The 2023 Women On The Rise
These women are reaching new heights at their companies by putting partners front and center, demonstrating strong business acumen and collaborating with colleagues to drive success. Keep an eye on these up-and-comers who are poised to rise to the top.
Women On The Rise
This year’s Women on the Rise honorees are being lauded across the channel for the many ways they are driving partner success.
The accolades from their colleagues are many: having a passion for collaboration, demonstrating a tireless work ethic, putting forth a can-do attitude, being a catalyst for growth and demonstrating a “we before I” attitude. These women are partner advocates in all they do—solving problems, making it easier for partners to engage with their company and figuring out ways for them to generate revenue and find new opportunities.
These women may be behind the scenes at times, but partners know who they are and why they deserve this honor.
Congratulations to all of 2023’s Women on the Rise.
(This list was formerly known as Rising Female Stars)
By Company:
Alexandra (Sasha) Gorbatenko
Global Channel Marketing Program Manager
Acronis
Gorbatenko launched a number of powerful promotions for cloud service providers, which generated over $4 million in incremental annual recurring revenue for Acronis.
By Company:
Stephanie Erickson
Channel Account Manager, Southeast
Adlumin
Erickson joined Adlumin— a young channel-first company poised for hypergrowth—in October 2022 and in her first four months signed and on-boarded five net-new partners in her region.
Jessica Rudy
Principal Program Experience Leader
Amazon Web Services
Rudy leads the AWS Partner Network Programs Delivery experience, working behind the scenes to simplify partner registration, on-boarding requirements and program application experience.
Jennifer Kirkey-Chan
Director, North America Channel Marketing
AMD
Kirkey-Chan was recently named to her new role and brings considerable expertise to the mission of helping drive stronger marketing relationships with AMD’s channel and OEM partners.
Hannah Osterheim
Director, Customer Success, MSP
Arctic Wolf
Osterheim’s winning attitude and willingness to commit herself to helping MSP partners succeed make her an invaluable member of the channel team. She constantly advocates for partners at events and with the sales teams.
Meghan Cohen
Sales Manager
Arrow Electronics
In her work at immix- Group, an Arrow Company, Cohen has a deep understanding of the public sector buying process. Her passion for customer support and operational excellence helps channel partners reach their goals.
Sarah Gerichten
Sr. Manager, Partner Engagement
Atlassian
In her role at Atlassian, Gerichten built a team focused on more effectively engaging partners. With that goal in mind, she and her team re-envisioned communication systems, content and channels.
Florence Sollo
National Partner Director
Avaya
Sollo is a tireless coach and has exhibited urgency, commitment and follow-through in supporting her team and her partners. In 2023, she took these strengths to a different set of large national partners, serving as an additional layer of leadership.
Kirsten Vogelsang
Partner Marketing Specialist
Barracuda MSP
Vogelsang joined Barracuda MSP in 2022, tasked with revamping its partner marketing enablement offerings. She has spearheaded the streamlining of a new marketing enablement request process and completed its initial rollout.
Tiffany Harris
Director, Global Marketplaces, Cloud Partner Sales
Broadcom
Harris leverages her can-do attitude to equip Broadcom partners and improve their overall experience. She is instrumental when it comes to reporting and what happens with quoting, fulfillment and support.
Michelle Richards
Director, Operations
Bvoip
Richards is the unsung channel hero at bvoip. She started as a support triage coordinator and has been promoted twice over the past year to now being the director of operations. Key to these promotions is that she always goes the extra mile for partners.
Amy Kelley
Director Of Operations
Carahsoft
Kelley has taken on the challenge of evaluating the cloud licensing models from Carahsoft’s top vendors to build the infrastructure needed to ensure correct cloud invoicing, usage reports and sales options.
Christina Ruth
Channel Account Manager
Check Point Software Technologies
Ruth’s knowledge of Check Point’s history and processes has positioned her as a team lead in her region. She has a unique perspective on how the sales organization thinks and a strong understanding of the channel team.
Liz Styba
Advisory Partner Executive, Global Strategic Partners
Cisco Systems
Styba is a strategic thinker and a catalyst for growth with some of Cisco’s most forward-looking partners. She has been with Cisco for 12 years and has worked with specialty partners, global incubation partners and advisory partners.
Tracey Jones
Sr. Partner Marketing Manager
Cloudera
Jones manages the IBM partnership at Cloudera and consistently delivers business results that have a big impact. She is known for bringing the partner voice and organization to any project she is working on.
Jessica Chavez
Global Partner Development, Enablement Manager
Cloudflare
Chavez has been key to building relationships with partners and taking them through an on-boarding and enablement journey. She has been responsible for creating content and managing training on zero trust solutions.
Shayla Mobley
Sr. Partner Sales Manager
Comcast Business and Masergy
Mobley supports the partner community in northern Florida and has built strong relationships in the region. She is also an active participant in Comcast Business and Masergy’s DEI program with partners.
Ines Helou
Sr. Manager, Global Partner Marketing
Commvault
Helou has delivered success with MSP partners through the Metallic MSP portal. She created enablement content for sellers and support reps to accelerate the effectiveness of partner sellers and customer on-boarding.
Maddie Metheny
Group Manager, Partner Marketing
ConnectWise
Metheny receives kudos for her ingenuity in value creation and her ability to inspire. She works with the security and partner development team to support partners’ growth with resources, training and marketing planning.
Allison Stevens
Sr. Director, Channel, Field Marketing
Critical Start
Stevens has been key to growing Critical Start’s partner network and directing efforts toward focus partners. Her visionary approach led to a multipronged marketing strategy in collaboration with each partner.
Janani Nagarajan
Sr. Director, Product Marketing
CrowdStrike
Nagarajan spearheads the go-to-market strategy for CrowdStrike’s most important alliances across industries, which enables the development and delivery of security solutions to customers and partners.
Helen Kim
West Coast Territory Sales Manager
D&H Distributing
Kim has been instrumental in taking smaller SMB accounts and growing her territory, extending D&H’s partnership and offerings across categories including cloud, ProAV and high-end devices.
Christine LoPresti
National Channel Account Manager
Deepwatch
LoPresti recently joined the team and very quickly assisted in driving the East territory in incremental pipeline, deal registration and ARR bookings. She is known as a dedicated and hard-working team member.
Sarina Romaguera
Partner, Customer Collaborations Lead, Corporate Sustainability, ESG
Dell Technologies
Romaguera is leveraging her sales and marketing experience and ESG passion to deliver training, sales enablement, marketing and content to partners.
Beatriz Jimenez Hatfield
Manager, Channel Sales Engineering
Eaton
Jimenez Hatfield has been a standout in the channel sales engineering group as a subject matter expert. She is as focused on her team member development as she is in delighting Eaton’s partners every day.
Samantha Serpa
Sr. Director, Marketing
ESET North America
Serpa has empowered her team through data-driven decision-making and educating employees and partners about ESET solutions. She also has emphasized ESET’s track record, reliability and advanced security tools as invaluable assets.
Lorna Pierno
Director, Global Channel Marketing, Communications
Extreme Networks
Pierno is lauded for having a tremendous amount of creativity in her role at Extreme. She is continually thinking of new ways to arm channel partners with the tools and resources needed to succeed.
Angela Holmes
Channel Director
Fortinet
Holmes was promoted into her role last year after several successful years as a top-producing channel account manager. Partners are highly complementary of her and her team’s responsiveness and proactive approach to partner engagement.
By Company:
Christine Ululati
VP, Business Development
GlassHive
Ululati entered the channel only 12 months ago but her entrepreneurial background allowed her to come into the channel and hit the ground running. She has brought vendors and partners together in a single platform and enabled them to work together.
Erin Simone
Sr. Marketing Manager, Global Partner Experience Lead
Google Cloud
Simone has been at Google Cloud a little over two years and has had a tremendous impact. She strives for excellence in every partner-facing moment and has launched creative new programs.
Gabriella Di Fraia
Partner Marketing Manager, North America
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Di Fraia has a partner-first mindset, always putting “we before I” in all that she does and loves to learn, listen and engage. She joined HPE in May 2022 and has since then built a strong partner network.
Anastasia Novikova
Head Of Global Partner Operations
Hitachi Vantara
Always behind the scenes but never forgotten by her colleagues, Novikova works tirelessly to drive Hitachi Vantara’s global partner operations. She is laser-focused on data quality, operational excellence and alignment.
Bobbie Watkins
Worldwide Attach Capabilities Program Manager
HP Inc.
Watkins has changed the way that HP evaluates its promotions and has done a great job of aligning people inside the company. She has an eye for detail, ensuring that promotions launch on time and correctly.
Cynthia Gonzales
Director, Field, Channel Marketing
HPE Aruba Networks
Gonzales has proved her mettle within the HPE Aruba channel marketing team, developing a reputation for building engaging programs that not only support the sales team but also bring pipeline growth to partners.
Becky Teal
Community Lead
Huntress
Teal leads Huntress’ partner experience, and her genius zone is connecting partners with each other to grow and expand their business. Her effectiveness with partners is built on her deep understanding of MSPs and their needs.
Caitlyn Conroy
Partner Marketing Program Director, IBM Americas
IBM
Conroy’s energy and brainpower are always on. Her can-do, say-yes attitude, creativity and innate understanding of a partner-first mentality—with sales a very close second—drives the team to make innovative, impactful decisions.
Rachel Baer-Morash
National Strategic Partner Manager
Imperva
Baer-Morash quickly gets up to speed on Imperva’s products and truly understands what motivates key partners in her region. She knows it is important to understand the partners’ business model.
Farrah Zidehsarai
Director, Advanced Solutions
Ingram Micro
Zidehsarai has continued to transform Ingram Micro’s Advanced Solutions business to operate efficiently and has developed ideas for building new value stacks for partners. She also has built relationships with key business leaders.
Sarah Hambright
Director, Partner Growth
Inky
Hambright has been instrumental in the development of Inky’s partner strategy and rapid channel growth. She has provided feedback to internal teams that led to major improvements in the company’s go-to-market with the channel.
Kim Ly
Partner Development Manager
Intel
Ly joined Intel in 2022 and has made a major impact in that time. She runs an internal Center of Excellence with the field team to drive collaboration and extend the partner program to all Intel partners.
Shea Kopelman
Manager, Channel Marketing
Intermedia
Kopelman was recently promoted to lead Intermedia’s field marketing team in supporting the partner community and has a number of initiatives in the works to help partners receive the resources they need.
Gina Madson
Sr. Marketing Manager, Partner Channel
Intuit
Madson has had a big impact on the Quickbooks Solution Provider Program in the past year by developing new initiatives and content, which have exponentially increased prospects for Intuit.
Sarah Knauf
Director, East Channel Sales
Juniper Networks
Knauf heads up the East channel organization and was responsible for $1.1 billion in channel revenue last year with 52 percent year-over-year partner- initiated growth. She has received numerous kudos from leadership for her sales acumen.
Amanda Gonzalez
Account Executive
Kaspersky
Gonzalez joined Kaspersky in October 2022 and in that time has demonstrated her ability to execute. She has proven to be a fast learner and has taken on the challenges of her role with passion and dedication.
Ann Selbe Pete
Business Development Manager
Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A
Selbe Pete is the key person on one of the company’s largest dealers in the country. She is responsible for all of the dealer’s sales of Konica Minolta’s products across its entire geography.
Melissa Gould
Canadian Distribution Sales Leader
Lenovo
Colleagues say Gould’s unparalleled drive and commitment to building channel partnerships have been extraordinary, earning her leadership positions in several industry organizations.
By Company:
Chandra Cramer
GM, Enterprise, U.S. Channel Sales Organization
Microsoft
Cramer has been responsible for helping Microsoft’s channel sales team transform to a sales organization with joint accountability for the business. She does all of this while maintaining strong “thrive” scores for employee satisfaction.
Casandra Brice
VP, Global Customer Success
N-able
Brice brings a next-level perspective to the art of partner engagement. N-able’s relationship with partners aims to go deeper than a mere transaction as they look to N-able to provide them with technology that allows them to scale their business.
Michelle Dizon-Lagunte
Head Of Worldwide Partner Incentives, Investments, Compliance
NetApp
Dizon-Lagunte has been key to the transformation of NetApp’s incentive and investment portfolio. She has established a future-ready process for the key behaviors it wants to reward partners for.
Christina Pulley
Sr. Director, Americas Channels
Netskope
Pulley stepped up to run Netskope’s North America regional channel managers at a critical time in its growth phase. She is implementing repeatable, scalable programs and aligning to a new sales structure.
Melissa Rubsam
Sr. Manager, Channel Marketing Programs
Nextiva
Rubsam develops programs that deliver enormous value to Nextiva’s partner ecosystem. Not only does she keep partners regularly informed, she also manages partner marketing and demand generation programs.
Connie Santiago
Sr. Channel Sales Manager
Nutanix
Santiago is a champion in the channel sales management space for Nutanix. She oversees some of the most challenging partnerships and has the ability to drive meaningful change for the company.
Sara Moody
Enterprise Industry Partner Marketing Lead
Nvidia
Moody’s expertise in the channel and her understanding of what partners need to be successful have helped contribute to the achievements of an ever-growing marketing organization and partner ecosystem.
Rachel LaFon
Global Manager, Partner Success
OpenText Cybersecurity
LaFon is dedicated to providing partners with the tools and resources they need. She and her team set the foundation for positive partner relationships through their work on the partner portal and program.
Monique Reed
Channel Program Director, Strategic Initiatives
Palo Alto Networks
Known for her ability to solve complex problems in ways that always have Palo Alto Networks partners’ best interests at heart, Reed is playing a critical role in the company’s mission to secure the public cloud.
By Company:
Nicole Faletra
Sr. Director, Channel, Americas
Pax8
After six-plus years at Pax8, Faletra knows her way around the cloud and is an expert when it comes to meeting new MSPs, communicating the cloud distributor’s value and bringing them into the fold as engaged partners.
Brook Lee
Channel Development Manager
Pia
Lee has been instrumental in supporting Pia through in-person channel events and virtual technical demonstrations. She uses her strong engineering background and business acumen to find the best fit for partners.
Amanda Zandbod
Manager, National Partners
Proofpoint
Joining Proofpoint over two years ago, Zandbod has leveraged her experience in the cybersecurity industry to establish valuable relationships, engage with her partners and collaborate with the sales organization to drive results.
Jami Haycock
Sr. Channel Sales Manager, Federal Partners
Pure Storage
With a tireless work ethic, Haycock built Pure’s federal partner ecosystem and strategy from the ground up. She also segmented partner coverage to align with growing partner needs.
Hayley Wienszczak
Sr. Director, Ecosystem Operations
Red Hat
Wienszczak leads operations for Red Hat’s entire ecosystem motion globally. She has overseen a transformation of tooling and capabilities to enable programs such as a strategic partner incentive.
Kennedy Beeson
Territory Partner Manager
RingCentral
Beeson has shown herself to be a true rock star at RingCentral, consistently exceeding expectations and delivering results. She has been responsible for driving growth and providing support to RingCentral partners across the Southeast.
Heather Driscoll
National Channel Account Manager
RSA Security
Driscoll has been a proponent of RSA’s cloud conversion efforts. She has been educating and training sales representatives and acts as their main point of contact as she supports some of RSA’s largest partners.
Joana Brady
Sr. Channel Marketing Manager
Samsung Electronics America
Brady works closely with distribution account managers to implement annual marketing programs. She’s involved at every level of the business and is always willing to support requests outside her responsibilities.
Catalina Bernal
Partner Business Manager
SAP
Bernal has a level of professionalism and business acumen that has established her as a trusted adviser within her partner portfolio. As a result, her partners thrive as they continue to transition their practices to the cloud.
Abbie Hausfeld
Regional Channel Manager
Scale Computing
Hausfeld stands out as an individual who is determined to see success. One of her key strengths is her organizational skills, which help in building successful partnerships. She understands her partners and knows what is needed to achieve mutual goals.
Tamara Vishniakoff
Marketing Communications Manager
ScalePad
A versatile marketing expert who was recently promoted, Vishniakoff is developing campaign and project plans, coaching campaign management teams and overseeing programs that support ScalePad’s growth.
Ethel Berg
Director, Supplier Services
ScanSource
Berg has developed a reputation for proactively tackling challenges and keeping customers and suppliers front and center. She is known as a collaborator who works across departments to make sure things get done properly.
Carolyn Pater
Channel Marketing, Strategy Manager, North America
Schneider Electric
Pater has led the marketing and e-commerce strategy across top partners in the U.S. and Canada, setting ambitious revenue targets and implementing strategic initiatives. She also is leading efforts to help partners leverage sustainability.
Annette Montoya
Sr. Manager, Channel Operations
SentinelOne
Montoya is always thinking of new, innovative ways to improve and simplify processes for and with SentinelOne’s partners. She was the driving force behind the launch of the Partner Compliance Platform.
Ngoc Tram Nguyen
Lead Product Manager, Productivity, Business Applications
Sherweb
Nguyen leads product strategy for productivity and business applications, keeping a sharp eye on customer needs while developing marketing plans and sales tools for partners.
Anne-Marie Clegg
Global Partner Marketing Lead
Skyhigh Security
Clegg brings her background in computer engineering to bear as she builds awareness of the channel programs, tools and other resources at Skyhigh. She also makes it her mission to advocate for partners with the broader team.
Leanna Parker
Sr. Manager, Partner Marketing
Snowflake
Parker leads the partner marketing strategy and execution for global and regional solution partners, guiding them to invest in joint go-to-market in various marketing motions, field marketing and demand generation.
Elizabeth Reynolds
Regional Channel Sales Director
SonicWall
Viewed as a natural leader who plays a critical role within SonicWall’s sales team and helps drive partner success, Reynolds turns heads with her channel know-how and positive attitude, making her a valued teammate.
Vanessa Dionisio
Sr. Manager, Partner Program, Sales Operations
Sophos
Dionisio works tirelessly to ensure Sophos is easy to do business with and partners find value in its quoting and opportunity management tools. She also thinks through how processes impact partners’ daily business.
Mackenzie Scott
Channel Marketing Analyst
Spectrum Enterprise
Beginning her career with Spectrum as an intern, Scott is now a thriving member of the channel marketing team. Her can- do attitude sets her apart as she is always willing to help partners and team members.
Hitu Chawla
Group VP, Worldwide Partner Strategy, Solutions
Splunk
Chawla is building new economic models, advancing partner profitability and creating new ways for all partner types to engage in co-selling with Splunk to leverage the power of ecosystems with mutual customers.
Rachael Marshall Watkins
Lead Partner Architect, Global Channel, Alliances
Synack
Marshall Watkins’ blend of technical and business acumen plays a key role within Synack’s alliance go to market. She has assembled internal stakeholders to launch technical integrations to further partnerships.
Annia Rodriguez
Program Manager, Global Channels, Alliances
Synopsys
Rodriguez has only been working in the partner space for two years, but in that time she has played an integral role in optimizing and helping to grow Synopsys’ partner program.
Coleen Ernst
Sr. Manager, Business Development
TD Synnex
Ernst recognized the need for more agnostic and scalable resources to meet the growing demands of the channel. In addition to her sales innovation, she is a fierce leader who advocates for her team.
By Company:
Whitney Sieben
Director, Global Strategic Partners
Tenable
Sieben has been instrumental in building the Tenable MSSP program. She has developed several innovative programs and always finds a way to meet her partners’ needs in order to be successful in the marketplace.
Heather Hartland
VP, Experiential Marketing
ThreatLocker
Hartland describes herself as relentless when it comes to the pursuit of new markets and improving go-to-market activities. She evangelizes ThreatLocker’s zero trust security strategy to partners and customers through education.
Tricia Blade
Director, Global Channel Marketing
Trellix
Blade leads Trellix’s global channel marketing team with a primary mission to generate demand and leads for partners through curated sales and marketing campaigns, brand awareness and thought leadership.
Maranda McClure
Distribution Channel Manager
Trend Micro
Known for being dedicated and hard-working, McClure was promoted from running Trend Micro’s sub-100 channel business to managing the entire Ingram Micro account, due in part to the accolades from the Ingram Micro team.
Julie Kriz
Sr. Manager, Cloud Marketing
Veeam Software
Kriz displays her deep understanding of the service provider business as well as every aspect of marketing—from channel and direct to field and digital. She knows what makes her partners tick and comes up with ways to boost their revenue.
Sue Bialorucki
National Account Manager
Vertiv
Bialorucki inspires teammates with her energy, generosity of spirit and knowledge of Vertiv, all traits she uses to build deep channel bonds. She is known as a collaborator who is always willing to share ideas to help a colleague or partner.
Akila Kumar
Director, Global Partner Program Incentives, Cloud, SaaS Director
VMware
Kumar understands the intricate details of partner profitability needs and is critical to building a strong foundation in VMware’s partner program incentive structure.
Alyse Brady
Regional Channel Manager
Vonage
Brady is responsible for growing and maintaining relationships with more than 200 MSPs and technology consultants. She also provides training and presentations to keep partners educated on Vonage’s latest software offerings.
Laura Ziton
Sr. Channel Account Manager
Wasabi Technologies
Ziton is devoted to her channel partners, making sure they have every possible resource they need to find and close opportunities. She often starts by identifying channel champions and educating them on the value of Wasabi.
Alexandra McWethy
Director, Demand Generation Programs
WatchGuard Technologies
McWethy’s team is focused on building demand generation for partners, which in essence means creating end-user demand. Her strategy is based on creating a digital presence.
Elorie Widmer
Director, Global Partner Marketing Programs, Campaigns
Zscaler
Widmer has built a cohesive and creative team and strategy with partners that drive collaboration, innovation and pipeline. She is always exploring ways to drive awareness and build loyalty.