100 People You Don't Know But Should 2017
Unsung Heroes
Building a solid channel strategy is never a solitary exercise. It takes a team -- and often a pretty big one -- to arm partners with the resources and support they need to be successful. From building the right programs, to rolling out sales and marketing tools, to finding the best options for training and financing, channel-friendly vendors assemble strong lineups to make sure all of their partners’ needs are met.
While some channel executives get their fair share of recognition, many others work diligently behind the scenes. In fact, there are countless channel management folks who work tirelessly to support their partners without ever gaining the recognition of the channel at large.
CRN’s "100 People You Don’t Know But Should" list spotlights some of the channel’s best and brightest people who may not be as visible as some channel chiefs but are just as important to the partner community. Consider them some of the channel’s unsung heroes.
(By company name)
A-C | D-F | G-I | J-L | M-O | P-R | S-U | V-Z
Mike Allers
Director, North America Channels, Distribution
Aerohive Networks
Allers is helping attract hundreds of new partners to Aerohive since the launch of the Aerohive Connect offering in January. He also is aiding solution providers on the incentive and technical services front through Aerohive’s new partnership with value-add distributor WAV.
Paige Johnson
Head of Partner Campaigns and Scalable Programs
Amazon Web Services
Johnson played a central role in the cloud leader’s efforts to develop and launch its partner marketing portal, APN Marketing Central. She’s focused on making the portal a valuable resource for tens of thousands of AWS partners looking to step up their marketing and demand-generation efforts.
Scott Sullivan
SVP
Ampil
Solution providers trying to determine how to best pay for technology products might want to check in with Ampil’s Sullivan. Solution providers that leverage a financial consulting firm such as Ampil can open the door to more flexible payment options and incremental revenue opportunities.
Jason Covitz
Global Director, Channel Strategy, Marketing
APC By Schneider Electric
With an extensive history in customer service, sales and marketing, Covitz leads the company’s global channel and marketing strategy. Over the past few years, he has made significant gains in recruiting partners focused on recurring revenue streams to drive business around IoT.
Mike Baker
VP, Global Sales
Armis
Before joining Armis in April, Baker spearheaded the development of Cylance’s channel program -- and he is leveraging that experience as Armis moves toward becoming 100 percent channel- focused. He is now crafting a strong partner program that can bring Armis’ agentless IoT security platform to vertical markets.
Roland Ducote
Corporate Supplier Manager, Arrow Intelligent Systems
Arrow Electronics
Ducote has been key in helping Arrow work with its partners to build and implement IoT services for customers. Under his leadership, Arrow launched "cradle to grave" services and solutions that help partners penetrate the IoT market through better customization.
Brian Babineau
SVP, GM
Barracuda MSP
Barracuda MSP is a provider of data protection and security solutions for MSPs. And as the general manager of the unit -- which sells entirely through channel partners -- Babineau’s job No. 1 is to empower MSPs with the tools and resources needed to serve SMB customers.
Katie Sousa
Sr. Partner Marketing Specialist
Barracuda MSP
Sousa joined Barracuda with its acquisition late last year of Intronis, where she had worked her way up from a marketing temp. She is helping drive Barracuda to be a sig­nificant MSP partner and bring Intronis MSP to all Barracuda partners.
Susheel Chitre
VP, Business Development, Strategic Alliances
Big Switch Networks
Chitre is taking his extensive partner expertise gained from over a decade at Cisco to Big Switch. His vision of increasing and enhancing the vendor’s ecosystem of channel, technology and OEM partnerships is aimed at driving new opportunities for partners.
David Cline
VP, Sales
BlackStratus
BlackStratus has seen strong sales growth since launching in spring 2016 -- and is on pace to double the business this year. Behind that sales growth is Cline, who has driven a 100 percent channel strategy at the company for its enterprise-grade SIEM offerings for SMB customers.
Jasmina Muller
Area VP
CenturyLink
Muller has been with CenturyLink since 2010, but for the past year she’s been plugging away with partners in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Utah. Muller is heads-down focused on helping channel partners sell solutions, not products.
Steve Cox
Sr. Director, Digital Experience & Analytics, Global Virtual Sales & Customer Success
Cisco Systems
The 17-year Cisco veteran is a key stakeholder behind the company’s digital transformation initiatives, seeking to help partners sell and retain customers more successfully in today’s subscription-based economy.
Maria Hart
Sr. Manager, ShareFile Ecosystem Strategy
Citrix Systems
Hart is responsible for helping to drive sales of ShareFile in the enterprise via partners, strategic alliances and systems integrators. Prior to that, she helped launch a ShareFile CSP solution, which included implementing a partner sales incentive resulting in 350 percent growth in six months.
Nate Spilker
VP, ShareFile SMB Product Management
Citrix Systems
Spilker came to Citrix in October 2011 as part of the ShareFile acquisition and was promoted into his current role in April 2016. He is leveraging ShareFile’s "born-in-the-cloud" architecture to help channel partners evolve from licensing models to Software-as-a-Service-based selling.
Colin Kelly
SVP, Marketing
ClearCenter
Kelly is newly back with ClearCenter, where he worked from 2011 to 2012, just as the company is ramping up a channel sales offensive around its open-source, Linux-based operating system, ClearOS. Kelly brings a wealth of software engineering expertise to his new role.
Brodie Kirkeby
VP, Strategic Partners
Cloud4Wi
Kirkeby is responsible for launching U.S. operations for the networking startup including channel management, sales and marketing. He was key in the launch of Cloud4Wi’s first-ever Volare Partner Program in 2016, aiming to make solution providers profitable by selling guest Wi-Fi solutions and services.
Eric Amstutz
Director, Channel Sales
CloudGenix
Amstutz is focused on building the software-defined WAN industry’s best channel organization possible following the startup’s global partner program launch in 2016. Amstutz’s goal is to enable partners to generate new services through modernizing their customers’ legacy WAN and branch office infrastructure.
Kyle Jackson
Major Account Sales Director
ConnectWise
Jackson manages 75 quota-carrying salespeople and helps ConnectWise’s larger channel partners streamline processes and optimize their business through management tools. He encourages solution providers to hire sales-people with strong refer­ences and give them 10 months to get fully up to speed.
Michael Pare
Channel Operations Manager
Crowdstrike
Crowdstrike has gained unicorn status thanks to its cloud-delivered offer­ing that brings together next-gen anti-virus with endpoint detection and managed threat hunting. Working to accelerate growth through partner relationships is Pare, who left Palo Alto Networks in January to help run channel operations.
Jeffrey Pappert
Sales Manager
Cygilant (formerly EiQ Networks)
Cygilant, a provider of a security opera­tions and analytics plat­form that was formerly known as EiQ Networks, is embarking on a mission to add to its channel partner ranks. And heading up the effort is Pappert, who is managing the company’s channel sales division.
Ken Fabozzi
Sr. Director, VAR Field Sales and HP Enterprise
D&H Distributing
Fabozzi brings three decades of sales, marketing and channel leadership experience to D&H, which hired the seasoned dis­tribution executive earlier this year. He now manages several high-profile D&H vendor relationships and is working to grow the company’s base of SMB resellers.
David Miketinac
VP, North America Distribution
Dell EMC
With Dell Technologies turning to the channel to help capitalize on its scale and reach, Miketinac is keenly aware of the opportunity the company and its partners face as customers begin to leverage technology as a key driver of business strategy.
John Quinn
VP, North American Channels
Digital Guardian
A veteran cyber­security firm in the area of data loss prevention -- stop­ping the removal of data by hackers or depart­ing employees -- Digital Guardian is looking to take its channel efforts to the next level with the July hiring of Quinn, previously a senior director on the channel team at FireEye.
James Grant
Partner Business Manager
Docker
Grant is one of the fresh faces driving a new channel program at the container tech pioneer. A specialist in open-source technology channels, Grant came to Docker in December after a few years at Red Hat, where he focused on penetrat­ing specific verticals with open-source solutions.
Guy Cunningham
VP, Channel Sales and Distribution
EventTracker
EventTracker is looking to help MSPs jump on board the red-hot opportunity in security, with a SIEM and managed SOC offering. Since joining this year, Cunningham has revolutionized the company’s sales strategy by driving a channel-first approach and launching a new partner program.
Vasu Jakkal
EVP, CMO
FireEye
Former Brocade executive Jakkal joined FireEye in September as CMO. She brings a background of transformative market­ing and a mission to help the security vendor take its brand to the next level. Jakkal told CRN that part­ners will play a key part of that strategy for FireEye.
Pedro Abreu
Chief Strategy Officer
ForeScout Technologies
A specialist in Internet of Things security, ForeScout launched an expanded partner pro­gram earlier this year. Spearheading ForeScout’s corporate strategy is Abreu, a veteran of compa­nies including Intel Security and EMC.
John Crandall
Director, National Accounts
Fortinet
A provider of rapid threat miti­gation through its Security Fabric, Fortinet has been focusing on extending its approach to the cloud. Crandall, who has worked in channel and sales roles for two decades, is helping to lead the way in terms of working with partners on building out cloud capabilities in security.
Lief Koepsel
Sr. Director, Channel Marketing
Fortinet
At cybersecu­rity firm Fortinet, which generates all of its revenue through indirect sales, channel marketing efforts take a central role in the business. Overseeing Fortinet’s chan­nel marketing strategies and programs is Koepsel, formerly a longtime channel marketing director at Cisco.
Guy Taylor
Global Head, SI & Advisory Alliances
GE Digital
As GE Digital continues to position itself as a leading software player for the industrial Internet of Things, Taylor is at the front of the channel ranks, building a global partner ecosystem while helping partners better understand the opportunities and how to take advantage of its Predix Cloud IoT platform.
Chris Arisian
Global Consulting Partnerships, Google Cloud
Arisian led strategic business development and indirect sales at Apigee. Last year, when Google acquired the company, Arisian brought his skills to Mountain View, where he’s focusing on developing vertical markets and building partnerships with Google’s cloud resellers and integrators.
Derrick McCuen
AMS EG Manager, Partner Programs
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
McCuen is leading the charge on a new wave of HPE PartnerReady programs aimed at driving hybrid IT managed cloud services. His biggest contribution: a marked improvement in HPE PartnerReady programs for resellers and service providers.
Irv Rothman
CEO, HPE Financial Services
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
It’s hard to believe Rothman is not a household name among HPE solution providers. The financial services industry veteran has brought HPE into the subscription-based cloud era with products like Flexible Capacity, putting partners into the cloud computing fast lane.
Kara Myers
Sr. Director, Americas Field Marketing
Hitachi Vantara
Myers will be very busy explaining what "Hitachi Vantara" is. The company was formed in September by combining Hitachi’s data center infrastructure, IoT and big data businesses under a new brand. She will play a key role showing partners how that impacts them.
Jivko Kirov
Director, Sales, Partner Training
HP
Kirov is the behind-the-scenes lead player in the HP University program, which includes fundamentals of sales, advanced negotiation and solution-selling. The 16-year HPE veteran is helping partners move from transactional product sales to multiyear Device-as-a-Service models.
Gary Simms
VP, Commercial Channel Programs
HP
The new head of HP’s Americas Partner program is on a mission to shine the spotlight on partner program improvements aimed at accelerating profits for partners, including payments from dollar one on non-Smart Buys for Gold and Platinum partners. Simms is also working on a new security specialization.
Michael Dickman
VP, Product Line Management
HPE Aruba
Every great product needs a hands-on manager to make sure it meets the most stringent technology standards. That is especially true when the product is as eagerly anticipated as the HPE Aruba 8400 switch. Dickman brought the unique and powerful Aruba mobile and cloud-first focus to the 8400.
Tom Black
VP, GM Campus, Branch Networking
HPE Aruba
The hard-driving HPE Aruba executive spearheaded the development of Aruba’s first core switch -- the 8400 -- aimed at displacing Cisco’s popular Catalyst switch line. The product, referred to by partners as a Catalyst killer, is already making inroads in the intensely competitive switching market.
Jeff Kalberg
Technology Evangelist
IGEL
With IGEL in the midst of a broad effort to reshape the image of VDI solutions in the North America market, Kalberg is the go-to executive for partners looking to help customers clear hurdles that often pop up on the way to VDI success.
Chris Jones
Chief Partner Officer
InfoBlox
Since joining InfoBlox in May, Jones, who has extensive experience with the channel at Polycom and Juniper Networks, has worked to help the network management and control vendor revamp its BuildingBlox channel program to better "evolve the baseline" for partners around growth, focus and value.
Darren Gottesmann
Director, SMB Sales, Ingram Micro
Ingram Micro
Gottesmann oversees Ingram Micro’s sales relationships with more than 20,000 SMB channel partners and the continued growth of the SMB Alliance community. Under Gottesmann, Ingram has achieved double-digit year-over-year growth in its SMB business.
Thomas Lantzsch
SVP, GM, IoT Group
Intel
Intel hired Lantzsch away from rival ARM last year, and the execu­tive has been showing his expertise in IoT since then. Under his leadership, Intel has discontinued some of its IoT modules like Edison and Galileo, and pivoted its focus to target vertical-market-ready solutions at partners in the retail and manufacturing sectors.
Mark Sher
VP, Cloud Voice Product Marketing
Intermedia
Sher leads Intermedia’s product market­ing and product manage­ment for all cloud voice ser­vices. He oversees a $60 million cloud voice busi­ness growing at 37 percent annually, and is responsible for driving product strategy, market demand as well as lead generation efforts.
Dave Goldie
VP, Channel
IT Glue
SaaS startup IT Glue offers a documenta­tion platform that helps businesses standardize and improve their internal processes. Under Goldie, IT Glue has begun selling its SMB-tailored product through MSPs. A partner program that better incen­tivizes sales via those MSP partners is in the works.
Darren Otto
Channel Manager
Ivanti
Otto spearheads the $30 million commercial and public sector distribu­tion business for Ivanti, an IT systems manage­ment provider formed by the LANDesk and Heat Software merger. Otto manages a number of partnership and programs within Ivanti’s channel sales arm, which earlier this year received a makeover.
Corinne Shepard
Director, Channel Sales
K2
Shepard joined K2 in August 2016 as a senior global partner account man­ager, and was promoted to her current role in June 2017. The business appli­cation software company offers four different partner models ranging from refer­ring customers to providing expert system installations and implementations.
Larissa Crandall
Director, Channel Sales, North America
Kaspersky Lab
In recent months, cybersecurity vendor Kaspersky Lab has been working to re-engage with key part­ners. Taking the lead on engaging with some of Kaspersky’s largest North American solution provid­ers is Crandall, who joined Kaspersky in early 2016 from a channel executive role at Unitrends.
Jackie Horn
Worldwide Channel Marketing Director
Kodak Alaris
Horn is busy revamping the scanner and software provider’s informa­tion management channel program. The Alaris IN2 Ecosystem gives partners access to new revenue streams by wrapping equip­ment, data capture software and maintenance services into one document informa­tion capture solution.
Richard Chen
Partner Success Director
LogicMonitor
Leading the way in the SaaS-based monitoring space is LogicMonitor, which hired Chen this year to pave the way for the vendor’s first partner program. Chen is crafting the company’s channel program to enable partners to modernize customers’ IT infrastructure.
Chari Kelsey
Director, Channels
McAfee
When it comes to security, taking a vertical market approach is critical. Kelsey drives that strategy in the channel at McAfee across government, health-care, and education markets. The company has seen some major wins in those spaces this year, including a $182 million contract with the U.S. Army.
Jason Brommet
Director, Partner Business, Development
Microsoft
As Microsoft looks to work more closely with partners following a flurry of recent changes, Brommet is a key figure getting the word out about the evolving strategy to Microsoft’s Canadian part­ners. Brommet, who joined Microsoft in 2003, serves as the channel chief for Canadian partner efforts.
Keao Caindec
VP, Marketing
Mocana
Caindec has helped build a broad chan­nel ecosystem around Mocana’s platform, which provides a full-stack toolset for securing connected systems. He has helped the company look for con­tract manufacturers and then tap into their reseller and distributor channels to build Mocana’s technolo­gies into their systems.
Ian Fountain
Director, Marketing
National Instruments
Fountain is respon­sible for National Instruments’ global busi­ness in monitoring and industrial IoT applications. He is also heavily involved in the strategic develop­ment of products in the industrial IoT space and how to get these products to market.
S teve Minniear
Sr. Manager, Americas Partner Programs
NetApp
Minniear’s job is to keep NetApp, the last inde­pendent big major storage player, on top. That has him designing programs to help partners embrace flash, cloud, and other ways of disrupting both the storage business and the myriad startups nipping at its heels.
Taylor Castranova
VP, Channel Sales, Account Development
Nitel
Castranova, a proven leader in telecom sales, joined Nitel in June and hit the ground running. The for­mer Windstream executive has been building Nitel’s account development team from scratch and helping the already channel-friendly telecom service provider revamp its partner program.
Leonard DiMiceli
VP, Channel Sales
OmniNet (formerly MyDigitalShield)
OmniNet is look­ing to transform the way partners deliver security to SMB clients, with a secu­rity-as-a-service offering for both SD-WAN, unified threat management and firewall. Driving that channel strategy is DiMiceli, who joined the company in August 2016 to lead its partner efforts.
Will Chan
Head of Solution Provider Programs
Oracle NetSuite
Chan came to NetSuite in September 2016, a couple of months before Oracle formally closed its acquisition of the com­pany. A seasoned channel leader, he’s been tasked with developing partner programs in the Oracle NetSuite Global Business Unit that help business solutions scale globally.
Tom Evans
Director, North America Public Cloud Partners
Palo Alto Networks
Palo Alto Networks is looking to bring security to the public cloud in a big way. Leading that strategy is Evans, who was appointed to the role in August. He brings a background in channel sales from K2 Software, ForeScout Technologies and F5 Networks.
Jennifer Bodell
Director, Emerging Channel
Pax8
Bodell is respon­sible for the strategic direction and go-to-market efforts of Pax8’s key channel relationships. She started in January with hopes of doubling the numbers of partners on-boarded each month and forming tighter bonds with organizations like The ASCII Group, HTG and Robin Robins.
Don Jeter
Sr. Director, Marketing
Pax8
Jeter heads up the strategic development of marketing enablement programs, lead generation, partner community plan­ning and engagement. He helped Pax8 roll out free automated email cam­paigns and co-branded data sheets and white papers to better fulfill the marketing needs of SMB partners.
Corey Munson
VP
PC Pitstop
PC Pitstop has been on a trans­formative journey, moving beyond its white-listing roots to provide a full set of security offerings for the endpoint. Driving chan­nel strategy, development and recruitment is Munson, who has helped roll out a 100 percent channel approach around the com­pany’s PC Matic Pro lines.
Ross Thompson
National Channel Manager
PlanetOne Communications
Thompson has been plugging away with hun­dreds of PlanetOne agents and MSPs since 2011, working alongside them to help add value to their customers and close deals quickly. For partners want­ing to learn about the next big sales opportunity, such as SD-WAN and cloud, he is the man with the plan.
Kevin O’Brien
SVP, ThingWorx Sales, Alliances
PTC
O’Brien has helped PTC expand its part­ner ecosystem to include more partners to push its ThingWorx IoT platform -- including solution builders, service providers, channel partners, and hardware and software technology companies.
John Schwan
VP, Global Partner Sales, Programs
Puppet
Schwan leads channel efforts for the innovative vendor of configuration management software. An experienced channel leader who previously worked at VMware, then Tintri, Schwan is now focused on leveraging partners focused on implementing DevOps solutions for the enterprise.
Kurt Lee
Head of Sales, Strategic Accounts
Pwnie Express
Under Lee’s guidance, IoT security company Pwnie Express has built up its channel initiatives over the past year. Lee, who came to Pwnie Express from RiskAnalytics, formerly the Netwitness portfolio under RSA before its acquisition by Dell, is spearheading a new Stampede partner program.
Lisa McLin
VP, North America Channel Sales, Alliances
Rackspace
McLin started as an accountant with the managed hosting company, but quickly found her calling in sales. She has worked with partners for most of her 15 years at Rackspace and is now looking to extend Rackspace’s Fanatical Support philosophy of customer service to partners.
John Ryan
Director, Americas Channels
Rapid7
Security vendor Rapid7 is in the midst of a major push to retool its formerly direct go-to-market and re-engage with partners. Ryan is leading that charge, and recently told CRN that a year’s worth of work by Rapid7 is starting to pay off, with a lot more business coming in from channel partners.
Chris Gray
Director, Embedded and IoT
Red Hat
As director in Red Hat’s Embedded and IoT business, Gray is helping partners and customers navigate the deployment process of complex IoT solutions. He is pushing the company’s charge around go-to-market strategy and partnerships around IoT.
Randy Schirman
VP, Worldwide Service Provider, MSP, Systems Integrator Sales
Rubrik
Schirman ensures Rubrik’s service delivery partner models, including service providers, systems integration, IT outsourcing and hosting, work as expected. He also leads the company’s new, formal MSP partner program while building relationships with customers and partners.
Mark Smith
EVP, Global Sales
Rubrik
If Rubrik holds its expected IPO in the near future, part of the credit should go to Smith. Smith leverages a long-held expertise in scaling global sales through the channel to help partners bring in new enterprise accounts and grow repeat customer business.
Tom Chamard
EVP, Global Sales
Salient Systems
Chamard has worked tirelessly to build up a channel of IT and physical security partners for Salient’s Completeview video management software. The platform is more than a surveillance tool, collecting and analyzing data so that vertical market customers can gain insight into marketing trends and personnel behavior.
Clint Nelson
Area VP
Samsara
Nelson had previously moved up the sales ranks at Meraki -- the cloud networking company acquired by Cisco in 2012 for $1.2 billion. When Meraki’s leaders went on to found IoT company Samsara, he joined them to develop the startup’s channel program.
Kori O’Brien
SVP, Global ISVs
Salesforce.com
O’Brien is a senior vice president, global ISVs at Salesforce and manages a team of sales leaders and partner managers dedicated to the success of Salesforce’s ISV partners - companies who are building packaged applications and solutions on the Salesforce Customer Success Platform.
Leslie Tom
VP, AppExchange Marketing, Programs
Salesforce.com
Tom is driving efforts to help Salesforce’s technology partners scale their businesses through the AppExchange marketplace. She develops co-marketing programs across the ecosystem, working with not only ISVs, but also channel partners, to create demand for partner apps and solutions.
Dusty Koekenberg
Director, Marketing
Scale Computing
Scale Computing is making an all-out assault on the hyper-converged infrastructure market, and seven-year veteran Koekenberg is on the front lines of the company’s bold and aggressive posture as it steps into the ring with the likes of VMware.
Gina Elliott
Product Marketing, High Performance Buildings
Schneider Electric
With an extensive background in smart buildings and midmarket solutions, Elliott is crucial for Schneider Electric’s partner ecosystem as channel players try to navigate the opportunities in the smart building space and IoT.
Nicolas Windpassinger
Global Partner Program VP
Schneider Electric
Windpassinger has been a crucial part of Schneider Electric’s strategy to better enable partners to tap into opportunities around IoT. He has also worked to build out the company’s EcoXpert partner program, tapping into solution providers and systems integrators with expertise around industrial control systems.
Alexander Epple
Head of Sales Strategy, MindSphere
Siemens PLM Software
Epple has been building out the company’s channel in North America as it looks to tap into the industrial IoT market with its MindSphere platform, which is explicitly designed to connect assets at indus­trial plants in an automated production environment.
Greg Lissy
VP, Product Management
SolarWinds MSP
A Microsoft veteran who has also held prod­uct management roles at Red Hat and Citrix, Lissy’s top priorities are serving the needs of SolarWinds’ global network of 20,000- plus channel partners and the evolution of its MSP-focused automation, securi­ty, and network and service management solutions.
Michele Campbell
Sr. Director, Worldwide Partner Development
SonicWall
SonicWall has adopted a 100 percent channel strategy since its split from Dell last year. Campbell is a key piece of that partner strategy, driving the execu­tion of the SecureFirst partner program, partner enablement, education and training.
Allison Clarke
Director, Global Channel Programs
Sophos
Sophos is one of the most channel-friendly compa­nies around, with partner programs tailored for resellers, MSPs and -- newly added -- cloud partners. Clarke plays a key role in driving that top-notch and diverse channel strategy as director of global channel programs.
Dan Schiappa
SVP, GM, End-User Security
Sophos
Now respon­sible for the endpoint and network security portfo­lios, Schiappa has driven an aggressive innovation strategy at Sophos that includes updates across the company’s broad portfolio for SMBs, as well integration across the platform as part of Sophos’ "Synchronized Security" strategy.
Todd Norris
Sr. Marketing Manager, Alternate Channels
Spectrum Business
Norris handles marketing strat­egy development for SMB channel part­ners, VARs and national accounts programs. That means he’s busy assisting national sales executives with maintaining existing relationships, developing new ones, and helping to support the team’s overall day-to-day business.
Ken Miller
Sr. Channel Development Manager
Star2Star Communications
Miller develops new channel business for the 100 percent indirect sales Unified-Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS) ven­dor. He helped develop a free on-site training course for partners earlier this year, seeking to boost channel engagement and technical training expertise.
Samir Kapuria
SVP, GM, Cyber Security Business
Symantec
When it comes to security intelli­gence, Symantec is one of the biggest play­ers on the block with more than 175 million endpoints across the globe. Leading that is Kapuria, who over­sees security intelligence, incident response, cyber wargames, and managed security services businesses.
Fran Mauney
Manager, IoT Solutions
Synnex
Mauney recently moved into Synnex’s IoT solutions division after serving as the education practice leader for Intel Education in the distribu­tor’s K-12 vertical. She has more than three decades of hands-on teaching experi­ence at the primary school and college levels, where she coordinated education tech conferences.
Liz Barnhart
Director, Channels, North America
Talari Networks
Barnhart is tasked with driv­ing sales in the red-hot SD-WAN market for Talari partners. With nearly two decades of IT experience, Barnhart helped craft a new dis­tribution partnership this year with Tech Data in an effort to reach a broader channel market.
Michelle Curtis
Director, IoT Practice, North America
Tech Data
Curtis helped Tech Data launch its IoT practice focused on manufactur­ing, transportation and logistics, retail and smart spaces. She has assisted with matching up smaller networking partners with enterprise-focused partners in the data center and data management space to help fill gaps in their IoT practice.
Colin Blair
VP, Data Analytics, IoT, Cognitive Computing
Tech Data
Blair aligns chan­nel partners with services around sensor design and develop­ment, gateway solutions, data analytics software, and cloud IoT platforms. He has helped solution provid­ers gain access to vertical specialists, industry-leading vendors, and technical expertise in every part of the supply chain.
Mike Onystok
VP
Telecom Brokerage Inc. (TBI)
Armed with a strong work ethic, Onystok worked his way up from the company’s contact center to become part of the executive leadership team. In his role today, Onystok oversees TBI’s Omni-Center unit, which is focused on retention, solution sales and inbound referral opportunities.
Chris Peterson
VP, Channels, Business Development, Alliances
Tenable
In August, Tenable debuted a new partner program focused on cloud and IoT security solutions. And Peterson told CRN that partners should find a lot of success by taking part in the program and serving as strategic advis­ers to customers around cloud, mobile, IoT and DevOps.
Brian Bakstran
VP, Americas Marketing
Veeam Software
After spending seven years leading chan­nel efforts at NetApp, Bakstran came to Veeam in July to strengthen channel operations as the data recovery and backup vendor looked to accelerate its drive into the enterprise cloud market. Bakstran is playing a criti­cal role in helping partners embrace the cloud.
Mike Wood
VP, Marketing
VeloCloud
Wood recently led the effort in VeloCloud’s new "Ready, Set, Go" partner program that lets service providers turn up their SD-WAN services in under 30 days. Wood is respon­sible for the worldwide marketing, and channel and sales enablement for the SD-WAN startup.
Jacques Lopez
Manager, North America Channels
Veracode
As manager of the North American channel team, Lopez helps make sure partners can solve client problems around application security. That includes making sure part­ners can scale application security, demonstrate value to customers, understand risks, and augment services like pen testing.
Lisa Quinby
Global Partner, Regional Marketing
Veracode
As the oppor­tunity around application security continues to rise, Quinby plays a key role in helping partners make the most of that market through Veracode. That’s a role that includes overseeing the global partner marketing strategy, partner enable­ment and partner program initiatives.
Tony Fallows
VP, Global Sales, Operations
Versa Networks
Fallows has led the channel sales charge for SD-WAN and security startup Versa Networks for nearly three years. He recently helped Versa with its international channel push, attracting new part­ners in France, Germany, Finland and the United Kingdom.
Carla White
Director, Channel Marketing
Vertiv
White’s years of channel market­ing experience are driving the push by Vertiv, formerly Emerson Network Power, to not only develop its new brand in the channel, but also create new excitement in the power management business.
Tom Corn
SVP, Security Products
VMware
Corn leads VMware’s efforts to build advanced security technologies for the private and public cloud. He was the face behind the recent intro­duction of AppDefense, a platform that locks down applications at the hypervi­sor layer. Corn previously ran corporate strategy and alliances for RSA Security.
Kirsten Michelon
Channel Marketing Program Manager
Xerox
Michelon directs marketing efforts that support the printing giant’s North American resellers, oversee­ing how Xerox enables part­ners with sales-enablement and marketing automation tools. That includes devel­oping integrated digital mar­keting campaigns, creating training materials and more.
Jeff Gallifent
Director, Channel Sales, North America
Zyxel
Gallifent is tasked with set­ting channel poli­cy, pricing and strategy for networking specialist Zyxel. He is leading the effort to step up Zyxel’s channel game through significant changes to its partner program set for early 2018 to better compete against Cisco and Aerohive.