2024 Next-Gen Solution Provider Leaders
For the fifth year, we present CRN’s Next-Gen Solution Provider Leaders list, recognizing today’s up-and-coming solution provider executives, directors and managers who are poised to be tomorrow’s channel leaders.
The IT industry thrives on innovation. Not just the technology itself, but how that IT is delivered to businesses to help them utilize it to its maximum potential.
That requires innovation in the channel. Case in point is the current wave of AI development surging through the IT industry. While major vendors like Microsoft, Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services churn out products like copilots and AI-fueled applications, it’s often up to solution providers to help customers figure out how to best implement and use these new AI products.
And that often calls for new thinking. For the channel, that requires people with new ideas, new talents and new life experiences—as well as the drive and the passion—to develop and deliver leading-edge IT solutions.
For the fifth year, we present CRN’s Next-Gen Solution Provider Leaders, highlighting the rising solution provider executives, directors and managers who are poised to be tomorrow’s leaders.
The list recognizes solution provider employees 40 years of age or younger who have made significant contributions to their company’s strategic direction and helped drive growth during the past year.
It includes those who have spearheaded changes to their company’s business models and processes to improve how they operate. They have designed and implemented new systems to support and automate those changes. They have devised more productive ways to work with vendor partners. And they have found new ways to better serve their customers and deliver value through ever-more-innovative IT products and services.
The contributions of these next-generation leaders have been all the more important in 2024, a year marked by economic uncertainty and the ever-accelerating pace of technological change.
Here’s a look at 83 rising stars in the channel, including a brief overview of what they see as some of their biggest accomplishments and most innovative ideas over the past year.
(by last name)
Kim Abrams
Director, Inside Sales
Davenport Group
Abrams acts as a trusted adviser and liaison, nurturing positive selling relationships between customers, Davenport Group account teams and Dell Technologies. She created a department that is responsible for managing the contract renewal process for existing customers, a move that has improved customer retention and revenue growth.
(by last name)
Gul Akar
Manager, Customer Success
Connection
Over the past year, Akar worked to manage and improve the Microsoft customer ecosystem, generating higher customer satisfaction and retention rates. A critical initiative was Akar’s creation of a comprehensive life-cycle management program for Microsoft CSP base customers to streamline processes, enhance product and service delivery, and improve the overall customer experience.
Jenna Ar-Bab
COO
Sourcepass
Ar-Bab founded the Operational Excellence department to connect client strategy with service delivery, ensuring that the company’s rapid growth is strategically handled throughout the organization while service delivery and client experience is optimized. She also established the Corporate Project Management Office to foster a culture of accountability and goal-driven performance.
Joseph Bellian
Sr. Director, Microsoft Alliances
Core BTS
Over the past year, Bellian helped strengthen Core BTS’ market position and drive significant growth by establishing key partnerships with industry players and regional leaders, driving market expansion, increasing incentive program usage and enhancing client engagement. One key initiative was introducing a road show campaign that strengthened the company’s market presence.
BJ Bradley
COO
Davenport Group
Bradley expanded Davenport Group’s managed services offerings and worked to merge previously siloed engineering and operations teams under one umbrella, creating a unified, agile, cross-functional team. The enabled the company to streamline workflows, optimize processes, improve communications and deliver faster and better solutions to customers.
Ryan Brady
VP, Sales
Premier Cloud
Helping Premier Cloud diversify its product and service portfolio has been a key part of Brady’s role. He is responsible for establishing new ISV partnerships, on-boarding and negotiating margins, implementing ISV offerings into Premier Cloud’s CRM system, completing go-to-market and branding strategies, and training sales representatives on how to position and sell the new products.
Wes Brown
CTO
Arctiq
Arctiq was created through the recent merger of DynTek, rSolutions and Arctiq and Brown has played a critical role in assembling the company’s enterprise security, modern infrastructure and platform engineering solutions portfolio, as well as uniting the companies’ technical delivery teams and best practices. He oversaw the successful launch of a Network Operations Center that provides 24x7x365 visibility into network performance.
Michael Brunetti
Director, Professional Services
Entara
Entara’s professional services team and incident response network have grown rapidly in four years. This year Brunetti focused on establishing new processes within his department, evolving the incident response team structure and strategically expanding vendor partnerships, all critical for maintaining a standard of service as the company grows.
Shaun Burgess
Sales Manager
Braver Technology Solutions
Burgess pioneered new service launches and enhanced customer relations with more proactive engagement and the implementation of a feedback system for promptly addressing “red flag” issues. He credits his ability to identify emerging market trends and adapt strategy accordingly for his team’s track record in surpassing sales targets.
Jessica Caputo
Commercial Sales Manager
Insight
While growing sales is Caputo’s chief responsibility, she says the growth of her people is most important. She makes it a point to engage with vendor partners as much as possible and she tries to capitalize on IT company announcements, quickly developing and implementing strategies with her sales team. The last three cases yielded more than $20 million in pipeline.
Gladys Castro
Director, Technology Operations
IT Medical Technologies
Castro has focused on implementing controls and systems that help IT Medical Technologies manage growth without losing the vision and the personal touch the company gives its customers. Leveraging her security and operations background, she created and implemented operational controls to remediate gaps in the company’s security offerings.
Kelly Charlton
Director, One Microsoft Practice
RSM
Charlton led the continued evolution and growth of RSM’s One Microsoft Practice in fiscal 2024, with efforts centered on go-to-market initiatives as well as creating innovative industry-focused solutions and internal operational processes to ensure high-quality product and service delivery. The Demand Acceleration Team’s industry alignment was revamped to focus on developing industry knowledge and growing industry pipelines.
Daniel Clydesdale-Cotter
CIO
EchoStor Technologies
Clydesdale-Cotter fueled EchoStor’s innovation engine by overseeing the company’s portfolio development, a role that involves researching emerging tech, guiding internal validation and training sales teams on new solutions. That includes fostering strategic alliances with companies like Nvidia to further EchoStor’s generative AI practice. He was promoted to CIO in August.
Jessica Colatosti
Manager, Partner Management Alliances
Insight Canada
Colatosti conceived and implemented a plan to segment software renewals by value and assign resources to actively manage higher-value renewals while leveraging automation for those with lower values. Her plan is expected to increase renewal rates by at least 10 percent over one year. She also created and documented processes to streamline quoting and ordering.
Brandon Cole
CEO
Davenport Group
Over the last year Cole moved up from vice president of sales and marketing at Davenport Group, to CRO, and now CEO. He aims to grow its portfolio of solutions and services while pushing to expand professional development opportunities so employees have the skills, tools and resources they need.
Paul Cooke
Director, Sales
ANM
Cooke was essential to operationalizing and scaling ANM’s Cybersecurity and Data Center divisions over the last year. By fostering channel partnerships, he drove double-digit growth in both categories for the Colorado market. He also enhanced ANM’s account manager support structure by improving sales force operations and providing account managers with more efficient dashboards and improved customer data.
Donald Crozier
Engineering Services Manager
ITMCX
Crozier introduced the concept of integrating a remote access system and secure network transport for ITMCX’s 101Voice hosted voice platform, greatly improving the support team’s ability to provide support to customers. This system resulted in increased customer satisfaction and enhanced the company’s operational efficiency by allowing support staff to resolve issues more quickly and effectively.
Davon Daniels
VP, Operations
Performive
Over the past year, Daniels launched the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) to enhance communication and accountability throughout the company and facilitated collaboration between sales, engineering and service implementation teams through weekly calls. He also oversaw the implementation of the ConnectWise platform, which has significantly enhanced Performive’s client service capabilities and internal productivity.
Josh Ditto
Chief Information Technology Officer
CDS Office Technologies
Ditto has been integral to the continued development and growth of CDS Office Technologies’ managed IT and cybersecurity services platform, both through refining the platform itself and presenting it to internal teams and customers. This year he established and nurtured an internal security operations and compliance team to better serve customers from a cybersecurity perspective.
Jaison Dsouza
VP
Mvation Worldwide
Dsouza advanced his company by establishing key partnerships, resulting in a 30 percent increase in channel sales. He introduced targeted training programs, implemented a new incentive program and leveraged data analytics to identify market trends and opportunities that help partners better align their strategies with Mvation’s offerings.
Dustin Edwards
Director, Infrastructure Services
Davenport Group
Edwards says one of his key accomplishments over the last year was supporting his team members in expanding their skills, capabilities and certifications around the Dell Technologies portfolio. He urged them to pursue various training courses, facilitated knowledge-sharing sessions, and encouraged them to share best practices—boosting the team’s overall technical expertise and confidence.
Alexander Ewing-Shaw
Partnerships Manager
Chetu
Ewing-Shaw re-energized Chetu’s Strategic Partner Network over the last year, increasing the application developer’s partner portfolio by 35 percent through adding partners like Workday, UKG, Odoo, Brightspot and Google Cloud. He made fundamental changes to the program, including a new option for one-off referrals, that allows partners to significantly increase referral commissions.
Patrick Fagen
VP, Engineering
Sterling
Fagen’s role has broadened after combining Sterling’s Services Operations and Presales Solutions Architecture groups, allowing the company to streamline advanced technical service operations around modern infrastructure, connectivity, cloud and security. He has continued to hire talented engineers across the globe with an emphasis on getting these engineers in front of customers.
(by last name)
Zack Finstad
VP, Cybersecurity
Logically
Finstad identified and executed a number of strategic initiatives in 2023 and 2024, including reorganizing and reducing Logically’s product catalog to streamline its sales process. He led an effort to condense service offerings to two major platform providers, thus increasing service revenue and streamlining service support. He also helped bring several new service offerings to market.
Joseph Forte
Director, Project Delivery
Acuative
Through strategic restructuring and comprehensive training initiatives, Forte transformed Acuative’s implementation team into an efficient and cohesive operation. Forte also played a pivotal role in the pre- and post-sales functions to ensure services are accurately sold to customers and then ultimately brought to full realization.
Jaykishan Grover
Director, Operations
Chetu
Grover introduced advanced project management tools to optimize application quality and streamline Chetu’s workflows. By implementing these tools, he enhanced team efficiency and communication and facilitated better issue tracking and resource allocation, leading to more predictable project timelines, consistently successful project completions, higher-quality applications and improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Jen (Locsey) Hansberry
National Director, Sales, Summit Central
Insight
Hansberry helped stand up Insight’s Acquisition and Services CoE teams, developing a recruiting strategy, on-boarding/enablement programs and sales campaigns. As CoE Director, she created a streamlined approach to support commercial customers with service packages to increase efficiency and execution. In building both teams, she increased Insight’s visibility both with partners and customers.
David Harper
VP, Strategic Solutions, Services
iT1
Harper expanded the relationship between iT1’s technical teams and sales to better collaborate in supporting customers, fostering connections between the departments and aligning them for growth. He also spearheaded strategic partnerships, expanding iT1’s services portfolio and creating unique go-to-market offers. In addition, Harper introduced the “Power 90” initiative, which focuses on understanding customers’ needs through surveys.
Kelly Harris
VP, Strategy
ID Technologies
Following IDT’s acquisition by CACI in 2022, Harris has played a key role in managing IDT’s relationships and communications with its new parent company, its end-user community and its OEM partners. She has created a team that has built relationships with over 80 industry partners and drives innovative campaigns with those partners.
Lisa Hisaw
Customer Success, Renewals Manager
Calian IT & Cyber Solutions
Hisaw dedicated the past year to leading the transition to automated operations and financial reporting for both companywide and customer-facing use. She also introduced PowerBI into Calian’s operational sector, leading to the creation of the Calian Services Insights program that optimizes processes and outcomes and facilitates real-time intelligent business decisions.
Kurt Huegin
VP, Sales
ANM
Huegin helped expand ANM into new key markets, launching a national sales team with high-end consulting and a new go-to-market approach tailored to the company’s largest customers and prospects. He also worked to expand its expertise in data center and security. Supporting these initiatives involved heavy recruiting, planning, and extensive customer and OEM engagement.
Justin Iwaniszyn
Director, New Emerging Alliances
GuidePoint Security
Over the past year, Iwaniszyn developed and refined GuidePoint’s vendor evaluation process, managing hundreds of vendors annually. He defined and implemented the strategy and programs for engaging with new and emerging vendors. He also assembled and led a team that successfully on-boarded over 50 vendors.
John Jackson
CEO
Bytagig
Over the past year, Jackson developed both a cybersecurity podcast and a community cyber forum. These, in addition to Bytagig’s use of the CrewHu customer satisfaction platform and IdeaGig system for sharing innovative ideas, help Bytagig maintain strong connections with its customer base. Jackson also spearheaded the deployment of a new cyber warranty for customers.
Michael Johnson
Director, SAP Solutions
American Digital
Johnson grew American Digital’s managed services revenue by 29 percent year over year by adding net-new managed services customers and expanding service sales to existing customers. He strengthened strategic partnerships with Microsoft Azure, SAP and Hewlett Packard Enterprise and spearheaded new product and managed services offerings around cloud, digital transformation and IT modernization.
Blaine Jones
Director, Engineering Operations, Quality Management
ThunderCat Technology
Jones helped advance ThunderCat’s business through the successful completion of three new organization certifications, efforts that allowed the company to remain compliant for government opportunities and further enhanced the solution provider’s value-add. Together with the IT leadership team, she also designed and implemented a completely new IT program management methodology to align ThunderCat’s operations with its 2024 digital transformation goals.
Richard Kask
Director, Client Experience
Nucleus Networks
Since his appointment as director of the new Client Experience Division in January, Kask has Implemented and formalized goals, tracking and KPIs for the Client Success team, resulting in a 400 percent increase in technology scorecard (quarterly business review). He championed new processes and benchmarks for project services proposal delivery and was the driving force behind the implementation of a commission structure for the Client Success team.
Matthew Kaufman
CEO
KaufmanIT
Kaufman spearheaded the buildout of a new vulnerability management practice for security monitoring and remediation for small businesses. The project included vetting software options, developing marketing materials, building remediation processes and communicating to customers the importance and value of implementing the solution. He also oversaw the design and implementation of API-based automations to integrate disparate tools/systems to reduce alert response time and administrative overhead costs.
Naman Kher
VP, Head of Dexian IT Solutions
Dexian DISYS
Kher spearheaded the integration of advanced service management solutions and led the implementation of a multi-cloud strategy, significantly increasing service efficiency by 30 percent and driving 20 percent growth in customer acquisition. He managed operational enhancements such as implementing the Integrated Service Management Center (ISMC) and reduced hiring times from 12 weeks to five to six. And he introduced several AI-driven solutions to enhance service capabilities and customer satisfaction.
Kailynn Lambert
VP, Operations
Davenport Group
Lambert expanded and improved Davenport Group’s customer portal over the past year, allowing customers to access data and invoices and place service and order requests in a secure and user-friendly manner. She also executed a successful quarterly change management strategy aligning with business objectives, enhancing the quality and agility of business operations and creating a foundation for scalability and future growth.
(by last name)
Ashton Lande
Sr. Cloud Services Manager
ConRes
Lande established a cloud service provider (CSP) practice at ConRes, including investing in key tools such as a cloud management platform, and his team manages the entire cloud adoption, optimization and license management life cycle. He expanded relationships with key vendors including Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Cisco Systems and Palo Alto Networks into new areas beyond the solution provider’s traditional data center practice and introduced a modernized CSP value proposition.
Grady Li
Marketing Manager
BlackHawk Data
Li has played a pivotal role in growing BlackHawk Data's channel viewership by 60 percent through targeted marketing campaigns and vertical-specific strategies. Li personally crafted all marketing and sales materials, helping the company secure deals and contributing to a significant 70 percent revenue increase over the past four years. He also has spearheaded support groups for minorities and women at BlackHawk Data.
Jon Lloyd
Field CTO
CBTS
Lloyd has been instrumental in leading major projects, adviser training and customer success for six-figure monthly recurring revenue deals in managed network, cloud and security services, helping transform CBTS’ earlier image as a telco company. His idea for “flexible cloud commit” lets CBTS manage workloads on different platforms with a monthly fee, increasing revenue and helping CBTS secure big MRR managed services deals.
Bryan Luce
VP, Operations
Avatar Managed Services
Luce created an internal peer group to find and evaluate new partner offerings and, as head of Avatar Managed Services’ technology council, helped select and implement cutting-edge technologies before they become mainstream and commoditized, helping to differentiate the company. He also created a center of excellence for emerging technologies, ensuring Avatar is first to market as a value-added partner and disrupter.
Paul Mansur
CEO
NXT GEN Technologies
Mansur helped expand NXT GEN Technologies’ strategic alliances with Zscaler and Abnormal Security, contributing to the company’s 60 percent sales growth in the first half of 2024. He oversaw the establishment of an internal dedicated copilot practice and continued to push technology, solution and service boundaries that encompass the company’s “Keeping IT Simple and Secure” philosophy.
Simon Margolis
CTO, AI, ML
SADA, an Insight Company
Margolis has overseen the development and constant refinement of SADA’s go-to-market efforts for its generative AI business. He worked with hundreds of customers and SADA’s internal departments to ideate and build generative AI solutions. And he worked extensively with SADA engineering teams to help employees understand the current AI space including coaching and sharing technical best practices, sample architectures and reusable code bases.
Ross Mashburn
Program Manager
MDSI
Mashburn was instrumental in developing new ways in which MDSI can provide value to its customer base. He developed a predictive analysis tool using consumption analytics and project forecasts to streamline procurement recommendations for customers. And he managed the pilot of a complex subscription management portal that monitors customer installations and associated licenses and maintenance agreements, providing visibility and forecasts for upcoming expirations.
Sabur Mian
Co-Founder, CEO
STN
In 2024 Mian oversaw the launch of two new products/services: the STN One Endpoint Security bundle and the GPU One GPU-as-a-Service, the latter through a partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s AI and HPC groups. He also created and managed partnerships with HPE, NetApp, Arrow, CoreSite, Lambda Labs, Nvidia, AMD and Supermicro.
Megan Moore
Sr. Director, Strategic Programs, Partner Alliances
Sterling
Moore managed the expansion of Sterling’s channel team, doubling down on the solution provider’s top partnerships and identifying new top-tier sponsorships. Her team also took on expanded responsibilities beyond managing manufacturer relationships to include maintaining partnerships with subcontractors, distributors and other VARs. In addition, she now directly manages Sterling’s marketing department and has combined the marketing and channel teams under one umbrella.
Keith Moses
SVP, Business Development, Sales
Dataprise
In the past year, Moses has overseen the integration of go-to-market teams from Dataprise acquisitions into the Dataprise brand and revamped the go-to-market strategy for the company’s unified sales team. Moses was also instrumental in winning two of the largest contracts in the company’s history, leading to the highest revenue ever in a calendar year.
Mike Murphy
President
IT GOAT
Murphy is responsible for all revenue generation, from developing sales teams to implementing new marketing strategies. In the past year, he has increased the sales team by 30 percent and increased marketing spending by over 150 percent, all while opening two new locations. He also worked with the company’s marketing and sales teams to develop strategic marketing plans for specific target markets.
Chris Pedersen
Chief Solutions Officer
22Vets Technologies
For the past two years, Pedersen has worked to build out two public safety initiatives, CommunityFirst and StudentFirst, which integrate cyber, physical and wellness security applications. He has spent time with local public sector leaders to understand the challenges they face to create the solutions.
(by last name)
Keith Ramdeen
CFO
BlackHawk Data
By building a strong operational team that spans from finance to human resources, Ramdeen has obtained reporting and key metrics to make informed decisions for business growth. The development of these teams created processes, procedures and operational flow to ensure a smooth customer experience and propel the business forward.
Ryan Richardet
President, CEO
SysGen Solutions Group
Richardet has spearheaded SysGen’s efforts to set itself apart from other solution providers in Western Canada and rebrand the organization as an MSP with a distinctive business model that offers dedicated IT experts to support customers rather than a traditional call center. He also fronted the company’s “Experience IT Differently” marketing campaign.
Drew Rowe
Marketing Manager
SADA, An Insight company
Rowe created targeted strategies and fresh content to help the success of SADA’s partnerships, building out a plethora of campaigns, content, sales plays, joint sponsorships and speaking spots to tell joint value stories and drive opportunities. Her efforts generated pipeline and led to stronger partnerships.
Samantha Rowe
Sr. Manager, Event Marketing
SADA, An Insight company
Rowe led events that resulted in over 400 opportunities and roughly $45 million in pipeline as of July. Her projects such as executing SADA’s presence at Google Cloud Next, its Gemini for Google Workspace Crash Course training program and its Ground School AI symposium generated over 4,000 leads.
Soumit Roy
Director, Enterprise Application Cloud
Jade Global
With a combination of technical acumen and strategic foresight, Roy leads the global Oracle analytics and AI practice at Jade Global, having driven significant growth by modernizing data and AI platforms for over 100 clients worldwide. His efforts boosted practice growth by 30 percent year over year.
Abhay Saini
VP, Customer Engagement
Droisys
In addition to being actively involved in hiring key talent for both Droisys and its customers, Saini personally added two new Fortune 500 clients to the company’s roster. He helps colleagues think like business owners in taking more accountability and aligning with corporate goals and also introduced GenAI tools to improve efficiency.
Leah Salzman
Product Manager, Cyber Range
World Wide Technology
Salzman recruited key sponsors for WWT's Cyber Range hands-on security technology lab, including Cisco Systems, F5 and Palo Alto Networks. She also transformed WWT's Capture the Flag events into a scalable, global initiative and a cornerstone of the company’s training and community engagement efforts, increasing monthly activations by over 50 percent.
Blake Shalem
Sr. Director, Platinum Client Experience
Abacus Group
After joining Abacus through its acquisition of Gotham Security in 2023, Shalem is now setting the company’s bar high for customer relationship standards, offering a white-glove approach to customer service. She also helped build out the company’s integrated approach to security and managed IT, which serves as a differentiator in the market.
Nick Sikorski
VP, Sales, Marketing
EchoStor Technologies
Sikorski has built a new tristate sales team that grew to $100 million in under three years, organized technical capabilities into three business lines for growth and diversification, and created an acquisitions team to hire and develop junior sales reps, expanding EchoStor's customer base into new markets and geographies.
Gary Simat
CEO
Performive
Simat introduced the Entrepreneurial Operating System business framework to enhance communication of Performive’s corporate vision, fostering transparency and accountability. This empowered employees with greater autonomy and recognition through various programs. He also rolled out ConnectWise software to improve customer service capabilities.
Saugat Sindhu
Sr. Partner, Global Head, Advisory Services, CRS
Wipro
Sindhu led the integration of acquired entities within Wipro’s Cybersecurity & Risk practice, defining an account advocacy structure that includes both solution and sector specialization. He also led the development of unique joint market offerings, including CyberTransform with ServiceNow and Cyber Xray with Zscaler.
Kathryn Singh
Director
RSM
Singh focused on cultivating strong partnerships, a strategic approach that not only drove new business but also fueled overall growth and positioned the company as a trusted leader. She also introduced a feedback loop to delivery engagement leads, an innovation that enhanced responsiveness and boosted sales.
Mark Sokolowski
VP, Sales
Sierra Experts
In addition to running Sierra’s sales team, driving new business and keeping existing deals on track, Sokolowski also drove innovation through the rollout of new offerings aimed at bolstering the company’s cybersecurity stack such as managed detection and response and zero trust software.
Carolyn Southern
Director
RSM
Southern worked hard to build strategic partnerships with vendors such as Oracle NetSuite, NetGain and Squareworks, expanding RSM’s solutions portfolio and producing thought leadership on the company’s ability to deliver digital transformation solutions globally. She also is working with the product strategy team to build packaged solutions based on automations she created.
Krista St. Charles
Director, Marketing
Davenport Group
St. Charles introduced a new approach to ROI reporting and data-driven decision-making for the marketing department at Davenport Group, which improved the accuracy of measuring the impact of events and campaigns on sales pipeline and revenue. This resulted in increased lead generation, conversion and retention.
Colter Strahan
Chief Technical Officer
eCreek IT
By creating and implementing enhanced cybersecurity services, Strahan helped increase eCreek IT’s revenue by more than 20 percent. He also introduced AI to customer self-help tools to further reduce ticket load and labor costs. He enabled a virtual call center offering for a customer that specializes in disaster relief.
Tristan Tarpinian
Director, Strategic Alliances
GuidePoint Security
Tarpinian developed and executed successful programs and go-to-market strategies for the partnerships she oversees and also supported company growth by introducing new procurement strategies with GuidePoint’s cloud service providers. Her efforts led to net-new revenue, account expansion and services revenue.
(by last name)
Trevor Taylor
Managing Director, MSSP
ECS
Taylor established a three-year strategy designed to increase and diversify ECS’s channel partnerships, making MSSP services available for mutual success. His efforts to drive continuous improvement and innovation—focusing heavily on the company’s U.S.-based and delivered services—have led to a record year across all business lines.
Shawn Torres
CEO
In-Telecom
Under Torres’ guidance, In-Telecom completed its third acquisition, adding a large enterprise customer base to its existing list of customers, and expanding its reach into the Texas market from Houston to Dallas-Fort Worth. He’s on a mission to reach over 1,300 customers across the company’s service offerings.
Taylor Truitt
Regional Sales Director, Texas
NWN Carousel
One of Truitt’s key accomplishments over the past years was leading a team that built a satellite-as-a-service connectivity solution, bundling NWN’s 24x7 support services with always-on connectivity for one of the largest state agencies in Texas. His efforts to create repeatable processes contributed to over $1 million in new revenue.
Andrew Tyler
President
Tech Tyler MSP
Tyler has built an engineering-driven MSP that aims to put customer needs first, implementing solid solutions that are game-changers for customers but do not break their budget. The company is adding new employees and reaching its gross profit goals.
Heidi Van Anderson
Director, Client Success
ANM
With the aim of incorporating technical alignment, Van Anderson restructured ANM’s project management office to introduce a technical overlay and mentorship program, ensuring project managers are better equipped to support its engineering-first strategy. She also boosted the company’s customer survey response rate by 8 percent.
Taylor Vaughn
Sr. Manager, Engineering Operations
Calian IT & Cyber Solutions
Vaughn spearheaded a multimillion-dollar project for a national entertainment and dining chain, managing the overnight refreshes of 125 sites. She also led “Project Wolfpack,” an internal systems integration initiative that leveraged CRM expertise to streamline the quote-to-cash process following two company acquisitions.
Joe Venero
Director, Corporate Strategy
Future Tech
In support of Future Tech’s goal of moving into new regions and vertical markets, Venero led a team that brought out new solutions and drove growth. He also devised a training methodology that enables the company’s sales team to better articulate its ability to deliver IT life-cycle expertise globally.
Rob Venero
Operations Manager
Future Tech
Under Venero’s leadership, Future Tech expanded its international reach in Thailand, Brazil, Poland and Malaysia. He built a network of vendors and IT partners in these locations, adding to the already 60-plus countries where Future Tech operates. He also implemented scalable, culturally adapted processes that optimize efficiency and ensure compliance.
James Wardrop
Sales Operations Manager
MDSi
Wardrop enhanced strategic partnerships, improved training programs and implemented performance metrics for his team, efforts that boosted customer satisfaction. He also established procedures and guidelines for early identification of potential cybersecurity threats that have enabled MDSi to detect, analyze and address threats proactively.
Peyton Wegleitner
Sales Engagement Manager
High Point Networks
Wegleitner’s mission is to analyze market trends and customer drivers to ensure High Point Networks stays ahead in the managed services world. She created a monthly newsletter for High Point’s internal sales team to share her findings and educate colleagues on how to best sell managed services in today’s environment.
Kristy Wilke
VP, Sales, Marketing
Davenport Group
Wilke restructured Davenport Group’s sales team from a hierarchical model to a collaborative one where field representatives, account managers, and inside and outside directors work together on a regional territory basis. This enabled the company to provide customized support that increased customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty.
David Wright
Founder, CEO
Disruptive Innovations
Wright over the past three years has moved his company’s focus heavily toward the health-care provider space to capitalize on the shift that market is seeing in the way it delivers services, manages health records and communicates with patients. He also finalized a scalable consulting module framework that is customizable for each customer.
Kelly Wright
Director, Workspace
SADA, An Insight company
Wright says she aims to live by the mentality that “a rising tide raises all ships,” which means when she sees a need, she steps in to fill it, even if the task isn’t technically part of her job description. Her efforts have contributed to consistent 25 percent to 30 percent growth in her department.
David Wynn II
Application Consultant
NWN Carousel
As part of NWN’s Empower Leadership program, Wynn introduced GenAI to reduce internal operational inefficiencies, spearheading the development of a proof of concept. The technology is being used to automate routine tasks, enhance data analysis and improve decision-making processes, all resulting in faster service delivery and improved solutions.
Danielle Zink
VP, Sales
Orchestrate
Over the past year, Zink identified the need to provide more comprehensive statistics to Orchestrate’s clients, enabling the company to better explain its services through a visual representation of its work. This led to the creation of a new client portal that enhances transparency and engagement.