Round 2 Lead Changes: Nutanix’s Goffi, SentinelOne’s Lanigan Now Ahead

Weekend voting saw two lead changes while several other chiefs were able to narrow the gap against their opponents in CRN’s 2025 Channel Madness tournament.

With less than 24 hours to go in Round 2 voting of the 2025 CRN Channel Madness Tournament of Chiefs, the Solutions 16 are preparing to leave it all on the court in their quest for a spot in the quarterfinals.

After weekend voting, we’ve had two lead changes and several other contests where opponents have narrowed the gap.

In the most highly anticipated matchup of the round, Nutanix’s Christian Goffi has taken the lead with 55 percent of the vote against Broadcom’s Tara Fine, who’s at 45 percent. It was Fine who held the lead in this Innovation region contest with 55 precent heading into weekend voting, so Goffi has really turned on the jets in his effort to oust Fine and make it to the Enterprise 8.

The Transformation region also saw a lead change as SentinelOne’s Brian Lanigan has stepped out in front with 55 percent of the vote in his contest against Veeam Software’s Kevin Rooney, who has 45 percent. Ahead of weekend voting, Rooney held a 54 percent to 46 precent lead. Tournament rookie Lanigan will have to dig deep to hold off Rooney, who knows what it takes to go far into this tournament as the 2020 Channel Madness Champion.

The closest matchup of the round is shaping up in the Evolution region, where Lenovo’s Rob Cato has seen his lead shrink to 52 percent in his matchup against ServiceNow’s Erica Volini, who’s at 48 percent. Cato was sitting pretty, leading 60 percent to 40 percent on Friday, so Volini is showing that she is not afraid to bring the pressure.

In the Acceleration region, Kaseya’s Dan Tomaszewski is making up ground as he tries to claw his way back against F5’s Lisa Citron. Citron is leading 53 percent to Tomaszewski’s 47 percent. Ahead of weekend voting the gap was wider, with Citron leading 56 percent to 44 percent.

In the Evolution region, last year’s Channel Madness Champion Tom Evans, competing this year for Cloudflare, poured it on in weekend voting to extend his lead to 70 percent against Schneider Electric’s Gordon Lord, who’s at 30 percent. On Friday, Evans was ahead 57 percent to 43 percent.

Here’s a look at the full results so far:

Transformation

Michael DePalma, OpenText, 58 percent vs. Kate Woolley, IBM, 42 percent

Kevin Rooney, Veeam Software, 45 percent vs. Brian Lanigan, SentinelOne, 55 percent

Acceleration

Dave Guzzi, Intel, 28 percent vs. Lori Cornmesser, 1Password, 72 percent

Dan Tomaszewski, Kaseya, 47 percent vs. Lisa Citron, F5, 53 percent

Innovation

Tara Fine, Broadcom, 45 percent vs. Christian Goffi, Nutanix 55 percent

Scott Barlow, Sophos, 74 percent vs. Bob Skelley, Arctic Wolf, 26 percent

Evolution

Tom Evans, Cloudflare, 70 percent vs. Gordon Lord, Schneider Electric, 30 percent

Rob Cato, Lenovo, 52 percent vs. Erica Volini, ServiceNow, 48 percent

Voting in Round 2 remains open until noon ET on Tuesday, March 25, so there’s still time to head to CRN.com/madness to cast your votes and choose your chief!