ViaWest, a data center, cloud computing and managed services provider, has added long-time channel executive Christopher Rajiah as senior vice president of sales and marketing. In this role, Rajiah will drive ViaWest’s direct sales and channel efforts. He will also lead the company’s marketing organization, overseeing messaging, branding and go-to-market strategies for the company’s full colocation, cloud and managed services portfolio.
Rajiah comes to ViaWest from Rackspace Hosting, where he served as vice president of worldwide partner sales. At Rackspace, Rajiah was responsible for the company’s global partner program where he led the company’s go-to-market channel strategy and oversaw the channel sales and marketing organization. Additionally, he directed the company’s partner acquisition and development activities and was instrumental in building a direct sales cloud unit targeting specific communities such as digital agencies, e-commerce providers, and content management system providers.
“We are thrilled to welcome Chris to our executive team,” said Nancy Phillips, president and CEO of ViaWest. “ViaWest continues to expand its world-class data center footprint, cloud portfolio and managed service offerings. Adding Chris to our management team underscores both our increased commitment to strong direct and channel sales efforts and our emphasis on delivering exceptional customer experiences. He has a tremendous depth of experience and will be a critical asset to our team as we continue our growth.”
Prior to Rackspace, Rajiah was responsible for North American channels and worldwide strategic alliances at Extreme Networks. His tenure at Extreme included driving direct sales and strategic channel partnerships in more than 30 countries globally. His past experience also includes work in 3COM’s global strategic named accounts group.
“It’s a great time to join ViaWest,” said Rajiah. “This company has demonstrated in so many ways that it is dedicated to excellence. The teams at ViaWest are committed to creating a unique customer experience and possess a strong vision for the future. I look forward to driving continued excellence in our marketing and sales efforts and leading the charge as we position ViaWest as the dominant player in the markets we serve.”
