Originally reported by CRN. Original article published June 2020.
VMware Doubles Down on Cloud-Native Leadership with Two Senior Hires
VMware made two significant executive appointments in mid-2020, bringing in cloud-native and channel expertise at the highest level. The company named Carol Carpenter as its new global Chief Marketing Officer and Sandy Hogan as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Commercial and Partner Sales. Both hires signal VMware’s intent to sharpen its messaging around Kubernetes, the Tanzu portfolio, and its growing partner ecosystem.
Carol Carpenter Joins as Global CMO
Carpenter brings more than 25 years of technology marketing experience to VMware. Most recently, she served as Vice President of Product Marketing at Google Cloud, a role she held for approximately three years. During that tenure, she is credited with helping build the Google Cloud brand, go-to-market campaigns, and marketing team during a critical growth phase for the public cloud business.
Before Google, Carpenter was CEO of ElasticBox, a cloud application management platform that was acquired by CenturyLink. She has also held senior marketing and leadership positions at Trend Micro, Keynote Systems, and ClearSide.
“I believe that containers are the operating system of the future, and I am excited by what VMware is doing with Kubernetes and Tanzu to help customers accelerate development and run securely at scale. Customers are seeking container-based solutions with all the benefits of cloud-native development and operations.”
— Carol Carpenter, VMware CMO, via LinkedIn
Carpenter described VMware’s strategic market position as “unique,” drawing on her prior experience advising enterprises during her time at Google Cloud:
“In this multi-cloud world, enterprises are seeing the complexity of management, compliance, security — become more and more unwieldy. With its broad and deep portfolio, VMware offers customers an opportunity to simplify all that complexity. Enterprises need a trusted business partner who will meet them where they are and take them where they want to go.”
— Carol Carpenter
What the Hire Signals for Kubernetes and Tanzu
Carpenter’s background in cloud-native product marketing is directly relevant to VMware’s strategic priorities at the time. VMware had been investing heavily in Kubernetes — most visibly through its Tanzu portfolio, which provides tools for building, running, and managing containerized applications across on-premises and multi-cloud environments. Bringing in a CMO with deep Kubernetes-adjacent experience from Google Cloud, where Kubernetes originated, was a clear signal that VMware intended to compete aggressively in the cloud-native market.
Stephen Ayoub, president of AHEAD, a Chicago-based VMware partner, commented on the strategic significance of the appointment:
“The hiring of Carol from Google Cloud reinforces VMware’s commitment to both cloud and modern applications as the main pillars of the company’s digital infrastructure portfolio going forward.”
— Stephen Ayoub, President, AHEAD
Sandy Hogan Named SVP of Worldwide Commercial and Partner Sales
Alongside Carpenter’s appointment, VMware hired Sandy Hogan as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Commercial and Partner Sales. Hogan is tasked with leading VMware’s renewed partner ecosystem strategy and commercial go-to-market motion.
Hogan spent approximately 15 years at Cisco (2002–2017) in a range of senior roles, including Global Vice President of the Digital Transformation Group and Vice President of Business Transformation. Most recently before joining VMware, she served as Executive Vice President and Americas Managing Director at Rackspace.
“I’ve been blessed to work for some amazing companies and with amazing people — and have learned a great deal from the lesser-than experiences. And now, the best is yet to come with world-class VMware. Ready to realize what’s possible.”
— Sandy Hogan, via LinkedIn
AHEAD’s Ayoub said Hogan’s appointment demonstrates VMware’s “commitment to the channel and its expanding partner ecosystem” — a priority as VMware sought to grow indirect revenue through VARs, MSPs, and cloud service providers during a period of significant portfolio expansion.
Context: VMware’s Position in 2020
At the time of these appointments, VMware was navigating a complex competitive landscape. The company had recently completed its acquisition of Pivotal and Carbon Black, and was integrating these capabilities into a broader platform play. The COVID-19 pandemic had also accelerated enterprise demand for cloud infrastructure and remote-work enablement, increasing the urgency of VMware’s cloud-native and hybrid cloud messaging.
Hiring a CMO with direct cloud-native marketing experience and a partner sales leader with deep channel credentials from Cisco was consistent with VMware’s effort to grow both mindshare and market reach in an increasingly competitive environment that included AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and Red Hat.
Key Takeaways
- Carol Carpenter joined VMware as global CMO with 25+ years of experience, most recently as VP of Product Marketing at Google Cloud.
- Her appointment underscored VMware’s strategic focus on Kubernetes and the Tanzu portfolio as central to its cloud-native message.
- Sandy Hogan joined as SVP of Worldwide Commercial and Partner Sales, bringing extensive channel expertise from Cisco and Rackspace.
- Both hires were interpreted by VMware partners as a clear signal of the company’s commitment to cloud-native development and channel growth.
- The appointments came at a time when enterprises were accelerating cloud adoption amid the COVID-19 pandemic.