CDW president and COO promoted to CEO

Thomas Richards will succeed John Edwardson as CEO of CDW on Oct. 1, according to a company announcement dated July 1.

Edwardson will continue as chairman of the board of directors through at least 2012.

Under Edwardson’s leadership, company revenues have risen from $3.8 billion to more than $8.8 billion.

Together with Edwardson, Richards has been instrumental in the new strategic direction of the company during the past two years.

As chief executive, Richards will be responsible for the strategic direction of the company and for leading the senior management team.

Richards joined CDW as president and chief operating officer in 2009 after a thorough search to find a potential successor to Edwardson.

Edwardson and Richards have been transforming the company from a hardware and software reseller into a full-service IT solutions provider.

Together they helped CDW emerge from the recent economic downturn with a record-breaking 2010 performance of 23 percent revenue growth over 2009.

Richards came to CDW with 33 years of prior technology industry experience, most recently as chief operating officer for Qwest Communications, where he oversaw day-to-day operations and performance.

Before serving as Qwest's COO, he served as executive vice president of the company's Business Markets Group.

CDW-Government, of Vernon Hills, Ill.,is a subsidiary of CDW and ranks No. 49 on Washington Technology’s 2011 Top 100 list of the largest federal government contractors.