Global business communications firm Mitel, which has its UK base in Caldicot, has appointed Graham Bevington as executive vice president of Europe, Middle East and Africa.

His appointment sees Mitel consolidating its European sales organisation under a single structure with a view to aggressively expand market share in the region. The company also announced that it has taken the lead position in Western Europe and across EMEA with number one market share position for the total PBX market.

Mr Bevington is an industry veteran with more than 25 years’ experience. In his previous role as EVP for Mitel’s international operations, he rapidly expanded the company's market presence in key countries including the UK and the Netherlands, where it now enjoys market leadership positions.

With the completion of Mitel’s merger with Aastra earlier this year, in his new role Mr Bevington will be focused on further strengthening Mitel’s market positions in other major markets in EMEA.

Rich McBee, Mitel’s president and chief executive officer, said: “EMEA is home to some of the largest established and emerging economies in the world, as well as the majority of Mitel’s existing 60 million end-user customers, giving us a real and immediate opportunity to expand our leadership position across the region.

“Graham is an exceptional business and sales leader, with demonstrated ability to build world-class sales and support teams, and a fundamental understanding of our customers’ needs and our market dynamics at the ground level.”

Mr Bevington said: “Mitel is on the move, and nowhere is that clearer than in EMEA where our unique ability to address technical requirements on a country-by-country basis, coupled with our best path to the cloud and entrenched customer base, gives us a great competitive advantage.

"With the seasoned bench strength of our newly expanded sales and support organizations, we now have the team, talent, technology and range to serve any customer need anywhere across the region.”

Mitel was originally set up in Canada in the early 1970s by Sir Terry Matthews and Mike Cowpland.