The Top 10 Channel Services Leaders Of 2011

As services become a bigger piece of the channel pie, these executives spent much of the year building out strong offerings to ensure their solution provider partners have the wherewithal to deliver unique, profitable services offerings in the field.

As part of CRN’s Top 100 Executives list, here’s a look at the Top 10 Channel Services Leaders Of 2011.

10. Werner Vogels

CTO, Amazon Web Services
Amazon

It's hard to imagine cloud services without the influence that Amazon has had in the market. Amazon Web Services has been a pioneer in cloud computing and Vogels has led the charge since joining Amazon in 2005. Despite some rather public cloud outages, Amazon doubled the number of objects it stores in the cloud in 2011, a number now eclipsing 500 billion.

9. Mike Baur

CEO
ScanSource

As the worlds of data, voice and networking have merged, ScanSource has been at the forefront helping VARs bring the disparate technologies together into an integrated services portfolio. The distributor started the year by being named one of ShoreTel's first two distributors in the U.S. and, under Baur's leadership, ScanSource garnered Distributor of the Year awards from numerous vendors in 2011.

8. Dean Douglas

CEO
Westcon Group

You can't build a cloud services offering without the right networking infrastructure to support it, and Westcon Group has helped many VARs lay the foundation for the cloud in 2011. Among the initiatives backed by Douglas, Westcon has expanded the distributor's LEAP (Learn, Experience, Architect and Plan) Centers of Excellence to promote next-generation virtualization and private cloud infrastructures.

7. Bob Dutkowsky

CEO
Tech Data

As CEO of Tech Data, it's ultimately Dutkowsky's job to react to changing market dynamics and trends in the IT industry and provide the right services and tools for VARs. As evidence of its success in that area, look no further than the revamping of Tech Data's StreamOne software tool into a cloud-based software-sales platform.

6. Andy Bryant

President, Enterprise Computing Solutions
Arrow Electronics

Like many other channel services leaders, Bryant is in the middle of transforming a legacy product distributor into a services-led company for the next generation of IT offerings. This fall, Arrow launched its Empower enable program to help drive more business around next-generation analytics, value-added services, data center convergence, secure enterprises and mobility.

5. Tim FitzGerald

Vice President, Data Center Technology Solutions Practices
Avnet

Avnet has stepped up its services initiatives in 2011 under the tutelage of FitzGerald. The distributor has developed a whole curriculum around cloud computing training for VARs and a whole Data Center University to help VARs become more valuable to their clients.

4. D Martin

Vice President, Worldwide Channel Sales
VCE

It's difficult to get two vendors to play nice with each other, let alone three. But The Virtual Computing Environment Company (VCE), comprised of VMware, Cisco Systems and EMC, has bucked that theory. With Martin keeping partners engaged, VCE has become a must-have partner for many virtualization and cloud providers.

3. Keith Goodwin

Senior Vice President, Worldwide Partner Organization,
Cisco Systems

Cisco's channel organization had its share of upheaval this year, but Goodwin helped ensure the impact on partners was minimal. He played a role in helping Cisco spend $75 million in partner-led initiatives, focusing its programs on profitability and launching its Cloud Partner Program.

2. Kevin Murai

CEO
Synnex

Synnex's October launch of its CloudSolv cloud services platform was no Johnny-come-lately initiative. Synnex executives, led by Murai, worked hard for many months to develop and formalize a program that lets VARs and ISVs market and sell cloud services as well as the ability to provision, bill and manage disparate cloud services. It's the latest in a long line of services offerings that includes PrintSolv, ProHealthSolv, RenewSolv and more.

1. Greg Spierkel

CEO
Ingram Micro

No other distributor has the depth and breadth of services of Ingram Micro. Beginning with its Seismic offerings for MSPs, which has evolved into Ingram Micro Cloud, the distributor has built a catalog of nearly 30 branded services from more than 20 different vendors, along with the training to move partners into emerging markets. "Under Greg's leadership, Ingram has continued to enhance their commitment and offerings to channel partners. He has also spearheaded a full-on attack to launch Ingram into a service leader in the distribution space," said Ted Warner, president of Connecting Point of Greeley, Colo.