Inclusive Leadership In Action: Get to Know D&H’s Michelle Biase

CRN’s list of 100-plus channel leaders focused on building inclusion features some of the most innovative and creative leaders in the IT channel. Get to know how leaders like Michelle Biase, General Manager - D&H Canada, focus on building inclusive leadership practices from the ground up.

Across more than three decades in the IT industry, Michelle Biase has held leadership and executive management roles in sales, vendor management, operations, and professional services, with specialization in areas such as cloud, DaaS, managed services, and channel strategy. She has contributed these skills at pioneering tech companies like HP and CDW, in addition to experience with major distribution companies in North America.

Biase is responsible for spearheading D&H Canada's immediate and long-term growth strategy. This includes a focus on building D&H Canada's Professional Services offerings, plus working with manufacturers on new enablement programs to help partners grow and accommodate larger opportunities. Successful categories include Modern Solutions, videoconferencing and collaboration, managed security, ProAV, and XaaS. Michelle is one of the few general managers who is a woman currently serving at D&H in the Canadian high-tech marketplace.

In preparation for the release of the Inclusive Channel Leaders List 2024, Michelle and I had the opportunity to connect, talking all things equity and inclusive leadership strategy. Below are a few key take-aways from our conversation.

Congratulations on being included as an Inclusive Channel Leader for the first time. What does being named to this list mean to you?

Obviously, it's a great honor to be nominated by D&H and then be recognized by CRN via the inclusive leadership list. The whole topic of inclusive leadership is very important to me, both personally and professionally. Being out here and being able to talk on this topic motivates me to make sure that my actions are holding true too. It pushes me to continue to make sure that I am prioritizing my personal and professional efforts in this area.

CRN and our industry at large have several lists. What makes this list of leaders different?

Having lists like this shows that it's a critical area of focus for our industry. While our industry is modern and young, it's also long. There's an opportunity for us to really focus on diversity and change some of our practices of recruiting, development, and promotion to be more inclusive.

When [CRN] puts out lists like this, and people see their peers at other organizations – leaders that they know who have grown up in the industry – setting an example and doing work in this space, it motivates others to have those conversations. I think it's great that inclusion is being put out there for others to see.

If you could suggest an inclusive leadership practice to the other awardees, what would it be?
This may be a Canadian-specific statement, but when I look at the Canadian channel, most people in leadership roles have been around since, like, the early 90s. It's when everything started, so when I look at that ecosystem of people, I think that we have a responsibility to really identify and uplift the next generation of leaders in the channel. Whether that is through work within our own organizations and making sure that we have inclusive development and promotion practices or working with vendors to create opportunities for mentor and sponsorship. We have to pull up the next generation of leaders, looking at our own environments, making sure we are creating space for people to thrive.

How do you put that into practice at D&H?
We have a leadership model that I follow called human leadership, which I referenced in the submission. It is about deeply understanding everyone, what their experiences have been. What are their perspectives? What motivates them? What triggers them? What do they need from us when they're not doing well and how do they show up when they're not doing their best? Understanding all those dynamics of each individual leaves us together as a better team. Simply put, what's the native genius of everybody?

It creates a talent tapestry.

What is the cool, unique native sort of gift of each person, and how does that map to the teams that we create, sort of drives the outcomes that we need as a business and create an environment for people to thrive as well?

What is a final call to action or advice for those building Inclusive Leadership practices within the channel ecosystem?
A final call to action is to really know your team and who the upcoming talent is. Really, really knowing people and what motivates them to do well and to succeed and to grow. Also, find other leaders in your organization and in the ecosystem who you can share ideas and best practices with. Anthony Graziano, who also made the list, and I are good buddies. We love to just call each other and go: “I need you right now.” We just have a good chat and talk through things.

I do a lot of skip levels within D&H, it’s a policy we have that all leaders do skip levels many layers down sometimes. I'm always curious about what people are doing in their organizations or how people are building business success inclusively, with equity.

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