HILLS has appointed Darren Banks as its general manager, vendor business management. Based in Sydney, Banks will be responsible for developing the Hills portfolio and managing vendor relationships across Australia and New Zealand.
Banks brings more than 27 years of security industry experience to the role, from prevention loss to a variety of roles in electronic security across intrusion, access control, CCTV and security screening. He joins Hills after 8 years as ANZ regional sales manager with Tyco Security Products, where he supported brands such as DSC, AD, Exacq, Software House, CEM and Kantech.
Hills’ CEO and managing director, David Lenz, said that Banks’ appointment was key to Hills strategy to offer a diverse, innovative and differentiated portfolio of security solutions.
“It’s an exciting time to be at Hills,” Lenz said. “We’ve invested in getting the basics right, opening a national distribution centre and flagship trade centre at Seven Hills, revitalising New Zealand operations and launching a new e-commerce platform to provide strong channels for vendor sales,” Lenz said.
“Appointing a GM responsible for vendor relationships ensures we are maximising opportunities across the portfolio.”
Head of sales for security, surveillance and IT, Bill Sakellariou, said Banks’ market driven approach and vendor management experience would be invaluable as Hills determines the best fit for its vendor portfolio across key vertical markets.
“Banks has an excellent reputation for effective leadership in the security industry, forming and fostering solid relationships with customers and partners, and developing strong teams which are able to foster vendor engagement, identify and develop joint go-to-market plans, and ensure effective sales execution,” Sakellariou said.
“Our goal is to increase our vendor focus and bring together best-of-breed solutions to provide an end-to-end security proposition for our customers. In today’s fragmented and highly complex security market, Banks’ wealth of experience will help us carry this plan forward,” he added.
