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Avnet Technology Solutions announces two new senior management appointments

Avnet Technology Solutions (Avnet) is pleased to announce two new senior management positions for the UK organisation. Matt Tedstone has been appointed as Sales Director and Wayne Gratton as Director of Technology.  Both positions have responsibility across the entire UK business of Avnet Technology Solutions.

Matt Tedstone formerly Chief Operating Officer of Horizon, has until recently shared responsibility for the Horizon integration project.  Matthew Gower commented, "Following many years in the industry Matt possesses a wealth of experience in UK distribution.  His role will be to work across all of our business units to ensure that we establish the strongest possible business propositions into our vendors and Business Partners enabling us to increase the value we deliver to both."

Matt Tedstone will also take on direct management responsibility for a number of the business units including IBM, Sun, Networking & Security and Open Storage. 

Commenting on his new role Tedstone said, "Avnet has a huge amount of value to offer and my aim is to bring a level of consistency to how this is perceived and the association that people have with the Avnet name.  The engagement and value provided may vary from business to business but the underlying experience should be the same.  A key element to this value is Avnet's ability to support Business Partners and vendors in identifying sources of investment and making decisions that will reap the most rewards".

The second appointment of Wayne Gratton to Director of Technology also takes place with immediate effect.  Wayne Gratton, formerly Business Unit Director of Horizon will be responsible for the technology propositions being taken to market by the individual business units as well by business units in combination.  Gratton commented, "The breadth and depth of technology propositions from Avnet has increased significantly over the last 18 months.  Whilst we will always support single vendor solutions our real strength now is in our ability to look across our entire business and create solutions by bringing together products from multiple vendors. In this way we will be proactively ‘pushing' solutions to our Business Partners as well as responding to the ‘pull' of Business Partner requests   In both cases we will use the extensive skills and knowledge within Avnet to support our Business Partners in creating and positioning the right solutions into their end-user customers".

Matthew Gower said, "Both of these appointments encompass all of our UK businesses and represent an important step in ensuring the ongoing evolution of our value add.  The needs and expectations of the channel are constantly shifting and it is our responsibility to ensure that the value propositions we take to our Business Partners are in tune with today's requirements".

ENDS

Avnet Technology Solutions is an operating group of Phoenix-based Avnet, Inc. As a global technology sales and marketing organization, Avnet Technology Solutions has sales divisions focused on specific customer segments and a select line card strategy enabling an exceptional level of attention to the needs of its customers and suppliers. For fiscal year 2008, the group served customers in more than 30 countries and generated US $7.6 billion in annual revenue.

Visit: www.ts.avnet.com/emea/

About Avnet Inc
Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:AVT), a Fortune 500 company, is one of the largest distributors of electronic components, computer products and embedded technology in the world. Avnet accelerates its partners' success by connecting the world's leading technology suppliers with a broad base of more than 100,000 customers and providing cost-effective, value-added services and solutions. For the fiscal year ended June 28, 2008, Avnet generated revenue of $17.95 billion. For more information, visit www.avnet.com.

For more information please contact:

Avnet Technology Solutions
Linda Patterson, Marketing Director
T: +44 (0)1344 662000
E: Linda.patterson@avnet.com