Hitachi Vantara, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd, has appointed JP Smith as Regional Director for East and West Africa.

Smith is tasked with creating a high-performance culture within Hitachi Vantara's local sales organisation and driving success through the delivery of business outcomes for the company's key customers and stakeholders.

Tom Pegrume, Vice President EMEA Emerging Markets at Hitachi Vantara, said, "With more than 20 years of experience in the ICT sector, JP is ideally placed to drive an aggressive growth strategy within Hitachi Vantara and increase the company's market share locally. We are confident that his appointment will strengthen our business development considerably and are delighted to have him on-board."

Having worked for leading international and regional information technology organisations, Smith has experience in a number of different capacities, including Head of Infrastructure, CTO, Pre-Sales Director, Sales Manager, Software Account Manager and Pre-Sales Consultant.

According to Hitachi Vantara, Smith is excited to take on this new role at the company at a time when it is "strategically poised for growth."

Smith added: "At Hitachi Vantara we combine technology, intellectual property and industry knowledge to deliver data-managing solutions that help enterprises improve their customers' experiences, develop new revenue streams, and lower the costs of business. I look forward to leveraging these in order to accelerate local business growth and drive greater levels of excellence within our sales team."