Former Westcon managing director takes on Dicker Data role

Former Westcon-Comstor ANZ managing director Wendy O'Keeffe has joined rival Dicker Data as its first independent non-executive director since listing in 2011.

New Zealand born O'Keeffe was Westcon Group's Australia and New Zealand managing director from 2005 to 2009, when she was promoted to the role of executive vice president for Asia Pacific for the distributor.

She left her role with Westcon Comstor last November.

David Dicker, Dicker Data chairman and chief executive, says O'Keeffe 'brings great experience from our own industry and I am sure she will be a real benefit to the company'.

Dicker Data says O'Keeffe actively supports women in the Australian IT industry, having participated in the Women in Executive IT management program as a coach for aspiring female leaders in the ICT sector.

She has also served on distribution advisory boards for vendors including Cisco, Juniper, Polycom, Avaya and Palo Alto.

Last year Dicker Data scooped up the top regional distribution award for Cisco, winning the Asia Pacific Japan Distributor of the Year award for the vendor.

In the late 80s to early 2000s, O'Keeffe was director of Tech Pacific's telecommunications division, prior to its acquisition by Ingram Micro.

O'Keeffe was with Westcon when the company acquired Auckland-based Datastor - at the time headed by Dave Rosenberg as chief executive - in 2009. Her LinkedIn profile notes that she has significant experience in mergers and acquisitions, having been involved in 10 acquisition business opportunities.