Hills Ltd (ASX:HIL) 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 over 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 eight years as ANZ Regional Sales Manager with Tyco
Security Products, where he supported brands such as DSC, AD, Exacq, Software House,
CEM and Kantech.
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.
