CRN Exclusive: Aerohive Names Johnna Bowley Its New Channel Chief

Aerohive Networks appointed channel veteran Johnna Bowley as its new channel chief, a move partners say reaffirms the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based wireless vendor's commitment to the channel.

Bowley previously held channel leadership roles at Riverbed Technology, EMC and NetApp and is a multiyear recipient of CRN's Women of The Channel and Channel Chief awards. Bowley told CRN she was attracted to Aerohive because of its 100 percent channel model and innovative technologies in the growing mobility and wireless markets.

"To come into a company with the kind of technology that Aerohive has at this stage, from a channel perspective, is pretty exciting," said Bowley. "It's very exciting to be part of a company so dedicated to driving channel success that it has combined the core sales operations function together with global channels to create one streamlined sales motion."

[Related: Aerohive Launch Aimed At Growing Education Market]

"Johnna is in a good position to help Aerohive expand their channel strategy," said Jason Gress, president and co-founder of InterVision Systems Technologies, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based solution provider and No. 129 on CRN's 2014 Solution Provider 500 list. "I've known Johnna for many years and she brings a tremendous amount of experience in the channel."

Mark Sollazo, president and CEO of SynerComm, a Brookfield, Wis.-based solution provider and Aerohive partner, said Bowley understands the landscape and reaffirms the vendor's channel commitment.

"This is just another example of [Aerohive CEO] David Flynn and his team putting the right resources in place to continue to make sure that the channel remains strong," said Sollazo. "It's a great move by Aerohive to get Johnna."

Bowley, whose official title at Aerohive is vice president of worldwide sales operation and global channels, brings more than 20 years of experience developing and delivering channel strategies, programs and new routes to market. She is now tasked with leading a channel community of more than 600 global partners.

"The leadership team is 100 percent behind a channel-selling motion and driving the business that way," she said. "It gives you the opportunity to do some pretty neat things if you have the executive management behind you, as opposed to trying to prove the channel."

Bowley also said the opportunity to lead channels at a company focused on growing markets was key to her decision to join Aerohive.

"It's a fun time to come into a company with market-leading technology. And the mobility, wireless market is pretty much on fire right now," said Bowley. "As a company we will be seeing growth and we want our partners to experience that growth along with us."

Aerohive earlier this month launched an 802.11ac access point along with a new enterprise-class HiveManager NG cloud platform targeting the education sector, technologies Bowley touted as examples of unique innovation.

"We're excited to have someone with Johnna's deep channel experience joining our team to make this program a reality," said David Greene, Aerohive's chief marketing officer. ’As more retailers, educational institutions, health-care organizations and all sorts of other enterprises recognize the power of mobility, we want to make it easier and more advantageous than ever for partners to work with us."

PUBLISHED APRIL 20, 2015