Brocade, a data center networking company, names Christine Heckart as chief marketing officer

Brocade announced on March 11 the appointment of Christine Heckart as its new chief marketing officer.

In this role, Heckart will be responsible for the strategic direction of Brocade’s global marketing organization, helping to position the company as the network provider of choice to the world’s data centers. She will report directly to Brocade’s CEO, Lloyd Carney.

Heckart will be instrumental in driving the strategy to generate brand awareness and demand across the globe. These marketing initiatives will support the company’s business strategy for growth built on leading the industry in data center fabrics and driving market penetration in the emerging Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) arenas.

“The data center must transform to meet the IT demands of the modern era that are driven by cloud, virtualization and mobility,” said Carney. “With our focus and world-class innovation, Brocade is uniquely qualified to help customers through this important transformation. Christine’s marketing experience and expertise are well suited to help propel Brocade forward in the global marketplace to drive demand for our next-generation solutions.”

With more than 25 years of experience in the high-tech industry, Heckart has held a number of senior marketing positions at networking and other high tech companies. Most recently, at ServiceSource, a SaaS provider that helps drive recurring revenue, Heckart served as EVP for strategy, marketing, people and systems.

Earlier, she held CMO roles at NetApp and Juniper Networks, as well as being general manager for TV, video and music business at Microsoft.

Heckart serves on the board of directors at Lam Research, a leading provider of wafer fabrication equipment to the semiconductor industry.

“With the adoption of fabric-based networking, NFV, SDN and cloud-based computing, end users are actively seeking technology partners that can help them drive business transformation,” said Heckart, in a prepared statement issued on March 11. “I am excited by Brocade’s differentiated solutions, and believe we are well-positioned to drive the next wave of data center innovation. Brocade’s 18-year heritage in the data center and its partner ecosystem is well-renowned and I believe it is an exciting time to join the company.”