Power 100: The Most Powerful Women Of The Channel 2015 (Part 1)
The Power 100
CRN's annual Women of the Channel project honors female executives whose expertise and vision in the channel make them deserving of recognition. Of the 440 honorees this year, 100 have been chosen to represent the Power 100.
Here's a look at Part 1 of the Power 100. For more, see Part 2 of our list. You can also check out the full listing of the 2015 Women of the Channel.
Michelle Accardi, Star2Star Communications
Chief Marketing Officer
Years in Position: 1.75
Years in Channel: 18
Under Accardi's leadership, Star2Star launched a co-op concierge marketing program that helps partners uncover new business and grow their existing accounts. Accardi also has worked with partners and internal teams to launch a number of campaigns.
Alison Aldrich, Carbonite
Director, Channel Marketing
Years in Position: 1
Years in Channel: 2
Carbonite shifted to a channel model last year, and Aldrich worked quickly to build out a channel marketing arm. Carbonite was soon able to support a growing network of partners and make decisions that put the channel first.
Christy Anderson, Avnet Technology Solutions
VP, Operations
Years in Position: 2
Years in Channel: 23
Anderson and her team have driven initiatives with suppliers that improved predictability and reliability for Avnet's partners and deployed new partner-facing tools that help them sell more and have a better overall experience.
Lynn Anderson, Hewlett-Packard
SVP, Demand Generation, Channel Marketing
Years in Position: 1
Years in Channel: 5
With Anderson leading the way in channel marketing, HP grew marketing-generated and influenced partner revenue opportunities by 10 percent (FY14 vs. FY13) and the number of opportunities by 34 percent.
Donna Armstrong, Sage
VP, Sage ERP X3
Years in Position: 3
Years in Channel: 29
As traditional channels evolve, Armstrong worked with organizations to focus on the customer experience through services and positioning their value proposition. Sage partners succeeded in reducing the training time for new consultants by more than 50 percent.
Tricia Atchison, Symantec
Sr. Director, Channel Marketing
Years in Position: 10
Years in Channel: 21
Symantec last year launched a redesigned Partner Program, enabling it to invest additional resources in the partner community. Atchison worked to ensure partners understood the company's go-to-market priorities and helped align them with partners' objectives.
Wendy Bahr, Cisco Systems
SVP, Americas Partner Organization
Years in Position: 15
Years in Channel: 9
Bahr over the past year created and helped the Software, Solutions and Innovation team, which focuses on the ecosystem development and enablement of ISV and technology partners. Some 44 ISVs are opening up new target addressable markets.
Sue Barsamian, Hewlett-Packard
SVP, GM, Enterprise Group Worldwide Indirect Sales
Years in Position: 2
Years in Channel: 4
Barsamian focused on strategic alignment by developing joint business plans, launching an executive sponsor program and training partners in new sales plays. More than 500 channel partners have taken at least three sales play trainings.
Cindy Bates, Microsoft
VP, U.S. SMB, Distribution
Years in Position: 4
Years in Channel: 15
Bates enriched the Ready- to-Go Marketing portal, which empowers partners with marketing collateral for SMB customers. The portal is driving leads and allowing partners to focus on providing solutions. She also oversaw new SMB Live events.
Renee Bergeron, Ingram Micro
VP, Cloud Computing, Worldwide
Years in Position: 5
Years in Channel: 5
Bergeron and her team rolled out the Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace in six countries, welcomed 2,400-plus channel partners as active users, and debuted Cloud Ignite Services, which provides resellers with technical support for cloud solutions.
Lorri Bondi, F5 Networks
Worldwide Partner Programs Manager
Years in Position: 2
Years in Channel: 18
Bondi developed and launched the Guardian Fast Start Program, a global program that is focused on technical enablement and aimed at empowering F5 Unity partners to deliver advanced F5 implementations to customers.
Johnna Bowley, Aerohive Networks
VP, Worldwide Channels, Global Sales Operations
Years in Position: 1
Years in Channel: 23
Recently coming on board with Aerohive, Bowley has helped create a channel partner program centered on helping partners leverage the power of wireless to build network and mobility solutions in a cloud-based environment.
Linda Brotherton, ConnectWise
Chief Technology Officer
Years in Position: 17
Years in Channel: 30
Brotherton oversaw a new rapid release cycle at ConnectWise, which gives customers faster turnaround on corrections and new features. She also helped increase ConnectWise's automated testing that enables running tests on a new release in a few hours.
Christine Bufalini, RSA
Director, Global Channel Operations, Enablement
Years in Position: 4
Years in Channel: 11
Bufalini and her team built a Delivery Service program for partners, which provides them with a certification path -- including shadowing and mentoring engagements with RSA's Professional Services organization -- to deliver their own services.
Mary Campbell, D&H Distributing
VP, Marketing
Years in Position: 7
Years in Channel: 16
Campbell and her team have been supporting resellers as the channel faces end-of-service for Microsoft Server 2003, a complicated opportunity for the channel. D&H is now focusing on server solutions from major partners Microsoft, Lenovo and Cisco.
Michele Campbell, FireEye
Sr. Director, Global Partner Programs, Enablement
Years in Position: 1.5
Years in Channel: 20
Campbell designed and launched the company's partner enablement platform, The Fuel Station, an online, self-service enablement portal delivering training and sales and technical assets.
Kristin Carnes, Nimble Storage
VP, Global Channel Sales
Years in Position: 4
Years in Channel: 15
Leveraging global distribution partners such as Ingram Micro, Avnet and Arrow ECS, Carnes helped expand Nimble Storage's territory. She also made a strong push into the enterprise space and quadrupled the addressable market it's able to serve.
Rachel Cassidy, Red Hat
VP, Global Partner Enablement
Years in Position: 4
Years in Channel: 20
Under Cassidy, Red Hat accredited more than 20,000 individuals at its strategic partners on how to sell and deliver Red Hat products and solutions, a number that represents global attainment across multiple roles and products.
Julie Christiansen, EMC
Sr. Director, Global Partner Strategy, Operations
Years in Position: 5
Years in Channel: 20
Christiansen rolled out a refreshed Business Partner Program that included the introduction of EMC's Partner Marketing Academy with free, on-demand learning courses on key IT industry marketing topics.
Toni Clayton-Hine, Xerox
VP, Global Marketing, Value Proposition
Years in Position: 2
Years in Channel: 19
Clayton-Hine focused on enhancing Xerox's partner value proposition with a new Global Partner Program that consolidated 20 different regional programs and on increasing benefits to reflect a route-to-market view.
Leslie Conway, Digium
VP, Global Marketing
Years in Position: 8
Years in Channel: 25
Conway zeroed in on advancing Digium's Cloud Agent program and expanding the number of agents who offer Digium cloud services. A targeted marketing strategy helped recruit new agents and provide more opportunities for existing partners to offer Switchvox Cloud.
Cheryl Cook, Dell
VP, Global Channels, Alliances
Years in Position: 2
Years in Channel: 17
Cook helped grow Dell's channel program to more than 40 percent of overall global revenue, something made possible by a number of initiatives such as a 20 percent compensation accelerator. Cook also helped deliver $125 million in incentives for partners.
Lori Cornmesser, Ixia
VP, Global Channel Sales, Alliances
Years in Position: 2.5
Years in Channel: 15
Cornmesser has grown Ixia's entire partner base—including reseller and global allliance partnerships—to more than 500 partners worldwide. She put in place a dedicated team focused on building relationships with that partner community.
Jessica Couto, Bit9 + Carbon Black
Director, Worldwide Channel, Sales
Years in Position: 4
Years in Channel: 15
A channel-friendly partner program and being an easy company for partners to engage with has been Couto's goal and one she has accomplished, as positive feedback continues to come in from partners.
Laura Crone, Intel
VP, Client Computing Group, GM, Channel Platforms, Operations
Years in Position: 1
Years in Channel: 15
Crone led a team that successfully established Intel's tablet business in the channel in addition to growing the company's traditional desk top and notebook business.
Brooke Cunningham, Qlik
VP, Global Partner Marketing
Years in Position: 3.5
Years in Channel: 17
An increased emphasis on partner communications and new partner loyalty initiatives helped Cunningham expand Qlik's engagement with partners.
Lauren Cutter, Barracuda Networks
Director, Channel Marketing
Years in Position: 1
Years in Channel: 15
Cutter was instrumental to the launch of Barracuda's major global revamp of its partner program, which offers an improved discount structure, new tools and resources, and now includes support for MSP partners.
Stephanie Dismore, Hewlett-Packard
VP, GM, Americas Commercial Channel
Years in Position: 0.1
Years in Channel: 16
Dismore is focusing on increasing channel engagement, driving alignment at the executive level down to the rep level, and continuing to simplify channel programs.
Anna Dorcey, EMC
Senior Director, Field, Partner Marketing
Years in Position: 3
Years in Channel: 23
One of Dorcey's top achievements last year was driving closed loop return on investment reporting for partner MDF, equipping partner marketing managers with tangible metrics about business impacts.
Tami Duncan, IBM
President, Global Business Partners, North America
Years in Position: 1.5
Years in Channel: 16
With Duncan leading the charge, IBM hosted more than 100 Business Transformation Sessions with partners and saw impressive growth from partners that have shifted their business away from a pure product resell model.
Jeannine Edwards, ConnectWise
Director, ConnectWise Platform
Years in Position: 1
Years in Channel: 19
Edwards helped organize a team to push forward major initiatives, including a commitment to API innovation and launching a program specifically for vendor partners focused on readiness, support and certification.
Darci Evanish. Samsung Electronics America
Sr. Manager, Channel Marketing
Years in Position: 4
Years in Channel: 12
Evanish led a global initiative to strengthen Samsung’s value in the B2B space, and she overachieved recruitment goals, aligned oeprational needs, and set the best practices for a global launch internally.
Susan Ferguson, Hewlett-Packard
VP, Worldwide Alliances, Channels, HP Big Data
Years in Position: 1
Years in Channel: 11
In HP's fiscal year 2015 it brought together its Autonomy and Vertica portfolios to create a new HP Big Data organization. Ferguson is leading the charge to introduce and integrate the Big Data portfolio to the partner ecosystem.
Alyssa Fitzpatrick, CA Technologies
SVP, Global Partner Organization
Years in Position: 1
Years in Channel: 20
Since joining CA, Fitzpatrick has analyzed, restructured and mapped out a two-year transformation journey for the company and its partner business. She also initiated a number of cross- organizational projects.
Ashley Fox, Raritan
Director, Americas Channels
Years in Position: 1
Years in Channel: 10
Fox helped Raritan reinvigorate its channel approach, emphasizing the channel as the most appropriate route to market for its products and services. Raritan increased partner head count in fiscal year 2015.
Sue Galvanek, AT&T
VP, Marketing, Pricing, Product Solutions, AT&T Partner Solutions
Years in Position: 0.25
Years in Channel: 2
New to AT&T Partner Exchange in a 20-year AT&T career, Galvanek helped organize the AT&T Partner Exchange Summit. She also rolled out enhancements around solution providers' enablement, education and innovation.
Christine Gassman, Datto
Manager, Partner Development
Years in Position: 2
Years in Channel: 8
Gassman spurred the growth of Datto's channel presence through day-to-day management of the Datto Partner Plus program, which focuses on supporting 8,000 partners worldwide.
Tamela Gates May, Aruba Networks
Director, North American Channel Sales DMR
Years in Position: 2
Years in Channel: 20
Gates May worked hard to strengthen and expand the DMR partner community for Aruba and to increase the relevancy of the company within those partners.
Francine Geller, Google
Global Channel Programs Team Lead
Years in Position: 4
Years in Channel: 15
Geller built a global team of Channel Programs Managers across the Americas, Asia and Europe to enable and educate about 440 partners across 60 global markets to support small and midsize businesses.
Julie Gibbs, Axcient
VP, Marketing
Years in Position: 0.25
Years in Channel: 3
With the launch of a disruptive new partner compensation program, SaaS:FLO, Gibbs and her team developed and rolled out Axcient's Continuity Partner Program to recruit, enable and accelerate SaaS:FLO revenue for partners.
Tonia Gonsalves, Hitachi Data Systems
VP, Global Partner Enablement, Global Partners, Alliances
Years in Position: 11
Years in Channel: 25
As cloud, mobile, big data and analytics change the way businesses interact, Gonsalves and her team gave partners the tools, portals, services and programs to encourage collaboration and innovation.
Renita Grewal, AVG Technologies
Channel Marketing Director, Americas
Years in Position: 1
Years in Channel: 10
New to AVG, Grewal leveraged her experience with the channel to get out the message that AVG is more than just a security company, going on the road to talk to MSPs and service providers about the company's offerings.
Mary Ellen Grom, Synnex
VP, U.S. Marketing
Years in Position: 4
Years in Channel: 21
Grom led the U.S. commercial and retail marketing teams that produced combined double-digit year-over-year growth rates. She also served as the executive facilitator for the companywide Customer First associate development initiative.
Donna Grothjan, Hewlett-Packard
VP, Worldwide Distribution, Enterprise Group
Years in Position: 1
Years in Channel: 20
Opening new strategic discussions, Grothjan steered the creation of a global distributor operating model, solidifying HP's top priorities and measuring distributors against a standard set of KPIs.
Sandra Haan, VMware
Sr. Director, Global Partner Marketing VMware
Years in Position: 3
Years in Channel: 16
Haan and her team boosted the opportunities for partners to engage with VMware through growth in its social media efforts and by bringing the partner perspective to all of the company's communications.
Denise Hampton, Zebra
VP, Global Channel Strategy, North America Marketing, Channel Operation
Years in Position: 2
Years in Channel: 18
Hampton has been leading the design of the new channel program to be launched in 2016 based on Zebra's move to buy the enterprise business of Motorola Solutions.
Laurie Harvey, NaviSite
Director, Partner Marketing, Programs
Years in Position: 2
Years in Channel: 13
The past year for Harvey was about increasing awareness of NaviSite in the channel. Harvey leveraged several channel-focused vehicles to boost brand recognition, a critical step before turning her attention to recruitment.
Elise Hayes, CenturyLink
VP
Years in Position: 3
Years in Channel: 8
Hayes had a laser-sharp focus on growing CenturyLink's opportunities with global systems integrators. A partnering strategy that she developed around repeatable solutions resulted in significant sales via new go-to-market approaches.
Christa Heath, Dell
Sales Director, Global Commercial Channel
Years in Position: 5
Years in Channel: 5
Heath was instrumental in rolling out new PartnerDirect initiatives, which resulted in 4,300 new customers, more than 600 prospects and more than 10,000 new orders— including 1,200-plus in storage and 1,600-plus in software.
Kristi Houssiere, FireEye
Sr. Director, Worldwide Partner Marketing
Years in Position: 1.5
Years in Channel: 20
Houssiere helped double the size of FireEye's global partner program, boosting partner transactional frequency by 38 percent year over year. She also helped launch an online self-service global partner marketing lead and demand generation platform.