Channel Chief ‘GOAT’ Frank Rauch Retires, Hailed For Driving Colossal Partner-Vendor Sales Growth

‘Frank did what he said he was going to do, which is so easily said but so difficult to do,’ says Advizex CEO C.R. Howdyshell. ‘Frank was able to get both parties to be mutually committed to success and then execute on it. He is the GOAT.’

Frank Rauch, a channel chief stalwart who over the course of four decades delivered win-win partnerships that powered astronomical partner-vendor sales growth, is retiring.

Rauch, a fiery channel advocate who delivered game-changing channel scenarios time and time again for Compaq, HP, VMware and others, is stepping aside as global channel chief of Cato Networks and will work in an advisory role over the next few months.

Rauch, hailed as a channel chief GOAT (Greatest of All Time) for his ability to transform fractured channel relationships into fast- growth, mutually beneficial partnerships, said it is time to spend more time chasing his 2-year-old granddaughter Lila rather than the next big deal.

“I’ve given a lot to the channel,” said Rauch, who started his career as a sales rep for the IBM Product Center in Philadelphia in 1984. “It’s time to take a break. I’ve been very fortunate over my entire career. I want to spend more time with my granddaughter. I have another grandchild on the way. I’m also looking forward to spending more time with my two sons. I want to get back on the golf course and on the boat and catch some big fish and enjoy life.”

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That said, Rauch said he is going to look at potential advisory opportunities to help companies crack the channel code. “There is not enough emphasis in today’s channel on building long-term relationships,” he said.

The Rauch channel stock in trade was his ability to craft win-win partnerships built on trust, respect and a commitment to long-standing relationships and friendships. That formula led to big gains in partner sales and profitability and dramatic sales gains for vendors that could never have been achieved without leveraging the sales muscle of partners.

Joe Koenig, president of World Wide Technology, the $20 billion solution provider powerhouse, called Rauch a “channel visionary” who had a profound impact on the channel ecosystem and WWT. “If you look at HP and VMware alone, we grew that business because of his partnership—$1 billion-plus based on his channel involvement and his partnership with WWT,” he said.

“It starts with Frank as a person,” said Koenig, who has teamed with Rauch for three decades. “First, he is a good person who is driven by values that are second to none. He builds relationships. He is not in it for a one-hit wonder. He is in it for the long haul, and he builds these long-term relationships that stand the test of time.”

Koenig said those long-lasting relationships helped change the partner ecosystem as Rauch moved from teaming with partners on hardware sales at Compaq and HP to the software virtualization boom at VMware and finally on to the security software channel with Check Point Software Technologies and Cato Networks.

“Frank is a very forward-thinking and innovative channel chief,” said Koenig. “He thinks about not just how things are working today, but how they should be working tomorrow and how he can bring the best of people and companies together for a broader solution with a win-win attitude for the partner, the OEM and the customer. That forward-thinking and innovative approach separates him from so many others. He is just a channel-friendly person that is always willing to be creative and innovative to ensure the channel is always involved with the companies he represents.”

Ultimately, it was the “trust” that Rauch brought to each and every partner and OEM relationship that made the difference, said Koenig. “Everywhere Frank went our people knew they could trust him,” said Koenig. “Trust was one of Frank’s key value drivers. When you trust someone, you can get stuff done.”

A Long And Storied Career

Getting stuff done was exactly what Rauch did when he took the helm as vice president of channel sales for VMware in the summer of 2012. At the time, partners were frustrated with a one-sided VMware partnership that was short on margin, cooperation and trust.

“When Frank came into VMware it changed from a ‘I’ll let you know if I need you’ type of mentality to ‘I need a partner and here is how you can actually be profitable and help drive the value proposition collectively with us,’” said Koenig. “That was a big change he made at VMware. That was huge.”

C.R. Howdyshell, CEO of Advizex, a Fulcrum IT Partners company, who refers to Rauch as “The Channel GOAT” (Greatest of All Time), said before Rauch, VMware executives and frustrated partners faced off on opposite sides of the room during a contentious partner advisory board meeting.

“It was brutal before Frank got there,” said Howdyshell, who was on the VMware Partner Advisory Board and experienced the dramatic change in the VMware channel culture when Rauch took the channel helm. “Frank changed it all. Frank engaged the partners and ensured they were the right kind of partners with professional services that were compensated properly and could execute. He owned it and had the buy-in of executive leadership including [then-VMware CEO] Pat Gelsinger. Frank was able to effect change. That takes leadership. Frank took the heat from both the OEM and the partners and then fixed the VMware channel. And he challenged the partners to step up. That resulted in significant profitability improvement to the channel and massive scale and growth for VMware.”

Rauch was “mutually committed” to both partners and the OEMs that he represented, said Howdyshell. “Frank did what he said he was going to do, which is so easily said but so difficult to do,” he said. “Frank was able to get both parties to be mutually committed to success and then execute on it. He is the GOAT.”

Over the course of his career, Rauch has helped lead the channel from product fulfillment to a “true value-led solution that includes the whole stack of product, infrastructure, software and services that the partner can take advantage of,” said Howdyshell. “That’s significant. Once we’re doing the services we’re in there sticking to the customer.”

Howdyshell said he is already missing Rauch’s channel impact and is looking forward to congratulating him in person for a congratulatory dinner. “Frank is going to be sorely missed,” he said. “When you have that kind of impact, there is no way there will not be a void when he is gone.”

Rauch brought a channel passion and commitment that was contagious, said Howdyshell. “With Frank’s channel passion and charisma, you felt like he was working not just for the OEM but with you collectively,” he said. “Frank cared about the channel, your company and he cared about you personally.”

‘Putting Himself In The Shoes Of Partners’

Rauch’s indefatigable channel commitment made him a regular at partner channel events (including 17 consecutive Advizex sales conferences), trade shows and sporting events, all aimed at building long-standing relationships and friendships. Not only that, but Rauch was always available to help close a deal or quickly resolve a sales conflict or compensation issue. “People knew they could call Frank Rauch anytime and he would take action,” said Howdyshell. “And Frank had the credibility with the OEMs to make things happen.”

Howdyshell said whenever Rauch made a move to a new company, Advizex was ready to make a bet on that OEM, including Cato Networks. “The reason we made that commitment was Frank Rauch,” he said.

Mark Marron, president and CEO of ePlus, No. 26 on the 2024 CRN Solution Provider 500, said Rauch had an uncanny knack for “always putting himself” in the shoes of the partners. “Frank understood what is important to a reseller,” said Marron. “Frank understood what was important to both parties and was always looking for mutual wins. That is a talent that not everybody has. He realized the value of the channel and that it wasn’t just about the OEM or vendor he was working for. He understood in order to help the company he was working for he had to understand what was important to the resellers.”

As for the channel breakthrough at VMware, Marron said that “Frank understood what had to happen for us to get excited and want to work with VMware, and that helped VMware grow their numbers. The comfort we had with Frank and his capabilities made it easier for us to figure out how to work with VMware.”

Valuing Relationships And Friendships

Marron said he is looking forward to maintaining his friendship with Rauch. “As a die-hard Giants fan, I need to go out and have a drink with Frank as an Eagles fan,” said Marron, noting the Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl-bound bid versus the last-place-in-the-NFC-East-showing of the New York Giants. “Frank had the energy and passion to get in front of people and make a difference. He is going to be missed. He was always a professional and understood the value of the channel. There has to be a win-win for things to work. He had the ability to understand that. He deserves a lot of credit for all he has accomplished.”

Randy Seidl, a 40-year technology sales veteran who worked with Rauch at HP and has mentored hundreds of sales executives, said Rauch understood the value of relationships.

“Sometimes the value of relationships gets lost,” he said. “Frank understood that in good times or bad you need to be there for people. People knew that Frank as a leader was going to be there for them and by virtue of that they knew his company would stand behind them. People knew Frank was a man of his word and could be counted on when they needed help.”

At HP, Rauch was the driving force behind sales reward incentive trips for top CEOs of channel companies and their wives and significant others to getaways like Cabo, Punta Mita, Cancun and Puerto Rico, said Seidl, CEO of Rainwater Tech, which delivers technology that provides the world with lower-cost water access.

“Those trips allowed us to spend quality time with partners and their significant others, which helped further deepen those relationships,” he said. “That leads to much better business as opposed to being coin-operated and doing business by Zoom. People knew, liked and trusted Frank.”

‘Family Is Everything’ For Rauch

Rauch, for his part, said one of the factors in his decision to retire was the sudden death of death of his friend, former Dimension Data CEO Jere Brown, at just 65 years old in 2018. “That was a wakeup call,” he said. “Money buys a lot of things but one thing it doesn’t buy you is time.”

Rauch said he is also tired of the day-in-and-day-out, seven-days- a-week demands of an operational channel chief job, which has not allowed him to spend as much time as he would like with his family. “Family is everything to me,” he said. “I want to spend more time with my family rather than being consumed by the travel and grind of an operational channel job. I have one son that lives 10 minutes on one side of me and another son that lives 10 minutes away on the other side. My brother is 15 minutes north of me and my mother is 15 minutes south of me in assisted living.”

Rauch, who graduated with a dual major in computer science and marketing from Drexel University, said his early years at IBM taught him how to sell technology solutions. “I did three months of sales training in Atlanta, which no one does anymore,” he said. “That got me interested in sales and the channel.”

After four years at IBM, Rauch became part of the portable computer revolution, taking a sales position at Compaq Computer Corp., where he spent 18 years, eventually becoming vice president of the Mid-Atlantic region. At Compaq, Rauch worked side by side with channel legend Ross Cooley. “I learned a lot about people from Ross,” said Rauch. “He was a people person and a people leader.”

When Compaq was acquired by HP, Rauch spent nine years taking on more prominent sales roles, eventually heading up enterprise servers, storage and networking channel sales. Rauch spent week after week on the road with former HP CEO Mark Hurd, who passed away at just 62 years old in 2019. “We had a very dynamic relationship,” said Rauch. “We found ourselves on the road together every other week. He loved partners and the channel.”

When Rauch took the VMware top Americas partner channel job, he listened to channel partners frustrated with their inability to make money on VMware licensing and took action. “Luckily, Carl Eschenbach and Pat Gelsinger were willing to listen to the story and we changed it,” he said.

Rauch says he learned a lot from Cooley, Eschenbach, Gelsinger and former HP sales executive Jack Novia. “These people were genuine and the best at motivating teams,” he said. “They had tremendous energy and work ethic because of their charismatic approach. I tried to follow that example.”

Ultimately, Rauch credited his ability to be a “credible voice” with the executive teams at the companies he worked for as a big reason for his success. “The partners trusted me to be their voice,” he said. “That trust that is established over many years and the ability to get things done is way more important than just a channel program.”

Rauch says he often tells colleagues and those he has mentored that “relationships are forged in the hard times rather than the good times.” A big part of the job was taking those hard times and finding the mutually beneficial win-win. “That had a multiplier effect,” he said.

After VMware, Rauch spent four years as head of worldwide channels for Check Point Software Technologies and then in January 2023 he took the global channel chief role at Cato Networks.

Rauch Credits His Channel Teams For Success

Rauch says he was glad to finish up his full-time channel chief career at Cato Networks. “Cato is a place where A players are the norm, not the exception,” he said. “The quality of the people there is unmatched. It’s also a people culture where people will do what needs to be done regardless of rank or title.”

Rauch credited whatever success he has had to the strong channel teams that made up the companies he worked at. “There are so many people at these companies that make the channel successful,” he said.

Rauch considers among his biggest accomplishments the 23 people who have worked for him during his 41-year career who have gone on to top channel jobs, including Veeam Software Vice President of Americas Channel Sales Kevin Rooney, Darktrace Chief Partner and Transformation Officer Dan Monahan and many others.

“The biggest lesson I learned is there are a lot of people along the journey that you take, and you need to remember them and take care of them,” he said. “You need to invest your time not just in your partners but in your people.”

Rooney, who worked side by side with Rauch at HP and VMware, said Rauch “built the standard” for how to work hand in hand with partners to drive sales growth.

“Frank has been immensely important to the channel and the industry,” he said. “Everybody knows Frank. He has an unbelievable reputation. Frank built win-win situations for everybody with trust, consistency and transparency in the process. Frank was fair throughout all his dealings with partners. That consistency and approach through 41 years had a huge impact on how partners expect to engage with manufacturers and vendors.”

Koenig, for his part, said it is heartening to see the relationships that Rauch has built being carried on by a next generation of channel chiefs. “Because he is a mentor to others it has created a multiplier effect,” said Koenig. “In that way he is leaving his mark on the business.”

Rauch said he is looking forward to continuing his charity work, including his contributions to the Drexel University Charles D. Close School Of Entrepreneurship. “It’s invigorating to see the young entrepreneurs and the great ideas and great minds,” he said. “They are so much more optimistic about their future than many of the people I have ever met.”

As for the future of the channel with the explosion of AI, Rauch said it is going to be critical to “separate the signal from the noise” and to focus on AI use cases for customers. “Be smart, follow the use cases and hire people that really understand those use cases even more than understand AI,” he said. “The partners need to focus on how AI is going to be used to create value.”

Rauch’s final message to partners: “Thank you. My career would not have happened without you. Thank you for the trust. Thank you for the friendship. Thank you for the round of golf that we will play in the future together. I will keep close to everybody that I gained that trust with over these 41 years.”

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