The Top Midmarket IT Vendor Executives For 2016 (Part 2)

Midmarket Leaders

Each year, the Midsize Enterprise Summit team compiles a list of the most influential executives in the midmarket. These executives are the driving forces behind the sales, marketing and corporate strategies of technology suppliers and solution providers. The 2016 list was the largest compiled to date because of the midmarket’s growth rate and the opportunity to support customers with between 100-1,000 employees. The list features startups, entrepreneurs and executives who working inside large corporations. All of those on the list are recognized because they serve as evangelists for the needs of midmarket customers and understand how to serve these organizations—from the business side to the IT drivers. Each individual was chosen based on the strength of their application or were selected because of their prominent role in the midmarket.

Here, we present Part 2 of the Top Midmarket IT Vendor Executives For 2016. Be sure to also check out Part 1.

Jerod Powell, CEO, Infinit Consulting, Inc.

Jerod Powell is a highly accomplished senior executive and IT leader with 20 years of experience in building and managing technology-based firms focused on cloud computing, hosting, managed services and product development. Powell is an expert in all aspects of IT, strategic planning, project management, M&A, process optimization, compliance and organizational development. He serves as CEO of Infinit Consulting, a digital transformation company. Of Infinit's 220 customers, 90 percent are midmarket businesses. Jerod's vision was to bring enterprise-level capabilities to the midmarket business at a price point they could afford while not sacrificing quality and over the past 10 years has achieved that goal.

Robert Reid, CEO, Intacct

For more than 35 years, Robert Reid has driven explosive growth at innovative companies, and has demonstrated a deep expertise in bringing cloud computing to the world of business applications. At Intacct, Reid leads overall company direction, helping the cloud ERP provider deliver consistent annual growth of more than 40 percent during his tenure. Intacct is a best-in-class cloud ERP system that enables finance professionals to increase efficiency and drive growth for their organization. Intacct helps midmarket companies automate processes to run their day-to-day business better, while providing greater insight and flexibility so they can make confident long-term decisions, then act fast to execute changes.

Michael Swain, Enterprise Group Sales Leader, Intel

Michael Swain is responsible for developing and driving Intel's Enterprise Group go-to-market and sales strategy with HP Enterprise. He is instrumental in working with HPE on midmarket IT sales execution and alignment with the HPE channel community. Swain has been aggressively developing SMB solutions in partnership with HPE and software providers to create turn-key solution which are "purpose built" with specific SMB use cases in mind. In his application, Swain stated, he is "relentless in his efforts to understand the unique challenges confronting the SMB market and is equally passionate in bringing solutions to life to meet these needs. He seeks to educate the vendor market to drive awareness, service, and relevance in how products and solutions can be optimized for midmarket staff and budget needs. Swain is a fearless advocate for midmarket and the channel."

Romeo Elias, President & CEO, Intellect

Romeo Elias is the CEO and founder of Intellect, a leading cloud BPM software provider. Intellect enables non-programmers to create and manage a wide variety of enterprise apps with built-in forms, data, workflow, customizable reporting and the ability to integrate with legacy enterprise applications. Elias is an experienced software executive, BPM expert, entrepreneur and patented inventor. He has overseen Intellect's product innovation, growth, and strategy, with a focus on midmarket companies. Intellect has developed a new generation BPM platform for midmarket companies that have limited IT resources and a need for speed and ability. Intellect BPM and MobileApps do not require any coding experience and reduce IT expenses while enabling IT departments to meet the needs of the business.

Kamlesh Shah, CEO, Indusa

Kamlesh Shah, who founded Indusa in the U.S. in 1989, identified the midmarket as an attractive and growing segment for his business. He is responsible for overall strategy, executive management, finance, development and growth. Under his leadership, Indusa was included in the Inc. 500 for three years in a row as one of the country's fastest-growing small, privately owned businesses. Dun & Bradstreet and Entrepreneur Magazine ranked Indusa 4th among Top 10 minority companies of America. Deloitte & Touche ranked Indusa among Fast 50 technology companies of Chicagoland. Indusa offers enterprise software services exclusively for the midmarket. "We created an any shore model that is appropriate for midmarket organizations to create a hybrid/blended delivery model of onsite, offsite, or offshore services, Shah said. Due to his leadership, more than 80 percent of Indusa's clients stay with the company for eight years or more.

Ryan Lakin, President, IronEdge Group

From a young age, Ryan Lakin liked to take things apart to see how they work. That same passion is now channeled into making things work for his clients. Lakin is focused on delivering an exceptional client experience in everything IronEdge does. IronEdge believes that businesses in the midmarket space are underserved by the managed IT service industry. IronEdge provides comprehensive managed and co-managed technology solutions to midsized businesses in Houston and San Antonio and the surrounding regions. IronEdge tailors IT solutions to meet the individual needs of midmarket organizations including remote monitoring and maintenance, network security, data backup and recovery, unified communication and collaboration, regulation compliance, infrastructure design and development, IT consulting services and more.

Anurag Kumar, CEO and Co-Founder, iTexico

Anurag Kumar has extensive experience working with and for global companies that range in size from the Fortune 500 to startups. As an entrepreneur, Kumar has started five high-tech companies, including MSC, UniComp, venture-funded MediaPrise, Connectione and now iTexico. Kumar has held leadership positions at TCS, KPMG, IBM and Dell. He was the CEO of two India-based services companies, Cressanda and Shergroup India. He is a former Vistage Small Business CEO Chair. He holds Engineering degrees from IIT Delhi and Wayne State University and an MBA from Michigan State University. In his spare time, he is a competitive tennis player. iTexico helps midmarket clients build, support and test mobile apps and full-stack software solutions by leveraging nearshore software teams in the U.S. and Mexico. Almost all of iTexico's customers are midmarket companies in a wide range of industries. "Midmarket clients require responsiveness, agility and cost-effective solutions. Their needs are flexible, budgets are tight and it is difficult for them to work with large services companies," Kumar stated.

Jonathan Belcher, Vice President of Americas Commercial and Partner Sales, Juniper Networks

Jonathan Belcher is vice president of Americas commercial and partner sales at Juniper Networks. He is responsible for Juniper's field and inside commercial sales teams in addition to sales development and growth with Juniper Networks reseller, alliance and distributor partners. Juniper’s products and technologies are designed make it simpler for midmarket companies to build a secure network and solve for the best business outcomes. As the backbone of every midsized company. "Belcher has always been committed to the long game when designing and implementing go-to-market strategies. This starts with identifying customer challenges that need to be solved and delivering products, services and training that allow capable partners to seize the business opportunity," he wrote in this year's application. The 20-year IT veteran brings a mix of teambuilding, analytics, commitment to a vision and leadership that partners and customers trust.

Yuval Goren, President, Kobargo Technology Partners

Yuval Goren has been at the helm of Kobargo Technology Partners for nearly five years. Kobargo provides end-to-end managed technology and telecommunication services to small and medium-sized businesses. "Our goal is to remove the burden of IT management for companies so they can focus on their core competencies, leaving behind the day-to-day drain on resources that comes from managing IT, Goren stated. Kobargo can ’look under the hood ’of your IT service engine and help customers understand what services you are paying for so they can manage IT expenses more efficiently. "Our wide range of experience could help uncover inefficiencies in your technology, telecommunications and telephony spend and deliver a better solution with proven results and potential cost savings," he stated.

Christopher Cullen, Director of World Wide Sales, LabTech Software

Christopher Cullen has been in the IT industry for 19 years predominantly in channel sales. Before joining LabTech, Cullen spent 12 years at CA Technologies in a variety of leadership roles including director of worldwide channel sales of the internet security business which grew 31 percent during his tenure. Cullen was responsible for international sales at GFI Software before joining LabTech Software in 2014. In fiscal 2015, Cullen and his team grew midmarket revenue 90 percent year over year. LabTech is a subsidiary of Connectwise Inc. LabTech provides desktop and server management tools for IT automation that allow technicians to be proactive in bringing more value to the core goal of the business. This same technology is now being proven for internal IT departments in the midmarket space. In the three years LabTech Software has been servicing the midmarket space, its revenue has grown 466 percent.

Dave Sobel, Sr. Director, Community & Field Marketing, LOGICnow

As director of partner community, Dave Sobel is responsible for fostering the growth and success of LOGICnow partners that serve the midmarket and its broader customer set. In 2016, Sobel was recognized for the seventh consecutive year as one of the top virtualization experts globally as a Microsoft MVP for virtualization. LOGICnow, a Solar Winds MSP, delivers a SaaS, cloud-based IT service management platform, backed by collective intelligence and layered security. "Many solutions that are designed for the midmarket are scaled down enterprise applications as opposed to the LOGICnow approach," Sobel stated in his application. "Sobel's entrepreneurial nature has equipped him with the knowledge of how to start and run a successful company. He is in the field frequently, teaching midsize business owners how to effectively manage their IT strategies. He's not only able to relate to his customers, but spends enough time with them to know what their needs are and where they stand at all times.

Guillermo Gonzalez King, Executive Director, MexicoIT

In February 2014, Guillermo González King was appointed CEO for MexicoIT, an industry program operated by Mexico´s National Chamber of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technologies. The program´s goal is to increase awareness of Mexico´s expanding global-ready IT ecosystem, showcasing the lasting and impactful commitment to building a formidable technology-focused population. This joint effort between industry and government has led to Mexico being positioned by several analyst firms as the most influential nearshore outsourcing market in the Americas. King stated in his application: "Although markets in Latin America and elsewhere are slowing, Mexico is set to buck the trend. Mexico's economy will continue record positive growth in 2016. Despite negative portrayals of Mexico by international media outlets, business leaders favor the country because of its geographic location, large tech talent pool and track record of sound macroeconomic management.

Julian Martin, VP, Product Marketing, Mimecast

Julian Martin is the VP of product marketing at Mimecast and responsible for developing the company's product positioning and messaging. After spending 5 years in the cybersecurity market, he joined Mimecast to help build the channel for the EMEA region. Mimecast helps midmarket organizations get out of the business of running email on multiple point solutions, which is costly, complex and eats up IT resources. "We provide best-of-breed security, archiving and continuity services for email in the cloud that allows businesses of all sizes to get the protection they need without prohibitive cost," Martini stated on his application. Martin stated that he has longstanding relationships with customers and partners and has been integral to building relationships and growing the business.

Jeff Aaron, VP of Marketing, Mist

Jeff Aaron recently joined Mist as VP of marketing. He served a similar role at PernixData, where he was responsible for global promotion of the company's storage acceleration software. Prior to PernixData, he was VP of marketing at Silver Peak Systems, a leading provider of data acceleration software. Aaron has over 22 years' experience marketing in the high tech space, having worked at various software, networking and telecommunications companies including Airespace, Turnstone Systems, and Newbridge Networks. Mist Systems, born in the mobile and cloud era, delivers the world’s first intelligent wireless network products that leverage machine learning. Using Mist, solutions, midmarket customers can proactively manage the network at any scale.

Scott Strubel, Vice President Americas Partner Organization, NetApp

Scott Strubel leads the Americas partner organization for NetApp. Today's midsized data centers are at a critical crossroad. Shifting business pressures and operational limitations are pushing midsize organizations to rethink how they build and manage their data center environments, Strubel stated. NetApp has helped growing companies stay competitive for more than 20 years. The midmarket represents 20 to 30 percent of NetApp's business. It is one of its fastest growing market segments and accounts for the largest number of new customers. Strubel noted that many of NetApp's midmarket customers have grown into larger enterprise customers using NetApp data storage solutions.

Kevin Kinsey, CEO, Netreo Inc.

A 25 year high-tech industry veteran, Kevin Kinsey co-founded Netreo in 2000 and established the company's leadership position in the field of network management software. Kinsey spearheads the operation from its base in Irvine, Calif., and is responsible for strategic direction, company vision, as well as day-to-day operations. Nearly all of Netreo’s marketing budget is directed to the midmarket and 90 percent of on-boarded customers over the past five years have been in the midmarket. Kinsey stated, "My approach to management is simple: lead by example and stay close to customers." Kinsey said he is on a first-name basis with the CIOs at hundreds of midmarket companies. "My vision is to make Netreo a household name and continue the rapid pace of implementation across the midmarket," he said.

Phillip Walker, CEO, Network Solutions Provider

Phillip Walker is CEO of The Network Solutions Provider. He is responsible for all the company's sales and marketing and business development. Walker has received numerous awards for his leadership over his past five years at the helm of NSP, including the 2011 and 2012 Inc. Magazine's Top Ten Black Entrepreneurs. Walker takes an active role in corporate social responsibility initiatives worldwide. In addition, Walker has been widely recognized for his and NSP's philanthropic leadership, in creating a top corporate social responsibility program. In his application, Walker stated: "Being in the midmarket helps us be a leader in technology-enabled business solutions. We recognize that technology moves fast. Whether customers need all of their IT managed or are looking for a supplement to an understaffed IT department, our integrated team of consultants and network engineers can tailor a solution that delivers the most effective results for them.

Corey Gunn, Senior Director, SMB and National Solution Providers, Oracle

Corey Gunn is Oracle's senior director of SMB channel sales for North America. Corey is an accomplished channel executive, recognized as a builder and driver of effective business development initiatives. Previously, Gunn held sales leadership roles with VMware and HPE. Oracle's SMB business growth rate has been significantly outpacing the market growth. Gunn points out that, "Over the past two years Oracle has made tremendous investments in sales resources that work directly with the channel to better penetrate and serve this critical market, nearly doubling the number of sellers focused on growing the SMB segment. Those investments will continue as we expect to see a larger shift into the cloud from our SMB customers. Gunn said that at Oracle he is forging a new collaboration between the direct sales team and partners, creating an entirely new go-to-market model.

Robert Janssen, CEO, Outsource Brazil

Robert Janssen is the CEO of Outsource Brazil, an international business development advisory and startup accelerator, focused on providing tailored intelligence and execution, for companies and startups wanting to establish profitable business and forge alliances to penetrate international markets. He has extensive experience in international business and a deep understanding of how the cultural differences influence the business environment. He currently leads Outsource Brazil's accelerator business unit which is part of the government-sponsored Startup Brasil program. He also holds a seat in the Steering Committee Startup Rio, an entrepreneurship foster program. Janssen was recently appointed International Relations vice president of the largest IT association in Brazil, Assespro, responsible for innovation, internationalization and investments.

Craig Hickman, Vice President of Sales, ProBleu

For 10 years Probleu has grown steadily in providing IT consulting and managed services to clients across the U.S. with a special focus in SMB's in south central Indiana's rich diversity of independent, professional small businesses. Hickman states, "As a customer service company, providing IT consulting, solutions and managed services in southern Indiana, many of our customers are based in rural areas and small towns. While some of our clients have a global market share, most are small businesses that serve a local economy. ProBleu's services provide solutions from basic help desk support to break and fix to complex consulting and engineering for large scale manufacturing IT infrastructure projects."

Maykool Lopez, Director, Trade Commissioner, Export Promotion Agency of Costa Rica, Procomer

Maykool Lopez is a seasoned economist and marketer specialized in international business development and technology management. He has a double master's degree from the University of Costa Rica and New York University. Lopez has been in his current role in New York for the past seven years supporting Costa Rican technology vendors to access the midmarket. Procomer has been working one-on-one with vendors to assure and consolidate their business offering and certifications for the past 15 years along its linkages to multinational companies. "We've made sure to provide high standard methodologies to improve customers and vendors experience while doing business with Costa Rica." Lopez stated. Lopez promotes a country with more than 250 high tech companies with solutions in the entire engineering cycle of software development, IT infrastructure and networking. He has led public policies and lobby efforts with government entities to allow the entrance of products to markets including Puerto Rico and Caribbean territories.

Luis Castro, Director, Commercial Customers, North America, Quarksoft North America

Luis Castro is a 25-year veteran of software development, and has been intimately involved with global software development teams, including development shops in North America, India and Latin America. Quarksoft is a multinational technology and consulting firm recognized by Forbes, Ernst & Young, and American Express. "We are a trusted partner for application development, maintenance and any software-related requirements for desktop, enterprise, and mobile platforms, Castro stated. "We understand how to efficiently build partnerships with new global vendors, with all of the challenges and rewards involved. We help our customers effectively reduce costs, allocate flexible headcounts, access highly specialized expertise and allow internal teams to focus on the next big thing that will drive their business forward, he said in his application.

Michael Davichick, VP, SMB Sales, U.S., Rimini Street

Michael Davichick is an enterprise software support sales veteran with 17 years of sales experience, including the last eight years in enterprise software support sales for Siebel, PeopleSoft and JD Edwards products. Davichick joined Rimini Street in 2006 to oversee sales of Rimini Street's next-generation enterprise software support services. Rimini Street is the global leader in providing independent enterprise software support services. The company has been redefining enterprise support services since 2005 with an innovative, award-winning program that enables Oracle and SAP licensees to save up to 90 percent on total support costs. More than 1,400 global, Fortune 500, midmarket and public sector organizations from a broad range of industries have selected Rimini Street as their trusted, independent support provider.

Ron Gill, Vice President Americas, Enterprise Sales, Ruckus Wireless

As vice president of enterprise sales, Ron Gill leads Ruckus Wireless sales efforts in the Americas. Gill joined Ruckus in 2008, and brings more than 20 years of experience leading sales organizations that sell wired and wireless network solutions. Before joining Ruckus, Gill held similar roles at Tropos Networks and Alvarion Inc., two early innovators in wireless networking. In the 1990s, he led worldwide sales for Asante Technologies. Gill has a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing from San Diego State University. Ruckus was recently acquired by Brocade.

Annette Green, Vice President, SAS Midsize Business Solutions, SAS

Annette Green leads the business and strategic operations of the midsize business organization within the Americas sales division of SAS. As vice president, Green has profit and loss responsibility for a business unit covering the U.S. midmarket as well as the Latin American Inside Sales organizations. SAS solutions for midsize businesses are based on an integrated framework of data management and visualization, analytics, forecasting, and reporting solutions. "Green understands the importance and benefits of analytics to help midmarket companies grow, compete, innovate, differentiate and gain a competitive advantage in a challenging market space," SAS wrote in her application. Her visionary approach to addressing the needs of the midmarket has led to the development of an integrated suite of business analytics solutions.

Jeff Ready, CEO and Co-Founder, Scale Computing

Scale Computing CEO and Co-Founder Jeff Ready defines a serial entrepreneur, starting his first company at the age of 11. Ready has not only proven himself as a leader but as a negotiator, fundraiser, technologist, marketer and trusted advisor, having started numerous companies and raising more than $50 million in investment capital. The midmarket is the ideal target for hyper-converged infrastructure solutions because traditional infrastructure is designed for the enterprise and merely scaled down for the midmarket, Ready stated. "The Scale Computing HC3 can scale from the small to the enterprise. However, our messaging is resounding the loudest in the midmarket that is fed up with traditional, complex solutions designed for the enterprise and stripped down to match the budget of midmarket customers," he stated.

Mark Roberts, Chief Marketing Officer, ShoreTel

Mark Roberts joined ShoreTel in December 2013 as chief marketing officer, bringing 20 years of technology sales, marketing and product management experience. Roberts has spent most of his career at technology companies, holding senior positions at Mitel, NexTraq, Polycom, 3Com and Intel. ShoreTel's solutions are designed to serve midmarket customers who want more than simply a voice service, Roberts stated. ShoreTel serves its midmarket customers though a network of channel partners numbering more than 1,100. In ShoreTel's application for Roberts, the company stated, "Mark is a very driven executive with a constant focus on the customer. While dedicated to driving marketing strategy and execution, he is also influential across the whole organization. Mark also has a strong vision for the future of ShoreTel and is working with the executive team to vet his ideas. He has a reputation for fairness, innovativeness and a commitment to customer satisfaction."

Marty Sanders, Vice President the Americas, SimpliVity Corporation

As SimpliVity’s senior vice president of the Americas, Marty Sanders is responsible for overseeing all sales and go-to-market activities in both North and South America. Prior to SimpliVity, Sanders was the vice president at EMC. SimpliVity is a company founded on the belief that today’s modern data centers need to be greatly simplified. The continuous investment in data center infrastructure that use inefficient methods of storing and processing data is not the answer—nor is the way these IT components are managed in functional silos. Sanders focuses his message around how SimpliVity takes the traditional compute, storage, network switching and other data services found in the data center and converges them in an x86 server form factor. This streamlines purchasing, deployment and management.

Derek Dal Ponte, Director, Channel Marketing, Silver Peak

Derek Dal Ponte is a Silicon Valley marketing veteran, with more than 20 years of experience designing, developing, and managing global channels. There is no greater market segment that can benefit from the flexibility, visibility and control, performance and savings than the midmarket, he stated. The majority of Silver Peak's R&D budget has been spent on creating a solution that is easy to use, simple to deploy, yet scales to even the largest deployments and meets the specific needs of our midmarket customers. "We anticipate that this SD-WAN market will be the growth engine for our company and it's the focal point of our engineering and go-to-market investments," Dal Ponte said.

Bob Muglia, CEO, Snowflake Computing

Bob Muglia is CEO of Snowflake Computing, a cloud data warehousing company. In his two-year tenure, Muglia has led the business through the company launch, product release and raising of $71 million in funding. In traditional data warehouses, all workloads compete to use the same resources. Snowflake's multi-cluster, shared data architecture makes it possible to allocate multiple independent, isolated clusters for processing while sharing the data, foster upmost efficiency among teams. "Bob's depth of technological understanding puts him in the rare category of a leader who can communicate directly with engineering teams at a detailed level while at the same time working with business teams on both strategy and tactics," the company stated in its application for Muglia.

Curt James, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, StorageCraft Technology Corp.

Curt James is a co-founder of backup and disaster recovery solution provider StorageCraft Technology Corp., where he serves as vice president of marketing and business development. Since StorageCraft's founding in 2003, he has provided direction for channel programs, branding, advertising and marketing programs. Prior to StorageCraft, James spent 18 years in various roles at PowerQuest Corporation, Lineo, Novell, and General Dynamics. "James never forgets the human aspect of business. This is exemplified by his management style in which he encourages employees to use their talents by promoting an environment that fosters success," his application stated.

Joey Benadretti, President, Syspro USA

Joey Benadretti, a co-founder and co-owner of Syspro USA in 1987, today serves as president for the company where he has concentrated on building an in-depth organization to meet the growing needs of both the company's expanding reseller channel and user base of midmarket manufacturing and distribution clients. "Joey Benadretti continues to apply his belief that an outstanding product offering must be backed by outstanding service. Therefore, the Syspro customer service department reports directly to him," his application stated. Benadretti's early experience as an agent in the sports world underlies his belief that star athletes are not only the result of outstanding individual performance, but also born from superior team efforts. "Remember, do not follow where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and blaze a trail," he stated.

James Moon, President & CEO, TechMedics

In order to better serve its midmarket, TechMedics created managed services plans that put the business owner and CIO at more ease when selecting a managed IT provider. IT managers and staff at midmarket companies face many of the same complex technology issues as their enterprise counterparts, but are forced to work within stricter budget and resource limitations. TechMedics is well positioned to help, "Because we are a small business as well, we too have a better understanding of what these clients need. We complement existing IT resources," Moon stated.

Michael Kunzler, Owner, Managing Partner, The C2 Group

Michael Kunzler works in a customer-facing role to deliver his passion: the very best sustainable technology experiences from initiation to execution. Kunzler has more than 18 years of experience in marketing and communications, with a heavy emphasis on guiding clients toward sustainable web experiences. Celebrating 27 years in business, The C2 Group is a full-service web and mobile experience provider based in Grand Rapids, Mich., that specializes in the creation of meaningful web, mobile, app, and intranet experiences. C2 serves a diverse and nationwide client base that includes business-to-business, direct-to-consumer, higher education, nonprofits, and government agencies.

Aaron Brown, Vice President, The Comtel Group

Raised in a family of entrepreneurs, Aaron Brown founded his first company at 19 years old. For much of his career, he worked in change management for small multimillion-dollar organizations. After approximately a decade of helping dozens of companies, Brown decided to accept his first full time position with one of his client firms, The Comtel Group. As VP, Brown has helped Comtel successfully leap from the SMB space to the midmarket and enterprise. "Brown's highly pragmatic approach to everything helped him to re-work the company's sales and customer-engagement model so as to move upmarket and drive more value to the companies that need it the most. In a word he is relentless," the company stated in his application.

Mohit Lad, CEO, Co-Founder, ThousandEyes

Mohit Lad received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from UCLA where he conducted research in the area of large-scale network diagnostics. Prior to ThousandEyes, Lad worked at Nokia where he built a system to monitor mobile services performance. ThousandEyes is a network intelligence platform that provides visibility into an organization's collective networks. "We wanted to build something that was really visual and intuitive and that gave you the power to look at the internet like it's your own network. That is the big vision," Ladd stated. "I enjoy giving people something they have never seen before, something very innovative that really adds value to the existing market," he stated.

Janet Schijns, Vice President, Global Enterprise Marketing, Verizon Enterprise Solutions

Janet Schijns, vice president of global marketing for Verizon Enterprise Solutions, has focused on the midmarket segment because of its strong growth rate and potential. "Schijns is an enthusiastic and engaged leader. She translates aspirations, needs and vision of the broader organization into tangible results that deliver on key performance indicators," Verizon said in her application. Schijns creates a collaborative team environment and solicits input of her team members and others at Verizon on strategic marketing directions that touch the customer. Recognizing that midmarket companies have unique needs, Verizon has developed products like Wireless Backup and Internet with Express Connect.

Brandon Sweeney, Vice President Americas, Partner Sales, VMware Inc.

Brandon Sweeney is responsible for both customer acquisition and serving existing customers in the commercial and SMB segments as well as overseeing the Americas inside sales and partner ecosystem. In addition to managing day-to-day business operations, Sweeney leads and develops the overall business strategy for the segment. Sweeney previously led VMware’s Americas partner organization, with responsibility for revenue and market share across all partner routes to market. Before joining VMware in 2004, he held a variety of roles at Click Commerce, Morgan Stanley and IBM.