Data protection firm FalconStor is looking to boost its relatively flat performance throughout the past couple of years, and strengthening the executive leadership seems to be one of the first steps.

To be more precise, the company hired Gary Quinn, the former executive vice president of international sales and North American channel sales at CA Technologies, as its new VP of North American sales. FalconStor assigned a different title to the CA veteran, but he will essentially be in charge of the same duties his previous position involved.

“He is the right man at the right moment for FalconStor, as we intensify our focus on developing, marketing and selling solutions designed for high-volume sales through our partner network. We all look forward to Gary’s contribution to our efforts to optimize operations, elevate productivity and increase revenue, “said Jim McNeil, president and CEO of FalconStor in a statement about his company’s newest recruit.

McNeil made an appearance in TheCube last month, and talked a bit about FalconStor’s agenda and his course of action going forward. The most interesting highlight is that he revealed plans of pushing beyond OEM territory (which currently accounts for half of Falcon’s revenue) towards a more branded business model.

Nonetheless, channel sales are still very important, and this latest update from the cloud backup provider reaffirms that. Quinn has managed to achieve an annual growth rate of 25 percent for CA’s NA business, completely changing the course of what was then a 3-year decline. Undoubtedly FalconStor has invested a lot of time in finding just the right candidates to lead its partner ecosystem, which outlines a still-existing commitment to this channel as an integral part of future growth. The company’s last earnings call could be considered as the first step.