Twilio hires Microsoft's One Commercial Partner architect

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Twilio has announced the appointment of ex-Microsoft exec Ron Huddleston as chief partners director. He will be tasked with leading the company's channel programme and building upon his extensive expertise growing partner business at leading tech businesses such as Microsoft.

The recruitment of Huddleston is part of Twilio's mission to boost its reputation as a developer-first business while attracting the attention of key decision makers across the spectrum of industry verticals. He will help the company grow its programme and attract more partners to help realise its business objectives.

“As the leading communications platform for developers, we believe Twilio has unmatched potential to be the heart of an ecosystem for ISVs, SIs, and resellers in a massive market opportunity," said George Hu, chief operating officer at Twilio.

"Ron's experience is unparalleled when it comes to building a thriving partner ecosystem and I look forward to him accelerating Twilio's momentum across all partner business models, geographies, and the enterprise opportunity. We are thrilled to welcome Ron to the team.”

Huddleston joins Twilio from Microsoft, where he held the role of corporate vice president of Microsoft's One Commercial Partner Organisation and before that, he was senior vice president for IoT Cloud and AppExchange at Salesforce, helping to develop Salesforce's Partner Programme into a $500 million global business.

“The opportunity to be a part of an organisation that is redefining an industry is rare,” Huddleston said. "Twilio has the potential to revolutionise the communications industry in the same way cloud computing redefined the software industry.

"This is a massive opportunity for all types of partners to build new fast-growing businesses and continue to innovate for their customers across every industry. As we build out the Twilio partner organisation, our number one focus is to ensure that any partner who works with Twilio is wildly successful delivering on their vision.”

Clare Hopping
Freelance writer

Clare is the founder of Blue Cactus Digital, a digital marketing company that helps ethical and sustainability-focused businesses grow their customer base.

Prior to becoming a marketer, Clare was a journalist, working at a range of mobile device-focused outlets including Know Your Mobile before moving into freelance life.

As a freelance writer, she drew on her expertise in mobility to write features and guides for ITPro, as well as regularly writing news stories on a wide range of topics.