AMD has hired former Intel exec Chrissie Harrison in a move it says “further reiterates its commitment to its channel partnerships”.
Harrison spent more than two decades at Intel, most recently in the role of EMEA Distribution Sales Director.
She has now been unveiled as rival chip maker AMD’s Sales Director for its EMEA Component Channel business.
Her arrival follows on from the recent appointment of James Blackman as AMD’s EMEA head of VAR and SI Commercial sales.
During her 23-year stint at Intel – which she exited three months ago – Harrison also spent time as UK Sales Director, as well as UK Marketing Director.
“I am incredibly excited about the opportunities this role presents and I’m looking forward to continuing the excellent partnerships AMD has across the channel and its ecosystem partners,” Harrison said in a statement.
Intel versus AMD
In a letter to shareholders last week, new Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said “there is no sugarcoating the fact” that Intel “fell short of expectations” last year.
“While there are clear challenges that we need to overcome, there are also significant opportunities to accelerate our turnaround and improve our performance,” he wrote.
While Intel’s testing 2024 claimed the job of previous CEO Pat Gelsinger, AMD’s recent turnaround in fortunes saw its CEO, Dr Lisa Su, make IT Channel Oxygen’s Century’s Greatest Vendor Leaders list last summer.
“2024 was a transformative year for AMD as we delivered record annual revenue and strong earnings growth,” Su said of its recent full-year results, which showed its top line hiking 14% to $25.8bn.
News of Harrison’s appointment comes less than a week after AMD confirmed to IT Channel Oxygen an “evolution” of its partnership with local distribution hero VIP.
