New Hewlett Packard Enterprise VP of Worldwide Distribution Michael Bernhardt told CRN among his top priorities will be to “increase engagement and participation” in the “under-utilized” HPE distribution led service provider program.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Director of Worldwide Distribution Michael Bernhardt, a 28-year HPE and HP channel veteran, has been promoted to vice president of worldwide distribution for the AI hybrid cloud powerhouse.

Bernhardt, who started his HP career in 1996 as a wholesale account manager for PCs in Germany, will take the post that was vacated when Simon Ewington was named HPE’s first worldwide channel and partner ecosystem leader nine months ago.

Bernhardt was unavailable for comment but in an email sent to CRN he said among his top priorities will be to “increase engagement and participation” in the “under utilized” HPE distribution led service provider program.

Furthermore, Bernhardt said he plans to “accelerate growth” through distributors in both “legacy and consumption based business models, and most recent industry trends,” such as high-performance computing and AI.

“Providing the right mix of marketing and enablement support in a profitable and reliable environment is our key to success and we’ll continue to address those areas,” he wrote.

Bernhardt- who has headed up worldwide distribution for HPE for the last four years – took on the added role of senior global distributor account manager worldwide for distribution behemoth TD Synnex in November 2022.

Among his biggest accomplishments was growing the sales through TD Synnex to make it one of HPE’s biggest global distributors.

In fact, he played a key role in implementing the first global plan to accelerate the migration of TD Synnex partners to the HPE GreenLake consumption model.

From November 2011 to October 2019, Bernhardt was director of distribution for HPE EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa) where he implemented a more “sales focused” compensation model for distributors.

Bernhardt will report to Ewington who in a prepared statement said he was “pleased” to have the HPE distribution veteran take the new leadership role.

Ewington said Bernhardt has had a “remarkable career” at HPE working with key distribution partners and is “well-respected” for the success he has achieved. “I am confident his experience and expertise will be a driving force for continued success within this critical segment of our business,” he said.

HPE Executive Vice President and Chief Sales Officer Heiko Meyer, meanwhile, in a prepared statement said Bernhardt’s “extensive experience” will be key in driving growth in “this strategic segment of our business.”

Meyer said Bernhardt is “skilled at putting himself in the shoes of HPE’s distribution partners which builds relevancy within the market and contributes to our joint success.”

C.R. Howdyshell, CEO of Advizex, a Fulcrum IT Partners company and a top HPE partner, said he was excited about HPE filling the worldwide distribution post and is looking forward to meeting with Bernhardt to drive HPE distribution alignment with Advizex.

“Distribution plays a key role in our go to market for customers in several areas and it is going to be important to make sure we are aligned and tied into HPE’s distribution strategy,” he said.

Patrick Shelley, CTO at PKA Technologies, Montvale, N.J., No. 441 on the 2023 CRN Solution Provider 500, said he is also looking forward to meeting with Bernhardt to see how PKA can grow its HPE sales through distribution.

“Distribution is a key part of our HPE go to market,” he said. “We are always looking for ways we can drive more HPE sales and profits working with distribution.”