CA is preparing to name Bill Lipsin as its new channel chief, according to company sources.

Lipsin was named senior vice president and general manager for CA's Western business in March, 2005, according to Islandia, N.Y.-based CA. He currently works from CA's South San Francisco, Calif., offices

Lipsin was working from home Friday, a receptionist said. A call to Lipsin's cell phone was not returned. CA declined to comment.

Lipsin is a close personal friend of CA president and CEO John Swainson, sources said. Both men graduated from the University of British Columbia, according to bios posted on the CA Web site. It has been said the two men were roommates at the University.

Swainson told CRN Wednesday that the search was still on for someone to replace Gary Quinn, CA's former channel chief who departed suddenly on Sept. 7 saying he wanted to spend more time with family.

Swainson said Wednesday he was confident in the ability of George Kafkarkou, senior vice president of SMB and consumer markets, to run CA's channel operations in an interim fashion while a search to replace Quinn continued.

Kafkarkou is not the right man for the job of channel chief at CA, according to a former high-ranking CA executive who requested anonymity. Former channel chief Quinn has not spoken to CRN since leaving the company.

"George is great, but George is a transactional guy. He's super smart, he can solve any problem, but he solves problems for the week. He gets the number done. If you leave him in place as the change agent, that's a misalignment," the former executive said. The problem with CA's flailing channel efforts boils down to leadership, the former executive said. "It's leadership. It ultimately boils down to leadership," he said.

CA has struggled for years now to increase channel sales which have remained essentially flat at 10 percent of total sales.

In late August, 25-days before he resigned, Quinn outlined an aggressive new channel strategy designed to triple CA's indirect sales volume and double the number of CA solution provider partners.