As VP EMEA, Cees Poortman has taken the reins of the Milestone Systems sales organisation covering the European, Middle Eastern and African countries. He started in Milestone as Director of Sales for Northern Europe. He is now responsible for commercial operations including subsidiaries, channel management, insides sales, presales, local partner support and channel marketing in EMEA.

"These activities will be aligned to optimally service and support our channel partners in their quest to grow their Milestone business. Although Milestone already has an impressive track record with our channel globally, we have only just begun. There is huge growth ahead of us and this new position allows me to make a difference in realising this potential," says Cees Poortman, VP EMEA, Milestone Systems.

Poortman has 23 years of experience in the software industry and building multi-tier international organisations. He holds an MBA in Strategic Marketing and Financial Management from Nijenrode Business University in the Netherlands and an MBA in Managerial Economics from the University of Rochester in New York. He has previously worked with the international activities, organisation and development of Exact Software’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) product range, established the Dutch operations for Navision software and managed the global commercial operations for Openbravo, an open source ERP vendor.

"Cees brings to the table extensive expertise in working with the dynamics of open platform ecosystems, combined with in-depth knowledge of delivering business-to-business and mission-critical software products," states Eric Fullerton, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Milestone Systems.

Tim Palmquist is now responsible for the Milestone business generated throughout the North and South American countries. Promoted from his position as VP Sales Operations, Palmquist came to Milestone Systems in 2007 as Territory Manager for the central region of the U.S. Before that, he worked with Milestone software products for more than four years as the key IP video anchor person at a large Midwest-based integration partner. He incorporates valuable knowledge about both partner and customer needs.

"This position is an evolution of the work that I have been doing with Milestone all along. I will focus on synergies between all organsational departments to ensure that our execution toward partners and customers is second to none," explains Tim Palmquist. "I get to assume the leadership role for an already very successful Americas organisation, taking on new challenges to fulfill the demands that lie ahead."

With a finance degree from Kansas State University, Palmquist dove into 15 years of IT sales and another five years of business management and development. The combined technical and sales backgrounds have been very beneficial at Milestone.

Eric Fullerton comments: "Tim really understands our business from the ground up. He has been very instrumental in building our organisation over the years: he knows our marketplace, our go-to-market strategies, our competition and the customer-centric focus and services that are needed to succeed."

Palmquist adds: "Milestone represents a unique potential in the centre of the IP convergence storm sweeping old analogue technology out and replacing it with network architecture. It is not often that you can be part of such a paradigm transition and the rapid growth that goes with it."