The Planet Appoints Senior Sales Executive

HOUSTON, TX (Gawkwire.com) Blair, a 25-year sales veteran, reports to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Douglas J. Erwin. He will be responsible for the company’s entire span of sales activities, including revenue generation, customer relationship management and retention, business development and sales engineering, as well as channel and alliance partnerships.

“Tom Blair brings to our company a stellar sales background, coupled with both an acute understanding of solutions selling, and extensive direct and channel experience,” said Erwin. “He’s spent his entire career with some of the best brands in the industry, developing the strategies that make his teams successful. As our business has grown, we’ve seen a change in how customers purchase products from us, and Tom’s expertise provides us with the next-generation bench strength to help us grow our business.”

Blair joins the company following a 10-year career with Terremark Worldwide, Inc. and Data Return Corporation, which was acquired by Terremark just over two years ago. With Terremark, he most recently served as senior vice president for Channel Sales and Strategic Alliances, where he executed agreements with master agents, system integrators, consultancies, value-added resellers, solution providers and independent software vendors. Blair was vice president for Channel Sales and Alliances with Data Return, where he led a team that significantly increased revenue and enabled the company to increase market share for its managed hosting business. As vice president for worldwide sales, Managed Services, he was responsible for the company’s sales strategy and methodology, which included the development and addition of a field-based sales organization.

Previous work includes eight years with Octel Communications, which was acquired by Lucent Technologies. There, Blair held a series of increasingly responsible roles, the last of which was national sales director for its Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLEC) business. He also spent seven years with Xerox Corporation in sales and marketing.

He holds a B.S. in Business Administration and Marketing from the University of South Carolina’s Moore School of Business.