Women Of The Channel 2018: Power 30 Solution Providers
Power 30 Solution Providers
CRN's Women of the Channel list is an annual honoring of the accomplishments of female executives within the channel. For the fifth straight year, the project is highlighting an elite subset of female executives at solution provider organizations whose insight and influence in their respective companies help drive channel success.
For more Women of the Channel coverage, check out the Power 100 list. You can also see the full listing of the 2018 Women of the Channel in our searchable database.
Laura Burdine
Adapture Technology Group
Sales Operations Manager
Years in Position: 5
Years in Channel: 10
In addition to her day-to-day operational responsibilities, Burdine assumed responsibility for managing and customizing the Adapture CRM system, which is the hub of all company sales and marketing activities. Her efforts have greatly improved interdepartmental communication, partner relations and executive reporting, providing senior leadership with the data required for strategic decision-making.
Joanna Robinson
Burwood Group
Senior Vice President, Technology Sales, Professional Services
Years in Position: 1
Years in Channel: 2
Under her leadership as former regional vice president of West Coast operations, Robinson more than doubled the size of the company’s Western region, substantially grew its client base, opened a new office in Irvine, Calif., as well as its newest operations center in San Diego.
Kelly Ireland
CB Technologies
CEO
Years in Position: 17
Years in Channel: 32
Having set significant growth goals for 2017, Ireland started by reorganizing the company to better align with its go-to-market strategy. With major emphasis on the creation of solutions based on ecosystem partnerships, she worked with her team to focus on solution development, delivery and deployment processes and managed support services. She and her team established a ’Think Big, Start Small, Scale Fast’ mentality around developing concepts.
Robyn Howes
Certified Nets
President
Years in Position: 21
Years in Channel: 21
Howes and her organization emphasize flexibility about customizing service plans, customizing solutions and customizing standards. She and the Certified Nets team are also focused on showing loyalty to customers and employees.
Kathleen Kinka
Comport Consulting
Vice President, Marketing
Years in Position: 8
Years in Channel: 11
In 2017, Kinka worked extensively to support the addition of cloud-based services to Comport's traditional VAR offerings. She also expanded the solution provider's marketing team to accelerate Comport's digital brand, and enhanced sales and marketing alignment with training and lead generation.
Patricia Gallup
Connection (formerly PC Connection)
Founder, Chair, Chief Administrative Officer
Years in Position: 36
Years in Channel: 36
As Connection's chairman and chief administrative officer, Gallup sees herself as guardian of the company's unique corporate culture – which cultivates innovation and empowers employees to do their very best. In a world of constantly evolving demands from customers, she sees Connection's culture as one of its strongest differentiators in the marketplace.
Jennifer Keating
Copper River Technologies
President
Years in Position: 2
Years in Channel: 20
Keating has overseen Copper River's effort to enhance its product portfolio by signing up multiple OEM partners. The company has entered new cloud and data center technology markets in recent years to round out its traditional portfolio of router, switch and security partners.
Laurie Dasher
Dasher Technologies
CEO
Years in Position: 19
Years in Channel: 24
Dasher's vision for Dasher Technologies has helped the company realize its goal to become one of the premier channel partner organizations in the U.S. But Dasher and her executive team never lose focus that the success of its customers is always the most important factor to keep in mind.
Sonia St. Charles
Davenport Group
CEO
Years in Position: 17
Years in Channel: 17
St. Charles values Davenport Group's strong partnership with Dell EMC and says the relationship has advanced her company's channel business. She is an active member of the Dell EMC Partner Advisory Board, providing opportunities to improve channel strategies and initiatives, as well as advocate for her customers.
Muna Khurshid
Dimension Data
Vice President, Networking
Years in Position: 1
Years in Channel: 15
Khurshid has focused on evolving Dimension Data's vision, strategy and execution plan for the company's Networking Business Unit. She is a champion of the concept that networking is not just about routers and switches. Networks have fundamentally evolved to become essential in enabling organizations to compete in a digital world.
Victoria Case
DXC Technology
Head, Partner Marketing, Communications, Corporate Events
Years in Position: 1
Years in Channel: 17
Case played a critical role in the formation of DXC Technology, created through the merger of CSC and Hewlett Packard Enterprise's enterprise service business, identifying best practices from both and leveraging them to form a completely new and unique partner network. She also built a global partner marketing and communications coverage team for the new company.
Linda Ford
DynTek Services
Vice President, Marketing
Years in Position: 16
Years in Channel: 21
Ford's primary focus is generating net-new leads and opportunities for the sales team and partners through inbound/outbound campaigns and content development. She works closely with the channel partner community to create joint go-to-market plans to support field teams and meet mutual goals.
Lisa Morehouse
GuidePoint Security
Vice President, Operations
Years in Position: 6
Years in Channel: 11
Morehouse has increased GuidePoint's channel business through building and expanding the company's distribution relationships. That includes leveraging additional services that distributors offer outside their traditional pack-and-ship services, managing the financial aspects of those relationships, and educating internal and external stakeholders about the value of the channel.
Elise Hernandez
Ideal System Solutions
President, CEO
Years in Position: 21
Years in Channel: 21
Hernandez has ensured that Ideal makes it a strategic priority to build and strengthen its channel relationships as the company adds more capabilities to its solutions portfolio. She has also added vice president of business development and vendor relations manager positions to Ideal's management ranks.
Ashley Carnes
Impact Networking
Director, Sales Strategy
Years in Position: 1
Years in Channel: 5
Carnes’ contributions to Impact Networking included growing an underdeveloped market, developing a team of analytical and accountable sales representatives, and far exceeding sales targets through multi-channel solution selling.
Amy Protexter
Insight
Senior Vice President, North America Marketing
Years in Position: 4
Years in Channel: 4
Protexter has played a key role in Insight's strategic repositioning as the company transforms from a reseller to an intelligent technology solutions provider. Those efforts have included developing a sophisticated digital marketing stack of tools and applications that have helped generate nearly $600 million in marketing-led pipeline and $236 million in closed revenue in 2017.
Renae Johnson
Logicalis
National Cisco Alliance Senior Director
Years in Position: 4.5
Years in Channel: 12
Johnson played a key role in securing Cisco Global Gold certification for Logicalis in late 2017, one of only six organizations worldwide to hold that elite certification.
Tasha Westerman
Long View Systems
Senior Vice President, People Services
Years in Position: 15
Years in Channel: 22
Westerman was Long View Systems' first human resources professional when she joined the company 15 years ago and has been responsible for developing all HR policies and processes as the company has grown to more than 1,000 people in nine offices working within the channel.
Heather Schaan
Microserve
Vice President, General Manager
Years in Position: 4
Years in Channel: 15
Schaan has worked to help fuel Microserve's rapid growth, including revamping the company's marketing strategy, working with clients and channel vendors to optimize relationships, and leading organizational planning with a focus on developing a robust and scalable organizational structure.
Stacey Solomon
Myriad Supply
Vice President, Purchasing
Years in Position: 0.5
Years in Channel: 11
Solomon has grown the company's purchasing team and has continued to work on improving and refining the company's purchasing processes in conjunction with Myriad's growth and scale needs.
Kelly Jones
NetGain Information Systems
President, COO
Years in Position: 7
Years in Channel: 15
Jones recognizes the need for strong relationships with vendors throughout the sales and support life cycle. She employs rigorous analysis and selection of vendor partners, and internally she strengthens employees' ability to sell and support chosen vendors as an advocate for employee development and training.
Janice Newlon
Novacoast
Chief Operating Officer
Years in Position: 6
Years in Channel: 18
Newlon continued the work of building a scalable and mature operations framework to support Novacoast's business expansion into new markets domestically and internationally. She also oversaw a restructuring of the company's request for proposal process in 2017, including vetting and training a team of experienced personnel directly responsible for assessing and answering requests for proposal.
Wendy Hoey
Optiv
Senior Director, Global Sourcing
Years in Position: 3
Years in Channel: 20
In the past two years at Optiv, Hoey has been working to expand the company's global capabilities by establishing relationships with global distribution partners. One big win in the last 12 months was the go-live of Optiv India, providing the ability to transact local business for U.S. clients with locations in India.
Lisa Yu
Softchoice
Vice President, Inside Sales
Years in Position: 4
Years in Channel: 15
Yu has helped expand Softchoice's channel business by advancing how its telesales organization serves customers. The company achieved double-digit growth in inside sales each of the past two years, driven by a focus on core channel products. But rather than simply resell product, the company continues to focus on providing complete IT solutions that address the business challenges customers face.
Nancy Gorski
Strategic Mobility Group
President, CEO
Years in Position: 7
Years in Channel: 7
Gorski is committed to helping customers be as efficient as possible, constantly finding answers to solve key pain points. This enables them to serve their customers better and enhance their core values.
Georgia Vasilion
Technology Integration Group
Vice President, Public Sector
Years in Position: 6
Years in Channel: 19
Vasilion has been actively working with TIG's leading OEMs to strategically align initiatives. She has also worked closely with the company's internal product champions to help them achieve the necessary skills to drive incremental business.
Haley Montgomery
TekLinks
Marketing Director
Years in Position: 5
Years in Channel: 5
Montgomery has been building recognition of the TekLinks brand, as well as increasing lead opportunities for the company's sales team that have been very beneficial to the company's bottom line. The increased digital efforts have also given TekLink's experts a position as thought leaders in the industry.
Colleen Tobler
vCore Technology Partners
Director, Managed Services, Operations
Years in Position: 1
Years in Channel: 1
Tobler's goals this year are to integrate additional service offerings around desktop engineering, wireless monitoring and project management into vCore's managed services. She also plans to increase the company's customer base by 20 percent and mature vCore's Network Operations Center to enterprise class with technical advancement in Tier 1 and 2 support.
Jessica Garrett
Veristor Systems
Vice President, Marketing
Years in Position: 2
Years in Channel: 6
Over the past year, Garrett drove a massive company brand and messaging revitalization for Veristor with brand enhancements that touched every part of the company. She also spearheaded a comprehensive message and content overhaul, which now fully articulates the promises Veristor makes to customers.
Laura Weber
World Wide Technology
Area Vice President
Years in Position: 1
Years in Channel: 20
Weber has advanced WWT's channel business by building a team that is fully committed to delivering great outcomes for the company's customers and partners. She has accomplished this by investing in relationships, building trust and captivating customers and partners with the full breadth of WWT's investments and capabilities.