Hikvision Big Hire - Ex Ingram Micro Exec

Published Sep 15, 2016 12:22 PM

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)
U
Undisclosed #1
Sep 15, 2016
IPVMU Certified

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

JH
John Honovich
Sep 15, 2016
IPVM

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.

(3)
JH
John Honovich
Sep 15, 2016
IPVM

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

HL
Horace Lasell
Sep 18, 2016

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.

(3)
(1)
JH
John Honovich
Sep 18, 2016
IPVM

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.

(1)
U
Undisclosed #1
Sep 19, 2016
IPVMU Certified

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?

(4)
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #2
Sep 19, 2016
IPVMU Certified

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.

(4)
(1)
JH
John Honovich
Jun 17, 2017
IPVM

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

JH
John Honovich
Sep 05, 2019
IPVM

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

(2)
(1)
U
Undisclosed #1
Sep 06, 2019
IPVMU Certified

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

maybe he’s just looking to moonlight?

(1)