Riverbed ropes in Uma Thana Balasingam as VP of Channels for APJ

Riverbed Technology has appointed Uma Thana Balasingam as Vice-President, Channels for Riverbed Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ). Balasingam, who will be based in Riverbed’s APJ headquarters in Singapore, will be responsible for defining the region’s go-to-market strategies, including channel, service providers and alliances. As a key member of the leadership team, she will play an active role in shaping the company’s growth strategy in the region.

"Uma is coming onboard at a pivotal time in the growth of Riverbed’s business in APJ. We’ve made a rapid, significant shift to a platform-centric company, and our success in driving our total portfolio to the market relies so much on the channel. Helping our partners understand the benefits of building their own services on Riverbed solutions and ensuring they feel supported by our programs is critical to our business," said Bjorn Engelhardt, Senior Vice- President, Asia-Pacific & Japan, Riverbed Technology. "Uma's proven business and channel leadership, together with her deep understanding of the regional dynamics, will be a tremendous asset."

Balasingam brings to Riverbed 15 years of business and strategic channels development experience in the Asia-Pacific and Japan region. She joins Riverbed from EMC, where she served for more than seven years in various senior leadership roles focus on business development and channels development, most recently as Senior Director, Channel Sales Development for Asia-Pacific & Japan. Previously, Balasingam held roles in management at Brocade and field sales at IBM.

A champion of personal development, Uma is also the founder of Lean in Women in Technology Asia, a nonprofit organization and online community dedicated to helping all women achieve their ambitions.

“It's an exciting time to be joining Riverbed with emerging technologies disrupting the status quo, new ways to engage and connect with customers, and entirely new routes to market changing the business landscape,” said Uma Thana Balasingam, Vice-President, Channels, Asia-Pacific and Japan at Riverbed. “I’m pleased to have the opportunity to help our partners make this shift through differentiated embedded solutions and services as well as new revenue and services opportunities. Riverbed’s disruptive SD-WAN, visibility and software-defined edge platforms, along with its continued leadership in WAN optimization, make it the ideal go-to-market partner in this dynamic market.”