Power 100: The Most Powerful Women Of The Channel 2012 (Part 1)

The Power 100

This year, CRN honored 208 Women of the Channel, each deserving of recognition for their accomplishments. The following 100 are pulled from those ranks as executives who have proven themselves exceptional during the past year. CRN is proud to highlight their achievements.

Here's a look at Part 1 of our list. For more, see Part 2 of our Power 100 list or the full listing of the 2012 Women of the Channel.

Dee Dee Acquista, Websense

Senior Director, North American Channel Sales

Years in channel: 15

Years in position: 1

Highlights of the past year: Acquista was recently promoted to senior director of North American Channel Sales and managed a team of 14 channel sales people. She saw double-digit year-over-year growth with NA EA partners in 2011.

Goals: Acquista aims to work closer with the Enterprise and SI teams to close more business via North American systems integrators.

Sharon Alt, Intel

Director, North American Channels, Distribution

Years in channel: 20

Years in position: 1

Highlights of the past year: Launched Intel Technology Provider Program to help partners grow business with Intel technology-based solutions. Channel-related revenue grew 20 percent in the year. Enabled channel partners to customize and integrate all in one desktop solutions.

Goals: Alt will continue to grow the Intel Technology Provider Program and help channel partners grow and capitalize on new business opportunities. She will also expand the Alliance Partner Program to include new ISVs, industry vendors who can help partners deliver more complete solutions to end customers.

Jennifer Anaya, Ingram Micro

Vice President, Marketing, North America

Years in channel: 15

Years in position: 0

Highlights of the past year: Between April 2011 and April 2012, Anaya established NetEnrich as a recognized brand and go-to-partner for managed services providers and solution providers looking to build and expand their IT services. Now back at Ingram Micro, where she had previously worked for almost 10 years, Anaya will be handling the distributor's U.S. and Canadian marketing organizations.

Goals: Anaya is looking to create new and innovative ways for Ingram Micro's North American partners to go to market, and build differentiated value around the IT solutions they sell.

Rebecca Andrews, Polycom

Senior Channel Marketing Manager

Years in channel: 12

Years in position: 5

Highlights of the past year: Andrews brought $80 million into the "opportunities funnel" with $34 million partner sales opportunities under the new CARES (Customer Acquisition and Retention through partner Enablement and Success) prescriptive marketing framework she helped develop.

Goals: Andrews' sights are set on increasing prescriptive channel marketing programs/campaigns investment from 23 percent to 45 percent.

Allison Ash, Guidance Software

Vice President, Worldwide Channel Sales

Years in channel: 14

Years in position: 2

Highlights of the past year: Ash grew the channel business by 52 percent. She added 20 VAR partners in key regional North American markets and more than 30 international VAR partners, helping to drive Guidance's record 2011 results.

Goals: Guidance's new sales engineering training program helps partner sales engineers to listen for opportunities where EnCase Cybersecurity solutions can solve customer problems. Ash plans to exit the year with more than 50 percent of all channel business being sourced from partners.

Tricia Atchison, Symantec

Senior Director, Channel Marketing Americas

Years in channel: 18

Years in position: 7

Highlights of the past year: Atchison developed marketing programs, tools and incentives aligned to Symantec's Partner Program Specializations to help partners drive more benefit, revenue and relevance with their customers.

Goals: Atchinson will continue to focus on driving engagement with partners. Other priorities include continuing to focus on the SMB marketplace and enabling partners to better market and generate demand with SMB customers.

Wendy Bahr, Cisco

Senior Vice President, Global, Strategic Partner Organization

Years in channel: 6

Years in position: 2

Highlights of the past year: Bahr drove $7.5 billion in revenue globally, up 10 percent from the previous year: That's more than 18 percent of Cisco's revenue. She spearheaded new engagement models with key system integrator partners.

Goals: Bahr hopes to build and support a rich ecosystem of partners in support of Cisco's Smart Solutions, which offer customers and resale partners the opportunity to buy and sell world-class best-of-breed technology solutions built on the Cisco Intelligent Network.

Tracy Balent, CA Technologies

Vice President, Americas Channel Marketing, Data Management

Years in channel: 24

Years in position: 1

Highlights of the past year: As partners transitioned from traditional VAR models to service providers, CA Data Management focused on aligning technology, programs and investment to support the next generation of service providers.

Goals: Balent will focus on helping VARs evolve to service-based models and MSPs expand their business into the midmarket. CA's ARCserve Inside program will drive tighter technical integration and MSP enablement; its MSP Center of Excellence will offer MSPs specialized tools, marketing, dedicated resources and joint selling engagements.

Cindy Bates, Microsoft

Vice President, U.S. Small and Medium Sized Businesses, Distribution

Years in channel: 24

Years in position: 2

Highlights of the past year: Bates' team focused on helping SMB partners successfully evolve their businesses. Three efforts that stood out this year include the Microsoft Community Connections program, VAR and Cloud Champions Clubs, and a Ready-To-Go Marketing portal.

Goals: Bates will help partners activate their cloud businesses and take advantage of the significant opportunity the cloud offers, with solutions such as Office 365, CRM Online and Intune.

Kristie Bell, IBM

Vice President, Worldwide STG Channels Systems and Technology Group

Years in channel: 8

Years in position: 4

Highlights of the past year: Bell rallied the worldwide services teams to engage business partners around the Cloud and Managed Services Portfolio. Launched new services partner-led territories; introduced new Cloud Services Solution Providers Specialty Program.

Goals: Bell will work with services-oriented firms to capture the high growth market of cloud and managed services. She plans to focus on expanding end-to-end enablement for these firms to deepen their skills and strengthen their ability to drive value into an expanded market. She will deliver new training programs and tools to integrate partners into the fabric of IBM's services business.

Julie Bennani, Microsoft

General Manager, Microsoft Partner Network (Worldwide Partner Group)

Years in channel: 16

Years in position: 5

Highlights of the past year: Bennani continued refinements to MPN, including tighter integration with the field and selling and marketing motions. Focused on effectively helping partners build organizational and individual capabilities and integrate cloud offerings effectively.

Goals: Bennani will focus on Microsoft's partner ecosystem's continued progress toward integrating cloud offerings as well as elevating and better connecting Microsoft's broad education and national plan initiatives into helping partners address any technical and sales talent gaps they have. Improving Microsoft's ease of doing business is also on her list of priorities.

Renee Bergeron, Ingram Micro

Vice President, Managed Services, Cloud Computing

Years in channel: 2

Years in position: 2

Highlights of the past year: Ingram Micro Cloud strengthened its position as the industry's premier distributor offering cloud solutions and services for the channel, with a total of 27 vendors and 48 cloud solutions, including 16 new offerings.

Goals: Bergeron will help double the size of Ingram Micro's Services Business; expand automation; grow Ingram Micro's portfolio and add more complex IT services including business applications to enable resellers to become more strategic; help resellers build their software development skills; and evolve the professional services practice to become an extension of resellers' capabilities.

Johnna Bowley, Riverbed Technology

Senior Director, Channel Strategy, Programs

Years in channel: 20

Years in position: 5

Highlights of the past year: Bowley expanded the Riverbed Partner Network. The company launched an enhanced program with new enablement and enhanced profitability programs for growth, a new training program and a partner portal.

Goals: Bowley's focus will be on increasing partners' competency across the entire Riverbed performance platform. Expect to see more enhancements to the Riverbed Partner Network, possibly including new programs for connecting VARs with cloud service providers, and other collaborative programs.

Linda Brotherton, ConnectWise

Chief Technology Officer

Years in channel: 14

Years in position: 14

Highlights of the past year: ConnectWise users today exceed 63,000, and it has successfully sold out IT Nation with more than 1,200 partners globally, for the second consecutive year. Brotherton oversaw an increase in user groups and partnerships.

Goals: Brotherton aims to continue providing partners with a world-class application to help partners achieve their goals. She strives to maintain a culture where team members enjoy coming to work and working together.

Colleen Browne, ViewSonic

Years in channel: 10

Years in position: 2

Highlights of the past year: N/A

Goals: Browne's goal is to communicate ViewSonic developments to partners in the manner that best serves them: social media, webinars, on-site trainings, advertising, ViewSonic's Web site, etc. Her aim is to make the company easy to access, and be everywhere partners want.

Christine Bufalini, RSA

Global Channel Operations, Productivity Manager

Years in channel: 5

Years in position: 3

Highlights of the past year: RSA diligently handled the remediation efforts pertaining to the RSA breach in March 2011. It launched RSA SecurWorld Academy, and fully integrated NetWitness, a solution acquired by RSA in April 2011, into the channel.

Goals: Bufalini will be developing a program around underpenetrated accounts that channel teams can target. She is also looking to create a more seamless pricing process among partners and the channel operations team. Another endeavor is revamping the partner portal.

Barb Burk, Zenith Infotech

Vice President, Marketing

Years in channel: 5

Years in position: 5

Highlights of the past year: Burk led the unveiling of a backup/disaster and recovery product, the BDR-G12. She helped roll out VU TelePresence to the reseller channel and established the Technology Affiliates Network & Cross publication.

Goals: Burk will expand Zenith's Technology Affiliates Program, launching Cloud Computing Solution 3.0 and setting up multiple campaigns for all product lines.

Megan Burton, SeeGee Technologies

CEO

Years in channel: 15

Years in position: 8

Highlights of the past year: Burton focused on growth, adding lines of business and geographic regions. SeeGee took advantage of the global economy and opportunities abroad.

Goals: Burton hopes to help SeeGee accomplish additional growth by being able to service clients wherever the need may exist.

Jane Cage, Heartland Technology Solutions

COO

Years in channel: 27

Years in position: 9

Highlights of the past year: Cage was inducted into the CompTIA IT Hall of Fame as part of the VTN Founders Group. Heartland received an HP Worldwide Channel Partner Award in Philanthropy for its response to the tornado in Joplin in May 2011.

Goals: Cage and her team will continue to work hard on process and documentation. She plans to be certain that everyone knows who to ask what by the end of 2012.

Mary Campbell, D&H Distributing

Vice President, Marketing

Years in channel: 14

Years in position: 8

Highlights of the past year: D&H developed a Credit Enhancement program, which targets certain independent resellers and, for many, doubles their credit lines. In response to feedback, Campbell helped create the Partner Services marketing resource library.

Goals: Campbell will continue to work with her team to put new reseller training in place. D&H developed a Solutions Lab venue to deliver the very detailed, hands-on instruction that resellers received during exclusive server seminars.

Theresa Caragol, Extreme Networks

Vice President, Global Channels

Years in channel: 17

Years in position: 1

Highlights of the past year: In April, Caragol left Ciena for Extreme Networks, but not before she completed the Partner Optimization Initiative.

Goals: Caragol will continue to focus on Extreme PAC to drive growth. She is concentrating on creative ways to win new customers and large opportunities. Extreme has an incredible data center portfolio for its partners to sell; it has a significant technology advantage and ROI for partners and customers.

Julie Christiansen, EMC

Director, Global Channel Marketing

Years in channel: 20

Years in position: 2

Highlights of the past year: Christiansen played leadership roles in EMC's first annual Global Partner Summit at EMC World in May, and at the launch of EMC VSPEX Proven Infrastructure. She won the EMC President's award.

Goals: While remaining focused on the goal of driving partner growth and profitability, Christiansen will continue to drive social media strategies with and through the channel.

Toni Clayton-Hine, CA Technologies

Vice President, Global Partner Marketing

Years in channel: 17

Years in position: 2

Highlights of the past year: CA launched a channel program, created a new sales and delivery enablement methodology, developed a new global co-marketing program for partner-led demand gen, and built a cloud simulator for partners and their customers.

Goals: Clayton-Hine will build on the accomplishments of the past year to help partners drive demand for new customers and new solutions, develop more strategic relationships with existing partners, and targeted partner recruitment and enablement for partners that focus on solutions and services that include business service innovation.

Linda Connly, EMC

Senior Vice President, Global Inside Sales/Midmarket Geography, U.S. Sales Division

Years in channel: 11

Years in position: 1

Highlights of the past year: The VNX family has brought EMC roughly 6,000 new customers, many from the vendor's 2,000-plus new channel partners. In first-quarter 2012, the channel accounted for two-thirds of the 26 percent growth in the midtier.

Goals: Connly's objective is to help create more opportunities for EMC's channel partners, who have massive opportunity already in front of them, thanks to cloud and big data.

Kristy Cornell, APC

Regional Marketing Manager

Years in Channel: N/A

Years in Position: N/A

Highlights of the past year: Cornell handles the West Region as Regional Marketing Manager, responsible for the National IT Channel Plan. She works closely with the channel team and other regional marketers to map out and execute strategic plans.

Goals: N/A

Jessica Couto, Bit9

Director, Business Development/Channel

Years in channel: 15

Years in position: 1

Highlights of the past year: Couto expanded the channel partner program while recruiting and onboarding key, strategic VARs looking to enhance their security solutions to customers. High margins and strong hands-on training has been key.

Goals: Couto will collaborate with both peers and VARs to further enhance the partner program and to continue its success. Retaining high margin, marketing funds, as well as lead generation will be important for growth. She plans also to keep VARs up to date on security threats and trends.

Carolyn Cox, VMware

Senior Director, Global Partner Program Marketing

Years in channel: 16

Years in position: 2

Highlights of the past year: Cox built the VMware Partner team and delivered on several key programs that have helped drive revenue for the company and partners. The team launched the Partner Marketing Academy, which was taken by more than 1,200 partners in 2011.

Goals: In Cox's new role, she will interact with solution providers and corporate resellers in the channel, and ISVs, OEMs, SIs and all routes-to-market. She is moving to more inventive ways of communication with partners via applications on mobile devices, guiding her team to increase the competencies taken by partners with very compelling marketing programs to drive attendance.

Heidi Dethloff, IBM

Vice President, Business Partner, Midmarket Marketing

Years in channel: 7

Years in position: 1

Highlights of the past year: Key highlights for Dethloff include driving new growth in the midmarket space with partners, launching new and enhanced co-marketing and distributor programs, and providing partners new solutions, such as cloud and business analytics.

Goals: Together with its Business Partner community, Dethloff hopes to continue the momentum from the IBM PureSystems launch in April, creating a new category of computing. She will continue to simplify channel marketing programs based upon Business Partner feedback, and she's aiming to leverage the insights from IBM's CMO study.

Pamela Doyle, Fujitsu Computer Products of America

Director

Years in channel: 35

Years in position: 16

Highlights of the past year: Doyle, an inductee of the AIIM Company of Fellows, led Enterprise Content Management training to 1,000 individuals in the industry and partners, providing business-boosting credentials.

Goals: Doyle is working toward broadening the adoption of Fujitsu's technology in the cloud and the mobile space. She's also working to develop a master level capture training program.

Lisa Dreher, Logicalis, U.S.

Vice President, Marketing, Business Development

Years in channel: 22

Years in position: 7

Highlights of the past year: Logicalis' services profit mix grew to approximately 25 percent year-over-year, with marketing-influenced revenue increasing by 98 percent year-over-year. The solution provider signed more than 400 new customers.

Goals: Dreher is driving business growth through increased and enhanced customer relevancy. She plans to gain an even better understanding of the challenges employees, customers and partners are grappling with and identify methods to address, remedy and improve the overall experience for all.

Michelle Drolet, Towerwall

CEO

Years in channel: 19

Years in position: 19

Highlights of the past tear: Drolet's firm began to carry new server-based encryption gear from Vormetric, application encryption and audit software from Application Security, and Trend Micro Deep Security tools for virtual environments, to help customers protect data at rest.

Goals: Towerwall is investing more resources in its cloud security practice. One aim is to educate customers on being more proactive with their security posture, to make them more security aware, and designing programs to achieve those goals.

Tamara Ells, Arrow Electronics

Director, Strategic Accounts

Years in channel: 25

Years in position: 1

Highlights of the past year: Helped build Arrow's strategic account program and maximize the value of varied programs for key accounts, driving sales and profitability for both Arrow ECS and solution providers. Sales grew by more than 35 percent at its top accounts.

Goals: Elis' goals for the next year are to continue the growth and development of Arrow's strategic account program and helping her team drive sales and profitability for key solution providers.

Nicole Enright, Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas

Vice President, Strategy Development, Execution

Years in channel: 15

Years in position: 5

Highlights of the past year: Enright helped develop a strategic consultative program, enabling VARs to successfully sell data center solutions into vertical markets. She participated in 50-plus events with customers and suppliers, focusing on solutions distribution.

Goals: Enright has three goals: To continue to improve Avnet's approach to training, enable teams to work with partners to help them be more successful in delivering technology solutions into high-growth markets, and enhance Avnet's executive advisory councils to create more synergies and opportunities between VARs, suppliers and Avnet, driving tangible financial results.

Paige Erickson, CA Technologies

Vice President, Partner Sales, Operations

Years in channel: 8

Years in position: 1

Highlights of the past year: As the vice president of Partners and Alliances, North America, Erickson encouraged more than 600 partners to attend CA World. Her team took the MSP Program launched in 2010 and grew it significantly year-over-year.

Goals: Erickson will leverage the new CA Global Partner Program and the Ignite, Enable, and Manage process to recruit and enable top North American partners. Her goal is to reduce the complexity for partners to do business with CA while improving their profitability.

Annie Flaig, AMD

Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Commercial Sales

Years in channel: 19

Years in position: 2

Highlights of the past year: In the fall, the Interlagos-based AMD Opteron processors debuted. This year, AMD acquired SeaMicro, which will help enterprise customers better differentiate their solutions for the server, cloud and data center markets.

Goals: Flaig looks forward to seeing customers adopt the Interlagos-based AMD Opteron processors and expects continued customer enthusiasm as the next-generation Abu-Dhabi processors are introduced for the server, HPC, cloud and data center markets.

Jenni Flinders, Microsoft

Vice President, U.S. Partner Group

Years in channel: 22

Years in position: 8

Highlights of the past year: Last year, Microsoft renewed a relationship with its channel of 640,000 partners in 170 countries. Microsoft instituted the MPN structure last year to ensure the ecosystem can move at a rapid pace with redefined competencies.

Goals: Flinders is working toward her company's vision to have a continuous cloud service for everyone. Microsoft will to continue to build out channel capacity and capability to be successful across Microsoft solutions.

Tracy Galloway, HP

Americas Vice President, Channel, Attach Sales, Technology Services

Years in channel: 1

Years in position: 1

Highlights of the past year: Galloway introduced and institutionalized the ServiceOne program with partners. She helped establish HP's Rules of Engagement, a go-to-market strategy that allows for incremental sales growth by HP partners and HP sales in defined market segments.

Goals: Galloway hopes to extend the ServiceOne program into Tier One distribution, including expanding the offerings for channel delivery into the Professional/Consulting services arena. She aims to drive the best relationships in the industry and invest further in partners that lead with services.

Susie Galyardt, XIOSS

Founder, CEO

Years in channel: 3

Years in position: 3

Highlights of the past year: XIOSS has tripled revenue every year for the last three years including 2011, while growing its Fortune 500 client base.

Goals: Galyardt expects continued revenue growth by providing clients with world-class professional services and leading-edge IT storage solutions. She expects XIOSS to hire additional sales and technical resources as it focuses on expanding its national footprint in the large enterprise space.

Kim Girards, The Ergonomic Group

President, CEO

Years in channel: 28

Years in position: 28

Highlights of the past year: Girards' firm saw mobile computing pull ahead of desktop environments. That shift meant moving quickly to create improved business practices around new mobile computing solutions.

Goals: The Ergonomic Group will further expand Mobile Computing Solutions, Cloud Computing and Cloud Storage Solutions. Girards looks forward to assisting customers' development in security offerings on BYOD as well as BYOA. Her goal is to help customers increase productivity, while reducing cost.

Tonia Gonsalves, Hitachi Data Systems

Vice President, Global Partner Enablement

Years in channel: 24

Years in position: 8

Highlights of the past year: Gonsalves spearheaded innovations within the Hitachi TrueNorth Partner Program, launched its partner social media program and promoted marketing bureaus (which included Web syndication and lead generation campaigns).

Goals: Gonsalves will focus on the development of key programs aligned with the emerging markets focused on big data and cloud environments, continued expansion in key vertical industries, strong new file and content initiatives and partner business building opportunities. She will also develop a more targeted and customized partner portal user experience integrating social media channels and mobile device access.

Michelle Graff, Palo Alto Networks

Head, Global Channel Program

Years in channel: 15

Years in position: 3

Highlights of the past year: Palo Alto Networks launched the NextWave 2.0 partner program benefits and requirements, including VARewards, which aligns partner program tiers and discounts to the value-added services partners are delivering.

Goals: Graff is looking to increase growth within top-tier partners (aligning VARewards with a loyalty rewards program). In addition, she will increase channel-sourced opportunities with a new demand-gen and lead-distribution partner center. Graff plans to streamline manual channel operational systems with new PRM and online MDFs, as well as accelerate run rate business through distribution.

Lisa Graham, Adobe Systems

Senior Director, Strategic Accounts, North American Channels

Years in channel: 25

Years in position: 3

Highlights of the past year: With responsibility for Adobe's most strategic North American channel partners, Graham delivered in excess of $750 million in annual revenue. Her efforts deepened partner engagement.

Goals: In 2012, Adobe is adding new cloud solutions for customers, including the Adobe Creative Cloud that transforms the way people create and share content anywhere. Graham is closely involved in bringing these and other SaaS offerings from Adobe to the channel in order to leverage the reach and capabilities of the company's partners, and providing partners with compelling opportunities for new customer acquisition and profitable growth.

Lucy Graham, Carousel Industries

Director, Marketing

Years in channel: 4

Years in position: 4

Highlights of the past year: Graham's partner program has grown year-over-year. Partners have access to Carousel's strong marketing team, which helps build partners' brands. That has generated $39 million in additional sales for 2011; Carousel projects a 20 percent increase for 2012.

Goals: Graham and her team are looking at incorporating more video collaboration into social media marketing efforts and possibly starting a YouTube style technology-talk series. Carousel is also placing a strong emphasis on tracking and measuring the ROI of its marketing efforts. By the end of this year, she aims to have a metrics system in place to report to senior management on the result of marketing efforts.

Patty Gray, Westcon Group

Vice President, Global Technology Strategies

Years in channel: 26

Years in position: 2

Highlights of the past year: Gray has negotiated and launched key strategies to bring software, storage and server vendor relationships to the company. Those strategies support accelerated growth of Westcon's data center business globally.

Goals: Gray's goal is to build on her firm's success, and to solidify Westcon's position as a leading value-added distributor of unified communications, network infrastructure, data center and security solutions to specialty resellers globally. Leveraging the foundation created by Brocade, Fujitsu, and Cisco relationships, Gray and her team will expand Westcon's emerging technologies supporting the Data Center Business practice. That includes expanding current relationships and embracing new vendors.

Paula Graydon, Ciena

Senior Director, Global Partner Enablement

Years in channel: 16

Years in position: 1

Highlights of the past year: Ciena's channel partner program, BizConnect, has seen significant overall business growth, and acquired top talent. BizConnect has also successfully and fully integrated the Nortel MEN business.

Goals: Graydon wants to continue to fuel the company's growth and drive significant net new partner wins. She's aiming to build a high performance team comprising Ciena employees and an ecosystem of integrated established partnerships.

Mary Ellen Grom, Synnex

Vice President, U.S. Marketing

Years in channel: 17

Years in position: 1

Highlights of the past year: Grom launched an online channel community and strengthened overall corporate social media presence. Her style is illustrative of coaching the player and leading the team.

Goals: Grom will continue to do the following: change the conversation; engage audiences according to preferences; champion new techniques; increase social media/interactive presence; identify unique position for solutions/services to differentiate; increase accountability with defined reporting and ROI; become trusted channel marketing advisors; and seize every vendor engagement as opportunity to do more for mutual success.

Donna Grothjan, Juniper Networks

Vice President, Worldwide Distribution

Years in Channel: 0

Years in Position: 11

Highlights of the past year: Grothjan will rearchitect Juniper's worldwide distribution strategy with a focus on enabling distributors to drive more unassisted revenue. In addition, she will work on incremental investments, resources and support with key market access distributors, as well as on the alignment of distributor capacity to market needs.

Goals: Under Juniper's Partner Advantage Program, Grothjan's goal is to develop a distributor-specific partner program to drive partner recruitment, development and enablement with an aligned reward structure.

Michelle Hayes, Blue Coat

Senior Director, Global Channel Marketing

Years in channel: 18

Years in position: 3

Highlights of the past year: Blue Coat has recertified and refreshed 75 percent of Elite and Premier partners. Hayes drove co-branded campaigns and lead generation activities to deliver more than 5,000 qualified leads to go-to partners.

Goals: Hayes will increase global awareness and demand for Blue Coat's cloud security and PacketShaper products, and deliver a new Partner Portal with refreshed content, training, and ease-of-use capabilities based on the partner's sales cycle. In addition, she wants to deliver new cloud license and provisioning portal for ease of management and orderability.

Elise Hernandez, Ideal System Solutions

President

Years in channel: 15

Years in position: 15

Highlights of the past year: Under Hernandez's leadership, Ideal expanded, hiring business development/account managers. It has earned several national and local awards including the HUBZone Small Business of the Year Award by the Department of Energy for 2011.

Goals: Hernandez will continue to enhance Ideal's managed and professional services offerings.

Michelle Johnson Holthaus, Intel

General Manager, Channel Platforms, Strategy Division

Years in channel: 15

Years in position: 6

Highlights of the past year: Holthaus achieved outstanding channel results with strong year-over-year growth in desktop sales (millions of units sold via the channel). In fact, the channel is Intel’s No. 1 customer for desktop CPUs. Intel created many new revenue opportunities for channel customers by bringing more products to its global distribution customer base as well as launching new businesses models.

Goals: Holthaus will help channel customers differentiate themselves, their products and their services in order to be more competitive and grow their businesses. As new Intel technologies, products and business opportunities present themselves, she aims to ensure the channel is able to participate, and whenever possible be the first to market.