Sage hires Microsoft vet as new channel chief

Sage North America has a dedicated channel chief once more, with the accounting, ERP and business management software vendor announcing the hiring of Donald Deshaies as its new vice-president of channel management.

Sage has not had a dedicated channel chief since the retirement of its veteran channel leader Tom Miller in early 2013, and a business restructuring that saw the channel organization merged into the sales organization for a more coordinated go-to-market. In the midmarket, where most of Sage’s reseller partners play, Joe Langner essentially wore the channel chief’s hat as Sage’s executive vice-president of mid-market solutions.

Deshaies, who will report to Langner, will have responsibility for continuing Sage’s strategy to grow its channel, and brings over 20 years of IT experience around ERP and CRM, as well as cloud and on-premises software and services.

“Sage has a rich heritage in working closely with partners as well as a focus on customer experience, and I’m very excited to be a part of that,” said Deshaies, in a statement. “I’m looking forward to collaborating with the Sage ecosystem to evolve the Sage business and, particularly, to work in ERP and CRM—areas about which I am very passionate, especially with the transformation to services and the accessibility that mobile solutions offer.”

Deshaies spent 13 years at Microsoft in a number of director capacities, including a stint running partner strategy for Microsoft’s Dynamics business. Most recently, he was a managing partner with a consulting company. He also spent time at Great Plains Software and Solomon Software.

“Donald will be a tremendous asset to our team,” said Langner, in a statement. “Donald’s breadth of experience in senior management roles at companies that range from start-ups to early stage companies to multinationals demonstrates his deep understanding of businesses and the challenges they face.  I am confident about the potential that Donald brings to our team and the new opportunities that he’ll soon introduce to Sage partners.”

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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Jeff Jedras
Jeff Jedras
A veteran technology and business journalist, Jeff Jedras began his career in technology journalism in the late 1990s, covering the booming (and later busting) Ottawa technology sector for Silicon Valley North and the Ottawa Business Journal, as well as everything from municipal politics to real estate. He later covered the technology scene in Vancouver before joining IT World Canada in Toronto in 2005, covering enterprise IT for ComputerWorld Canada. He would go on to cover the channel as an assistant editor with CDN. His writing has appeared in the Vancouver Sun, the Ottawa Citizen and a wide range of industry trade publications.

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