Hikvision Big Hire - Ex Ingram Micro Exec

By John Honovich, Published Sep 15, 2016, 08:22am EDT

Hikvision has made another major hire.

[link no longer available]

This time is it Tom Burns [link no longer available], previously VP at Pivot3 and, before that, GM of mega distributor Ingram Micro's physical security division.

Inside this note, we examine Burns new role and what this means for Hikvision's aggressive sales spending / expansion.

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Comments (10)

Undisclosed #1

IPVMU Certified | 09/15/16 03:32pm

If the Ingram deal exits CFIUS review succssfully, Burns will be like a kid in a candy store.

John Honovich

IPVM | 09/15/16 07:08pm

Update, Burns has since added to his LinkedIn profile:

However, he still does not list his company as Hikvision.

It will be fascinating to see if Hikvision does not object to Burn's obvious shame in showing that he is employed by the Chinese government owned company.

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to John Honovich | 09/15/16 08:09pm

And now Burns has finally added Hikvision to his LinkedIn profile:

Horace Lasell

09/18/16 09:43pm

I think my judgement might be suspect, because isn't this the sort of post that anonymous was made for?

We love the way IPVM cuts through the confusion, claims, and marketing to inform us of the technical and functional merits and shortcoming of a wide variety of gear.

... but, do you think it might be unwise to acknowledge that this thread seems just a little, uh, well, much?

I mean, we're all human (well, most of us, anyway). We make plenty of mistakes -- that's a core part of the human condition. I don't know about everybody else, but I totally want to leave my past mistakes in the past. The present is even worse -- who wants their every move to be scrutinized and kibbitzed?

So, although I acknowledge the point that's being made, my sympathies lie with Mr. Tom Burns, even though he's a complete stranger.

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Horace Lasell | 09/18/16 10:04pm

Horace, thanks for the feedback.

The present is even worse -- who wants their every move to be scrutinized and kibbitzed?

I think it is fair to say that 'every move' is an exaggeration for what we reported. Even for the 'move' reported, I actually generalized much more detailed conversations / interactions that occurred at the show.

The newsworthy theme here is that senior Hikvision employees are trying to hide their working at Hikvision.

To elaborate on that, we are seeing increasing evidence of Hikvision employees dissatisfied, shamed or worried that they work at Hikvision, because of the Chinese government ownership. And that is likely to have a material impact on a publicly traded company that is the world's largest surveillance manufacturer.

Undisclosed #1

IPVMU Certified | 09/19/16 04:40am

The same thing happened with Enterprise sales leader Sam Belbina until we notified Hikvision.

Customer Service: Hello, this is Hikvision support, can I help you?

IPVM: Yes, I'm having some trouble finding your company name in Director Tom Burns' LinkedIn account.

Customer Service: Have you tried rebooting?

Undisclosed Integrator #2

09/19/16 03:32pm

I don't get it...maybe it's the veteran in me but, regardless of pay, I just couldn't work for the Chinese government.

John Honovich

IPVM | 06/17/17 12:23am

Update: Burns has a marketing video with recently added distributor Scansource, embedded below:

John Honovich

IPVM | 09/05/19 11:44pm

Tom Burns has left Hikvision and is looking for new opportunities as a VP:

Undisclosed #1

IPVMU Certified | In reply to John Honovich | 09/06/19 04:33am

Tom Burns has left Hikvision and is looking for new opportunities as a VP:

maybe he’s just looking to moonlight?

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