Next step for Rodney Clark - Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program

Next step for Rodney Clark

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Update May 26, 2022: Today we are sharing the news that Rodney will join Johnson Controls as VP & Chief Commercial Officer, effective June 1. He will lead the global sales excellence efforts across the organization, responsible for developing, implementing, and accelerating Johnson Controls’ commercial strategy, building scale and sales capabilities across all sales channels and partner networks. We wish Rodney all the best in his new role as they work toward smart, healthy and sustainable buildings! More information is available here in Johnson Controls’ press release.

Our mission in the Global Partner Solutions organization is to build and sell intelligent cloud and intelligent edge solutions with partners, empowering people and organizations to achieve more. The success we’ve had is because of the leaders and teams who have put our partners’ growth at the center. One of those exceptional leaders that I’ve had the honor to work with and learn from for well over a decade is Rodney Clark, our CVP of Channel Sales and Microsoft Channel Chief. Rodney’s imprint on many of our businesses has been significant and enduring as we continue to transform our entire partner ecosystem to realize new growth with Microsoft Cloud.

Today we are sharing news that Rodney has decided to take a new role outside of Microsoft. He will be an Executive Officer at a publicly traded company that is a great partner to Microsoft, and more details will be announced in the coming weeks.

This type of role has been in Rodney’s sights as part of his long-term career plan, the timing was sooner than we anticipated. We have a deep and talented bench of leaders who are in place to deliver business continuity with our partners and programs without interruption.

We are actively discussing Rodney’s successor and expect to have a new leader in place by the beginning of our new fiscal year in July. We look forward to introducing this person at Microsoft Inspire, our annual partner conference on July 19-20.

We wish Rodney all the best in his new role and thank him for his 24 years of commitment and impact at Microsoft!

Author

  • Nick Parker
    President, Industry & Partner Sales

    As President of the Industry & Partner Sales (IPS) organization, Nick Parker leads Microsoft's multi-billion-dollar sales business spanning industry, partner and enterprise commercial teams. The alliance of global Industry Teams, the Strategic Partnerships Team (SPT), the Enterprise Commercial Operations team, Global Partner Solutions (GPS), and IPS Strategy & Operations, adds increased dimension to Microsoft's sales capabilities. With Microsoft's unique and differentiated cloud technology, IPS drives business growth through creating new industry market opportunity, increased sales and consumption with industry solutions, strategic deal origination and acceleration, structured enterprise engagement and partner ecosystem success. Prior to leading the Industry & Partner Sales team, Parker was the Corporate Vice President of Global Partner Solutions organization where he led Microsoft's commercial partner business and was responsible for building and selling innovative devices, services and solutions with partners that empower customers across all industries. He collaborated with a broad set of commercial partners including service partners, device partners, Global Systems Integrators (GSIs), Advisory partners, and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to drive digital transformation, scale, business growth and profitability with partners. Parker was the Corporate Vice President of Consumer & Device Sales accountable for the company's intelligent edge device ecosystem revenue. In this role, he worked with OEMs, silicon partners, retailers, distribution partners and IoT partners, around the world, to design, build and sell devices with Microsoft experiences from Windows to Xbox, Game Pass, M365, Office, Server and Azure IoT services. Before leading the Consumer & Devices Sales organization, Parker was the Corporate Vice President of Microsoft's Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) team. His global team was responsible for working with hardware manufacturers to design, build and sell devices that deliver rich experiences with Microsoft innovation to customers. Parker also served as Vice President of OEM Marketing where he defined and executed worldwide marketing strategies, programs, and campaigns with OEM partners to achieve mutual business objectives and customer satisfaction. As General Manager of worldwide sales for HP at Microsoft, Parker was accountable for the HP and Microsoft product portfolio, sales and marketing strategy, investments, and resultant revenue. Prior to joining Microsoft, Parker entered the IT industry working for an Olivetti retailer, Research Machines and led sales for Visio that was acquired by Microsoft in 2000.