Updated and confirmed : Des Ling to join Exeed

After initially pulling TechDay’s leg, saying ‘no’, Exeed MD Justin Tye (pictured) has confirmed that Desmond Ling is to join his company from Ingram Micro in Sydney. Ling will focus on consumer distribution.

“Since buying Renaissance, our consumer marketing division has grown rapidly," Tye explains.

"However, our experience has traditionally been in commercial IT distribution, so the expansion of the consumer division has just been too much for our marketing team.

"It’s a broader product set and a broader market to reach, there are intricacies around consumer marketing that we want to have someone pn board to specifically achieve goals there."

Noting that he and fellow Exeed director Andrew Bain have worked with Ling both as competitors and colleagues in the past, Tye says they identified him as an ideal man for the job.

“Someone of [Ling’s] experience in product marketing is a real credit to the team and he happened to be looking for a role.”

Asked if there were any issues in terms of restraint of trade, Tye confirmed that this is a consideration.

“[Moving into] a consumer-focused role means there won’t be a direct conflict with the position he is leaving, but certainly he is coming over to a competing distributor. He’s working through those issues now; once complete, he will be available to join our team.”

Precisely when that might be is not set in stone, though Tye says Ling should be on board sometime in March.