The quick growth of startup distributor, Nextgen Distribution, has seen it lure 20-year channel veteran, Scott Caulfield, who has been appointed GM of digital and marketing services.
Nextgen Distribution Managing Director, John Walters, said Caulfield has been brought in to utilise his huge experience to develop the company’s value add service offerings.
“I’ve known and admired Scott for many years, so it is a pleasure to be working with him. He has the right passion and experience to help Nextgen on the next phase of its journey but in particular ensure that we drive an even more focused and differentiated approach to and for our Channel partners,” Walters said.
Caulfield’s extensive experience spans several leading international organisations such as CA Technologies, Novell and NASDAQ. At CA he held the positions of Vice President, channel marketing for APJ and business unit director for CA’s ITMaas and data management business across A/NZ.
“I am incredibly excited to join a local business that has achieved such success in its startup phase” Caulfield said.
“I have joined Nextgen Distribution because I believe the company has a compelling value proposition, a strong reputation and an amazing team of people who will realize the vision.”
Prior to his almost 10 years at CA Scott worked for the NASDAQ as a senior business consultant, was a founding director of international payment provider Earthport and spent seven years with Novell.
Caulfield said there was no bad blood as part of his departure from CA.
“I had a wonderful career at CA, there are great people there and I worked on some great projects. NextGen jumped out at me because I was looking for something smaller scale, a start up with a great growth curve behind it, where I could have a bit more control over projects, and take advantage of emerging opportunities in the markets,” he told ARN.
Nextgen Distribution has seen strong growth since its launch in 2012. It was recently announced as a finalist in the Australian Growth Business Awards, and the company expanded into New Zealand last month, appointing Kiwi industry veteran Terry Dunn as its NZ managing director and giving him a stake in the company.
Walters would also not be drawn on whether Caulfield received any stake in the company as part of his hiring, telling ARN only that “Scott does have a long term commitment to the company.”
Caulfield’s position is a new one, but he will have the ability to build his own team. He did not bring any new clients with him, but will retain the company’s focus on its new digital assets, its ‘challenger brands’ and its key client Oracle.
“We are piloting Oracle’s new Cloud partner program, so that’s a key one for us, it’s in beta testing at the moment,” Caulfield said.
“We’re also launching new digital assets. Nextgen Create is a tool that allows us to provide high-end marketing services to vendors and resellers. NextGen Connect is another platform that allows resellers and end customers to communicate more freely. It’s effectively a social network for resellers.”
The company has also recently been in Canberra in talks with the Department of Defense, where Walter's says there are "many great opportunities for us."
So what is Caulfield’s key focus over the next financial year?
“Now that I’m part of the executive team, it’s the normal responsibilities. We want to make sure our financial performance meets all our targets, and that all our new digital assets get off the ground. We want to keep that growth going, so it’s an exciting time.”
