Milestone Systems, the globally leading open platform company in IP video management software (VMS), is ushering in a talented team of new employees in the Americas and expanding the careers of existing staff who have demonstrated top performance. With a complimentary blend of proven security professionals and emerging talent, Milestone continues to build upon its best-in-class sales, service and support for the open platform community.
In tact with expanding business opportunities, an internal reorganization reflects strategic focus areas and sets the stage for a more efficient management structure to enable future growth plans. This also provides the opportunity for employees to be recognized for their outstanding efforts by receiving well-earned promotions, empowering them to extend their excellent work and ideas even further.
“Our driving goal is to support our open platform community with the highest level of talent, innovation and service possible,” said Tim Palmquist, VP Americas, Milestone Systems. “The way to do this is to recruit those with best expertise available, and reward top performance by providing successful career paths both for our own employees and for channel partners who are working with us and our technology.”
New Hires for Milestone Americas
Brad Thomas is now Strategic Account Manager with a national scope, returning to Milestone where he worked as a Regional Sales Manager from 2008-2011. Since then, he was with Verint Systems, and his past experience includes positions with Honeywell, Titan Group, ECI Telecom and Paradyne Networks. Thomas brings more than 17 years of sales experience to this important new role supporting all Milestone North American sales efforts with Convergint Technologies, Johnson Controls and Siemens.
Tom Young, Channel Business Manager – NY/NJ, has joined Milestone with decades of industry experience in the video management and access control industry, including positions with Pelco, Palmieri Associates, and Software House. Young has been working within the NYC and NJ market throughout his professional career, being well known and respected in this region.
Reg Collins, Western Canada Channel Business Manager, comes to Milestone from AXIS Communications, where he most recently worked as a Key Account Manager supporting large end-user customers. Collins has also worked for Tri-ed distributors, Westrep Marketing, NCS Noramco and Ademco. His excellent experience and reputation with large channel business is a welcome addition to the Western Canada region.
Andrea Meissner, Inside Channel Manager (ICM), brings to Milestone a proven history in Sales, Channel Management and Partner Development. Her experiences include working for companies such as Harbortech Mobility, Right Systems, Inc., and Symantec. Meissner started at Milestone in mid-September, completed the initial onboarding and training, and took over the ICM responsibilities for the North Central and Great Lakes regions in early October. Her organizational skills and understanding of business and partner development will be a significant asset in assuring continued growth in the North Central and Great Lakes markets.
Christina Schlegel, Finance Manager, recently joined the Milestone Americas Controlling team to bring several years’ experience from Deloitte, where she was a manager of one of Deloitte’s largest audit clients, BlackRock. Schlegel is a CPA and holds an MBA and Masters of Science degree in Accounting from Northeastern University, and a Bachelors of Arts degree in Economics and East Asian Studies from Connecticut College. She is tri-lingual, speaking English, German and Mandarin.
Since June of this year, Milestone Tech Support Americas brought in Richard Hendricks as Support Engineer, and new Support Professionals Marlo Rocci and Keinan Miller. Likewise in Technical Services Americas, Tom McDonald joined Milestone as Technical Services Engineer. Partner Services & Sales Support further strengthened staffing with Pia Droessiger as Sales Support Assistant and Ian Bowey as a Sales Lead Qualifier. The Americas ICM team also added John Cunningham as Sales Lead Generator.
In September, Jean-Francois Montpetit was promoted to the position of Engineering Manager of the Custom Development team in the Americas, reporting to Paolo Blem, Director of Global Custom Development at Milestone headquarters in Denmark. Montpetit has been with Milestone for more than two years and is a respected professional in the organization. In his new role, he is a regular visitor at the US office in Beaverton, supporting the work of Custom Development for the needs of the Milestone Americas community.
In Latin America, Milestone hired Ulises Perez as Associate Support Professional for the Central America/Latin America (CALA) region, and in the Milestone Mexico office added Jose Brito as Technical Support Professional with Jessie Benton as Sales Support in the Partner Services & Sales Support team.
Milestone Internal Promotions
Mike Sherwood is now Director, Technical Operations – Americas, moved up from his latest role as Director, Professional Services. Sherwood’s role continues his management and overview of the pre-sales Solutions Engineers and the Technical Services Engineers who provide professional services and partner certification training, but now adds responsibility for the post-sales Technical Support and IT teams under Gary St. Arnauld as well as the Strategic Alliances team under Reinier Tuinzing’s leadership.
Eric Moe has been promoted to Director of Sales Operations, taking over the Milestone Americas distribution responsibilities in addition to managing the Partner Development & Inside Channel Management (ICM) Team. As of January, Moe will also provide leadership of the Partner Service & Sales Support team, whose current manager of 9 years, Gunilla Wildey, is moving to Europe where she can contribute her vast expertise for the global organization.
Mike Taylor continues in the Americas as Sales Director for the Milestone Channel Business Managers and Strategic Account Managers in the field.
Chad Palmquist is the new Mid-South Channel Business Manager for Milestone. Since joining the company in 2014 as an Inside Channel Manager, he continually demonstrated his ability to increase business within the existing customer base and to find and develop new partners. He leverages his knowledge of the Milestone product line and Solution Partner product offerings, leading to value-adding relationships that benefit the open platform community.
Sean Ellison has been rewarded for his hard work at Milestone over the last 7 years by promotion to Western Region Distribution Channel Manager. In his previous role as Distribution Marketing Manager, Ellison was an excellent liaison between Distribution, Sales and Marketing. This new role moves him into the field, working directly with customers, resellers and distributors where his enthusiasm and experience will allow him to champion the Milestone story and strengthen the Milestone Distribution Channel.
Paul Messenger, a Milestone employee of six years, is now Manager of Partner Development & Inside Channel Management (ICM). He has done an excellent job as a Senior ICM, consistently performing and sharing his knowledge by taking on many team development initiatives over the past several years. His new role is an accurate reflection of the partner development work the ICM team has taken on, and will continue to do under Paul’s leadership.
Christina Hampson came to Milestone five years ago as an intern and steadily achieved new levels of professionalism for the latest assignment as Team Lead, Partner Service & Sales Support, in charge of supporting the team with their daily work, improving and outlining processes and ensuring alignment with Partner Service & Sales Support in the EMEA and APAC regions. She has a lot of knowledge when it comes to Milestone products and how to best help our partners and people in the field.
Barbara Erickson has the new title of Senior Sales Support Specialist in Partner Service & Sales Support, having just celebrated her 8-year anniversary with Milestone in November. She has been a super star in supporting the Americas organization when it comes to Salesforce, and has also done a great job of supporting her four west coast territories. Erickson has formed strong relationships with many of Milestone’s legacy partners, which is valuable for the rest of the team by bringing insights from many of the more mature and ongoing projects.