Lumen Technologies Channel Chief Dave Young is retiring from the company at the end of June, Lumen told CRN on Thursday.
Sara Seegers, Lumen’s regional vice president of indirect channel sales and opportunity management, will be stepping up to lead channels for the company in the interim, according to the telecom giant formerly known as CenturyLink.
Seegers will report to Jay Barrows, Lumen’s executive vice president of Enterprise Sales and Public Sector who joined the company in February, effective June 1, the Monroe, La.-based company said.
[Related: Lumen Technologies’ ‘Turnaround’ Progress Includes Investment In Fiber, SASE And UC ]
Young, who has been channel chief for the past two years, plans to retire at the end of the month to spend more time with his family and friends, a spokesperson for Lumen told CRN.ADVERTISEMENT
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“Words cannot properly describe how honored I am to have had the opportunity to recently lead the remarkable indirect team at Lumen and to do business with you — our amazing channel partners,” Young said in a note to partners. “Our partners are the future of Lumen. The company’s focus on enabling your success and our joint sales growth is greater than ever. Lumen’s commitment to and investment in the channel has never been stronger.”
Telecom veteran Young has been with Lumen, CenturyLink, and Level 3 Communications for the last 21 years and held a variety of positions for the companies. He has spent time in the government, public sector, and hyperscaler businesses. Under Young’s leadership, Lumen’s indirect team was brought together with the company’s System Integrator, Hyperscaler and Digital Ventures groups as a way to help the company better serve end customers through partnership with other providers and partners, according to Lumen.
“I want to thank [Young] for all the amazing things he’s accomplished during his 20 plus year career with the company,” Barrows said in a statement. “Dave has dedicated his career to serving our customers—and their missions and goals—with tremendous energy, enthusiasm, foresight and acumen. His strategic approach enabled us to significantly grow and take market share in several key parts of our business, including the public sector and indirect routes to market.”
Seegers, also a veteran of Lumen, CenturyLink, and Level 3 Communications, has served at the telecom companies for the last 13 years in a variety of roles. Prior to her most recent appointment as Lumen’s regional vice president of indirect channel sales, she served as vice president and general manager for CenturyLink’s Heartland region.
Lumen CEO Kate Johnson during Lumen’s first earnings call of 2023 in February said that she saw this year as a “reset year” as the company, which has struggled to gain financial footing over the last couple years, makes ambitious moves to grow by divestiture while making internal investments in high-growth areas such as managed security, secure access service edge (SASE) and unified communications (UC) and collaboration.
Seegers, for her part, told CRN in March that the company in just a few short months has gone from “channel-friendly” to “channel-focused.”
“The support we have, all the way from our CEO and CFO that have great tradition from other channel-reliant organizations they came from, that has resonated very well with our solution brokers and partners,” she said.LEARN MORE: Telecom | VOIP and Unified Communications | SD-WAN
Gina Narcisi is a senior editor covering the networking and telecom markets for CRN.com. Prior to joining CRN, she covered the networking, unified communications and cloud space for TechTarget. She can be reached at [email protected].
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