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Westcon-Comstor appoints chief people officer

Westcon-Comstor has announced it has appointed Erna de Ruijter-Quist as its first chief people officer in a newly-created role.

De Ruijter-Quist (pictured) becomes a member of Westcon-Comstor’s executive leadership team, reporting to CEO David Grant with responsibility for all people-related matters.

She joins Westcon-Comstor from Sage, where she led major organisational redesign programmes and established strategic workforce planning capabilities, supporting Sage’s growth agenda.

Prior to that, de Ruijter-Quist held international leadership roles at HSBC, Virgin Media, Liberty Global, Sony and GE Capital with a strong focus on driving organisational change. She is a trustee of The Legacy Project, a charity set up by RoundTable Global to provide a platform for young people to create positive change in the world.

Her priorities at Westcon-Comstor will include organisation development and change management to accelerate the company’s transformation as it shifts further to a software and subscription-based recurring revenue model.

She will continue to embed a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion and drive employee engagement, implementing programmes around innovation, internal mobility and learning and development.

De Ruijter-Quist said, “I’m thrilled and honoured to be joining Westcon-Comstor and can’t wait to make a positive impact, empowering our 3,500-plus people around the world to innovate, learn and grow.

“It’s exciting to have the opportunity to play a key role in driving the company’s future growth.”

David Grant, CEO, Westcon-Comstor, added, “Erna’s passion for building great leadership teams and helping individuals, teams and organisations be their best shines through and is one of the main reasons we chose to appoint her to this important role.

“Technology is what we do, but people are the beating heart of our business and our most important asset. We are delighted that Erna is joining Westcon-Comstor at such a pivotal point on our journey to becoming the world’s leading data-driven technology provider and specialist distributor of cybersecurity and networking solutions and services.”