, when Ed Boyajian left his post as Red Hat vice president of North America sales to become CEO of EnterpriseDB, Red Hat has been operating without an equivalent sales executive in North America.

Regional executives Ian Knight, Sean Doherty, and others have delivered the numbers under the guidance of Alex Pinchev, Red Hat's executive vice president of global sales. But the company needed to replace Boyajian.

Red Hat on Monday announced the appointment of Greg Symon as vice president and general manager of North American sales. Symon comes to Red Hat from Intel, where he has spent 22 years of his career, most recently as senior managing director and founder of Intel's Global Software Relations organization within Intel's Software Solutions Group.

Red Hat has close relations with Intel, so Symon will be intimately familiar with Red Hat's organization and should require little time to get up to speed in his new role.

Symon brings more than software sales experience to the table. He has depth in business development, a key need for Red Hat as it seeks to expand and grow beyond its Linux and middleware businesses. But he also fits the Red Hat bill with stints as worldwide director of Intel's Customer Solutions Group Influencer Sales Team, Americas director of the Architecture Management organization, manager of the Business Development organization, and director of the Strategic Relations Managers Group.

In short, Symon is not a one-trick sales pony, and he has the sort of breadth of experience and expertise that Red Hat has traditionally sought in its executives.

Boyajian was a great sales executive, and he remains revered by Red Hatters. By the looks of it, Symon is cut from a different cloth than Boyajian, but he should have the same ability to earn and eventually command respect within the Red Hat sales organization.