100 People You Don't Know But Should In 2013 (Part 1)
Unsung Heroes
Building a solid channel program is never a one-man show. It takes a team -- and often a pretty big one -- to arm partners with the resources and support they need to be successful. And while some channel team members get their fair share of recognition, not all of them do. In fact, there are countless channel executives who work tirelessly to support their partners, without ever gaining the recognition of the channel at large.
This list aims to change that. CRN's "100 People You Don't Know But Should" spotlights some of the channel's best and brightest executives who may not be as visible as some channel chiefs or CEOs, but are just as important to the partner community. Consider them the channel's unsung heroes.
Here's Part 1 of our list. For a look at more of the behind-the-scenes channel executives clearing the way for channel business to get done, check out Part 2.
Rob Anderson, A10 Networks
Position: VP for the Central Region, North America
Highlights: Anderson is recognized as one of A10's biggest channel advocates. As VP for the Central Region, he insists on working with partners early on in the sales cycle, has helped champion A10's partner program, and drives partner support at all levels, ranging from engineers to high-level execs.
Chad Gailey, AccessData
Position: VP, Worldwide Channel Sales
Highlights: Gailey was tapped by AccessData last year to build out a U.S. channel program and drive sales of the vendor's digital forensics tools and e-discovery platform. In 2013, Gailey said he aims to grow AccessData's channel revenue by more than 75 percent.
Andrew Feldman, Advanced Micro Devices
Position: GM, VP of Server Business Unit
Highlights: Feldman is changing the face of AMD's server business with a new focus on low-power ARM, rather than traditional x86- based, CPUs. Feldman came to AMD through the chip maker's 2012 acquisition of SeaMicro, where he was CEO.
Paul Evans, Alteryx
Position: SVP of Channel Sales & Strategic Alliances
Highlights: Solution providers eyeing the big data trend would do well to look up Evans, who oversees channel sales and business development for big data analytics startup Alteryx. Thanks to a few key investors, including SAP, Alteryx nabbed $12 million in its recent round of funding.
Zoltan Szabadi, Amazon Web Services
Position: Strategic Alliances, Emerging Partners
Highlights: In addition to overseeing partner recruitment for AWS, Szabadi's team works hand-in-hand with new AWS partners to help them build successful business around the cloud. Szabadi touches nearly every partner in the AWS ecosystem, ranging from global ISVs to large-scale systems integrators.
Shannon Sbar, APC by Schneider Electric
Position: VP, Channel Sales, North America
Highlights: Sbar has helped roll out a number of partner training programs and regional events to help solution providers take full advantage of the APC by Schneider Electric portfolio, particularly as it relates to data center virtualization and the cloud.
Geoff Perfect, Apple
Position: Head Of iOS Enterprise Sales
Highlights: Once narrowly considered a consumer plaything, Apple's iPhone and iPad are exploding into enterprise organizations around the globe. Much of that transformation can be attributed to Perfect, who joined Apple in 2009 from former enterprise mobility giant BlackBerry.
Eran Farajun, Asigra
Position: EVP
Highlights: Farajun spent years convincing customers to implement cloud-based, disaster recovery based on the amount of data backed up. Now he's starting again, this time trying to convince the world it's time to pay for disaster recovery based on the amount of data recovered.
Brooks McCorcle, AT&T
Position: President, Emerging Business Markets
Highlights: McCorcle helped construct, and now oversees, AT&T Partner Exchange, a new channel program launched by the telecom giant this year. The program, targeted specifically at IT solution providers, is designed to drive sales of AT&T's mobility, cloud and networking solutions through the channel.
Ryan Stafford, AT&T
Position: Director, Marketing Communications, Emerging Business Markets
Highlights: Stafford spearheads all marketing communication efforts for the AT&T Partner Exchange channel program. In addition to developing marketing collateral and product briefs, Stafford drives partner recruitment and helps solution providers develop social media strategies.
Pierre-Paul Allard, Avaya
Position: SVP, Worldwide Sales & President, Global Field Operations
Highlights: As the new head of Avaya's global sales and field operations, Allard is starting to drive alignment between Avaya's strategy, marketing and sales organizations, while also helping Avaya partners develop a more "customer-centric" sales approach.
Richard Steranka, Avaya
Position: VP, Worldwide Channel
Highlights: Steranka leads Avaya's worldwide channel sales team, handling all policy management related to the Avaya Connect partner program. He also has a sharp focus on helping Avaya partners grow their businesses around the
Luke Walling, AVG
Position: VP, Sales and Operations North America
Highlights: A former solution provider himself, Walling oversees all aspects of AVG's channel engagement, from sales to technical support. Walling also helped in the recent rollout of AVG CloudCare, a hosted SMB IT management platform offered through the channel.
William ("BJ") Jenkins, Barracuda
Position: CEO
Highlights: Since joining Barracuda last November, Jenkins has supercharged the vendor's partner communication and training efforts, which now involve a revamped partner newsletter, partner-specific blogs and more handson training materials for Barracuda University.
Kathrin Esposito, Belkin
Position: U.S. Distribution Manager, Enterprise
Highlights: Esposito and her team manage Belkin's relationship with U.S. distributors, including Ingram Micro, Tech Data, D&H, Synnex and Avnet, and also have played a key role in integrating Cisco's Linksys business into the Belkin portfolio since Belkin's acquisition of that business earlier this year.
Kristin Pierce, Brocade
Position: Senior Manager, Channel Marketing, North America
Highlights: Pierce develops marketing enablement programs for Brocade partners, and has helped drive $6 million in annual MDF spend across more than 150 solution providers. In addition, Pierce helps shape Brocade's broader channel strategy across the U.S., Canada
Michelle Hartman, Brother International
Position: Channel Director of Sales
Highlights: Brother has broadened its footprint in the Unified Communications space with the launch of new products, including its OmniJoin Intelligent Video and OmniJoin "Web Conferencing In A Box." Hartman and her team help drive partner opportunities around these new solutions, as well as Brother's printer and fax lines.
Jacqueline Foster, CA
Position: North America Channel Marketing Manager, Data Management
Highlights: Foster is responsible for North American Marketing for CA's ARCserve product line, and also built and executed on CA's Data Management partner communications strategy, customer success program and social media marketing platform.
Nick Ellis, CA
Position: SVP, Service Provider Solutions and Strategy
Highlights: Over the past six years, Ellis has redefined the way CA partners and works with service providers. Ellis played a key role in developing CA's Global Service Provider program, along with a center of business excellence targeted specifically at the service provider segment.
David Hauser, Carbonite
Position: Senior Director of Channel Development
Highlights: Hauser has been leading Carbonite's efforts to expand its cloud backup service to small businesses through the channel, including recruiting hundreds of solution providers to the year-old Carbonite Reseller Program. He's been with the Bostonbased firm since 2011.
Ellen Berlan, Cisco
Position: Cloud Director, Americas
Highlights: Berlan has had a heavy hand in building the channel strategy around Cisco's cloud solutions, including its TPaaS, CCaaS and IaaS offerings. When not busy helping solution providers embrace the cloud, Berlan also leads Cisco's Cloud Collaboration and Partner ISV strategies.
Diane Gongaware, Cisco
Position: Sr. Director, Public Sector Partner Organization
Highlights: Gongaware is responsible for more than $4 billion in partner-driven revenue for Cisco's state, federal, local and education business. She also works side by side with partners to drive Cisco's product strategy around secure data center, collaboration and mobile technologies for the public sector.
Alvin Da Costa, Cisco
Position: Business Development Manager, Worldwide Application Development Services
Highlights: A 13-year Cisco channel vet, Da Costa has played an instrumental role in bringing Cisco's unified data center products to market through partners, and is also the creator of Cisco's data center partner conferences and roadshows.
Bertrand Yansouni, Cloudera
Position: VP, Global Partner Sales
Highlights: In addition to managing the relationships between Cloudera and its growing ecosystem of hardware and reseller partners, Yansouni is the main architect of Cloudera's channel strategy for its Hadoop-based big data platform.
Barry Williams, Comcast
Position: Sr. Director of Indirect Channel Sales
Highlights: As the head of Comcast's indirect sales team, Williams drives growth for Comcast agent and solution provider partners, particularly within the SMB and midmarket space. He also oversees Comcast's partner recruitment and training efforts.
Steve Ryan, Condusiv Technologies
Position: Channel Programs Architect
Highlights: Ryan is the chief architect behind Condusiv's burgeoning partner program, which has already won praise from solution providers for its high margins and dedicated sales rep support. Ryan and the Condusiv team recently added an Elite level to the program, offering an additional five points of margin.
Nick Courtney, D&H Distributing
Position: Executive Director, Computer Products Division
Highlights: Courtney keeps busy managing D&H's North American sales and executive relationships for three of the distributor's key vendor partners: HP, Cisco and Microsoft. He also manages a team of sales specialists dedicated to these three vendors.
Jill Shank, D&H Distributing
Position: Director of Purchasing
Highlights: Shank manages a roster of buyers with diverse product portfolios, ranging from networking and peripherals to accessories. She also oversees procurement from the China/ Pacific Rim region for D&H's major retail
Melody Brown, DataCore Software
Position: VP of Americas Sales
Highlights: Brown oversees DataCore sales in the U.S., Canada, Latin America and Caribbean with a keen focus on partner enablement. She's paved the way for new DataCore relationships throughout the Americas virtualization and storage communities after just one year in the role.
John Schweitzer, DataStax
Position: Senior VP, Worldwide Field Operations
Highlights: Schweitzer is tasked with scaling DataStax's global sales and services businesses with an emphasis on international expansion and the solution provider and OEM channels. He was tapped by DataStax to help fuel its growth, which includes a tenfold increase in its customer roster over the past two years.
Michael Scampini, Dell
Position: Director of Enterprise Channel Field Marketing for North America
Highlights: Scampini helped grow Dell's channel field marketing organization from including just storage offerings, to encompassing Dell's full enterprise portfolio, ranging from servers to networking products. He also helped launch Dell's first demand-gen center, giving partners self-service access to resources.
Gretchen Murray, Dell
Position: North America Channel Marketing Communications
Highlights: Murray has streamlined Dell's North America channel communications to ensure partners are obtaining the information they need to drive Dell solutions. She implemented the PartnerDirect weekly North America partner newsletter and has enhanced partners' virtual webinar experience during Dell's meetings.
Steve Harvey, Digium
Position: VP of Global Sales
Highlights: Harvey has significantly scaled Digium's global partner ecosystem, with the size of its partner program growing 30 percent year-over-year in 2012 alone. As global channel chief, Harvey also has revamped Digium's deal registration process and expanded quarterly partner promotions.
Belinda Whitaker-Gary, Eaton
Position: Channel Marketing Manager
Highlights: Whitaker-Gary launched a new Content Syndication Program to more than 2,000 resellers, and also implemented a points-based loyalty program for Eaton's partner community. In addition, Whitaker-Gary rolled out an automated marketing development funds site for solution providers.
Chris Cleary, Egenera
Position: VP, WW Channels
Highlights: Cleary helped craft the Egenera Partner Network from the ground-up, transforming the company's sales approach from a predominantly direct to an indirect model. Cleary continues to on-board and enable new Egenera partners to drive adoption of the company's public cloud management software.
Anna Dorcey, EMC
Position: Senior Director, Americas Channel Marketing
Highlights: Dorcey handles alliance, service provider and channel partner marketing for EMC's North America and Latin America regions. This year, Dorcey is working to drive targeted product rebates for EMC Signature and Premier partners, as well an increased focus on demand generation.
Chris Ratcliffe, EMC
Position: VP of Marketing, Advanced Software Division
Highlights: Ratcliffe is putting EMC's money where its mouth is in softwaredefined storage with plans to help the vendor articulate how its new ViPR product line can do the job better than commodity hardware.
Amitabh Srivastava, EMC
Position: President of Advanced Software
Highlights: Amitabh manages EMC's strategy related to software-defined storage. As head of the storage giant's advanced software unit, he oversees all aspects of the group's product development, finance, marketing, sales and product management.
Paul Mounkes, Emerson
Position: Senior Partner Marketing Manager
Highlights: In addition to driving Emerson's partner training and recruitment efforts, Mounkes managed co-op and partner market development funds, and also manages Emerson's partner portal. Lead generation and lead follow-up plans also are handled by Mounkes.
Kim Davis, Evault
Position: Senior Director of Channel Marketing
Highlights: Davis developed and implemented a global, five-year partner recruitment strategy for Evault's Cloud- Connected Resellers, Cloud-Connected Service Providers and distributors. She also has rolled out new partner marketing services, including web content syndication and email campaigns.
Keith McManigal, F5 Networks
Position: Regional VP, Channel Sales for the Americas
Highlights: Since joining F5 in February, McManigal has ramped up efforts to make it easier for partners to sell F5 products. F5, for instance, launched a traveling certification lab, making it easier for partners to learn about and get certified on F5 gear. More than 100 partners have completed the course.
Mike Marcolina, GE Capital, Commercial Distribution Finance
Position: Managing Director at GE Capital, Commercial Distribution Finance
Highlights: Marcolina is a driving force behind GE Capital's focus on providing financial solutions for vendors, distributors and solution providers in the cloud services era. He has opened new doors for solution providers seeking much-needed financial support to build data centers for cloud services hosting.
Adam Massey, Google
Position: Head of Enterprise Partner Business
Highlights: Massey oversees Google's channel go-to-market strategy in the Americas. In the role, he helps recruit and enable partners to sell Google's enterprisefocused solutions, including productivity apps like Google Docs, and the increasingly disruptive Google Cloud Platform.
Vishal Pandya, HP
Position: Sr. Director, WW EG Channel Strategy
Highlights: Pandya has made significant enhancements to HP's PartnerOne program, and has streamlined key channel sales processes on HP's Partner Relationship Management (PRM) platform, making it easier for partners to do business with HP.
Jonathan Wayne, HP
Position: VP, PPS Americas Partner Development & Programs
Highlights: The avid mountain biker who competed in a grueling race across the Alps is putting that same competitive fire into driving PPS sales growth. Wayne has long established relationships with top HP partners as HP's former VP commercial distribution, DRC (Direct Response Channel) and National Partners.
Chuck Battipede, HP
Position: Sr. Vice President/Learning and Development
Highlights: Battipede is HP's secret weapon in a massive effort to make sure the company's 300,000-plus employees are channel-savvy. Partners say Battipede has pulled together channel sales training for HP employees that is already making a difference in the sales trenches.
Mitch Ferguson, Hortonworks
Position: VP business development
Highlights: Ferguson has helped Hortonworks and its "enterprise-grade" Hadoop platform become a powerhouse in the bigdata market. Ferguson and the Hortonworks team have also embraced the channel, launching this year, for example, a new Hadoop sandbox environment for hands-on partner training.
Jane Li, Huawei
Position: COO, Huawei Enterprise US
Highlights: Li is the public face to a small, yet committed, group of Huawei partners in the U.S. She has helped drive what she said was "triple-digit" growth in Huawei's U.S. channel sales year-over-year, even amid the U.S. government's security concerns over the use of Huawei technology.
Heidi Dethloff, IBM
Position: VP, North America Business Partner, Marketing
Highlights: Dethloff leads a team of IBMers focused on channel marketing, partner co-marketing, and partner enablement and communications. She also has played an integral role in the development of partner programs targeted specifically at midsize companies.
Lucy Hinckley, IBM
Position: Director, Business Partner and Midmarket Marketing
Highlights: Several years back, IBM made the strategic decision to rely almost exclusively on its channel partners to work with the company's midmarket customers. Hinckley plays a key role in this effort, helping to link IBM's software product organizations with the company's channel community.