Avaya's European channel boss takes UK MD hotseat

Joyner replaces Ioan MacRae, who departed for Maintel

Avaya has appointed former European channel boss Steve Joyner as its new UK managing director, after the position was vacated by Ioan MacRae.

Joyner (pictured) joined Avaya in 2009 via the acquisition of Nortel and takes the UK MD role after MacRae left to head up Avaya partner Maintel.

"I am very excited to be taking on this role at such an important time in the Avaya story," said Joyner.

"The company has continued to lead the market in customer and employee experience in recent years and we're ready to go even further in 2020.

"I look forward to working with the team here to drive growth and bring even more value to our partners and customers in the UK and Ireland with our full suite of cloud-first solutions."

Joyner takes the reins as Avaya looks to develop its partnership with RingCentral, which was formed last year.

The joint venture was announced following a period of speculation regarding Avaya's future ownership structure, during which a reported merger with Mitel failed to materialise.

Joyner will report to Avaya's European VP Ronald Rubens.

Rubens said: "Steve's appointment comes at an exciting time for Avaya with our transition to cloud, the strategic partnership with RingCentral, and the introduction of Avaya Cloud Office.

"The company is poised to offer a real competitive advantage by providing our customers with a seamless journey to cloud communications.

"With his extensive industry experience, Steve will be instrumental in delivering our global cloud-first strategy in the region."