Ingram Micro names Becs Paterson to New Zealand role

Ingram Micro has appointed Becs Paterson Senior General Manager, Partner Sales, New Zealand, adding her to the distributor's New Zealand leadership team.

Paterson brings more than 25 years of experience across financial services and telecommunications, most recently at Spark New Zealand. In the role, she will oversee partner sales in New Zealand, with responsibility for partner relationships and regional growth.

The appointment brings an executive from outside the technology channel into a senior role at one of New Zealand's largest distributors. Her background includes customer operations, business transformation and leading large teams.

Her career has focused on customer experience strategy, service transformation, operational improvement and people leadership. Those areas are becoming increasingly relevant as technology resellers and service providers respond to changing customer demands and a faster pace of change across the market.

Leon De Suza, Executive Managing Director, New Zealand, Ingram Micro, outlined why the business chose Paterson for the role.

"Becs is an exceptional people leader with a proven track record of leading large-scale operational transformation while maintaining a relentless focus on customer outcomes," De Suza said.

"From my first conversation with Becs, what stood out was not only the depth of her experience, but also her approach to people, customers and change. She brings a fresh perspective, a strong commercial lens and a genuine commitment to building teams that perform well together. For me, this appointment was never simply about filling a role. It was about bringing in a leader who could add mana to our culture, our partner relationships and the next stage of our growth in New Zealand."

Outside hire

De Suza said the appointment reflects a broader view of leadership recruitment, with experience from banking and telecommunications seen as valuable in a distribution business that sits between vendors and channel partners.

"I'm personally excited about what Becs will bring to our business. She comes from industries where customer expectations are high, transformation is constant and execution matters. Those qualities align closely with the needs of our partners as they navigate this fast-moving market. Just as importantly, Becs brings fresh thinking, strong values and a leadership style that I believe will connect well with our team and valued partners alike. We have a great opportunity ahead of us, and I'm looking forward to working alongside Becs as we continue building a stronger, more focused and more partner-led business."

For Paterson, the move marks a shift into the technology channel after decades in adjacent sectors. She said the appeal lay in the channel's mix of commercial relationships, trust and growth.

"After more than 25 years in banking and a stint in telecommunications, I chose Ingram Micro because the channel is where relationships, trust and growth intersect, and that's exactly the kind of environment where I do my best work," said Becs Paterson, Senior General Manager, Partner Sales, New Zealand, Ingram Micro.

"While the channel is new to me, what attracted me was the opportunity to bring lessons from two different industries into one. I saw the chance to apply my years of transformation, sales leadership, operational excellence and an unwavering commitment to customer success in a business with deep partner and vendor relationships and real reach across the New Zealand channel."

Partner focus

Ingram Micro occupies a central role in the New Zealand IT channel, linking technology vendors, cloud providers and a wide range of business customers through resellers and service providers. That makes senior leadership changes closely watched across the market, particularly when they affect partner-facing operations.

Paterson will focus on helping partners grow while working with the wider leadership team in New Zealand. Her remit places her at the centre of the company's efforts to strengthen ties with resellers and vendors in a market where cloud, cyber security, infrastructure and artificial intelligence are shaping investment decisions.

Paterson said Ingram Micro's people and culture also influenced her decision to join.

"What impressed me was our people and how we show up as a team to help our customers and New Zealand organisations succeed. Underpinning everything we do is a commitment to helping our partners grow and thrive."

She described her approach to management as consistent across roles and industries.

"The way I lead hasn't changed with the title. I'm a people-first leader who strives to provide clarity, enablement and motivation while always bringing it back to our customers.

"Building a strong culture that encourages authenticity, diversity of thought, resilience and a relentless focus on executional excellence has been a consistent focus throughout my career."

Paterson said the pressures facing customers and businesses in banking and telecommunications have clear parallels in the technology market, particularly for channel partners that need to adapt quickly to changing demand.

"Technology partners need a company they can rely on, one that truly understands the value of partnership and one that keeps moving as fast as the market does. I'm looking forward to bringing that approach to our partners and vendors here in New Zealand and helping drive their growth as they navigate a fast-changing channel."