Mid-Atlantic infrastructure-as-a-service company IPR International has appointed veteran channel exec Kirk Horton as vice president of channels and partners. He is tasked with kicking off then growing IPR’s channel strategy.
Horton brings 20 years of experience heading global channel sales programs. Most recently, he was vice president of channels and partners for Telx, which provides interconnection and data center services in the U.S. While at Telx he built the company’s channel program from the ground up; Horton was also part of the management team when the company was sold via a leveraged buyout in 2011. Prior to Telx, Horton served in executive channel and sales roles at a variety of data center and technology companies, including Globix, Digital Island and SpeedERA (now part of Akamai).
“We are thrilled to welcome Kirk Horton to the IPR team,” says IPR executive vice president of sales and marketing, David McLaughlin. “The development of the channel partner initiative under his guidance is integral to IPR’s strategic plan for expansion into new markets and geographic areas, and we are excited to see the valuable contributions he will make.”
Based in the San Francisco area, Horton expands IPR’s management presence to the West Coast and will help serve the needs of IPR’s clients and partners across the country. “I am here because I know the channel and I know what people want and how I can help my partners better serve the critical needs of their clients,” Horton said. “My mission is to be an enabler, to help those partners be that trusted advisor to their clients. I want to know what will help them be successful and be part of that success.”
“Kirk Horton has been a respected channel leader in the colocation space for several years,” said Chris Palermo, president and CEO of Global Communication Networks and a member of IPR’s Board of Managers. “I had the fortunate opportunity of working with Kirk for the past five years at his previous company. During this time, I learned firsthand of his vested interests in creating one of the most agent-friendly partner environments.”
IPR’s plans for enterprise cloud offering attracted Horton to the new role. “I was really impressed with what the company is doing from a technology perspective,” Horton said. “Knowing IPR’s plans for expansion and growth, a channel allows you to expand into new markets and grow your revenue. This was an opportunity for me to come in here and do what I do best: build something at the foundational level, put my fingerprint and blueprints on that program, and reach out to the well-respected and established relationships I have in the channel community to acquaint them with this new venture I am embarking upon.”
