The Top 10 Channel Sales Leaders Of 2011

CRN's Top 10 Channel Sales Leaders are the executives who’ve had the greatest sway on channel sales efforts and the biggest impact on indirect sales volume for their specific companies in the past year.

Here's a look at 10 channel sales superstars from our Top 100 Executives Of 2011 list.

10. Sharon Alt

Director, North America Distribution, Channel Marketing
Intel

The world's largest chip maker works with a variety of partners from system builders to OEMs and resellers. One of the most prominent and influential women in the channel, Alt covers both Intel's distribution and solution provider partners with its new Technology Provider Program.

9. Craig Schlagbaum

Vice President, Indirect Chanel Sales, Business Class Services
Comcast

No company better illustrates the channel renaissance of telecom service providers than Comcast, which is courting solution providers to help sell business connectivity services along with things such as cloud solutions. Schlagbaum is leading the charge to get VARs interested in telecom again.

8. Richard Hutton

Senior Channel Marketing Manager
Samsung

Hutton has been busy at Samsung. The Korean technology manufacturer has launched a revamped partner program this year, dubbed Partners In innovation, as well as a Web portal for resellers called Partner Central and is making true progress in the North American channel.

7. Edison Peres

Senior Vice President, Worldwide Channels
Cisco Systems

Cisco had some trying times recently, but the networking giant still has a dominant channel presence. Cisco's partner program has been rock-solid, and a big reason for that has been executives such as Peres, who's helping the company deliver new channel investments and resources to partners.

6. Chris Frey

Vice President, North America Commercial Channel Sales
Lenovo

Lenovo has been on the rise in recent years, and a big part of its success story has been its dedicated channel approach. Frey, a longtime Lenovo and IBM executive, was promoted to Lenovo's North American channel chief this year and looks to continue the computer maker's momentum.

5. Todd Bradley

Executive Vice President, General Manager, Personal Systems Group
Hewlett-Packard

Running a $40 billion business is a big challenge, especially when it's part of a larger, $126 billion company experiencing management changes and strategic shifts. But Bradley is the glue that holds HP's Personal Systems Group -- and its market-leading PC business -- together, and it has earned him the support of many HP VARs.

4. Kevin Gilroy

Senior Vice President, Ecosystem and Channels
SAP

A longtime channel veteran with stints at HP and Arrow Electronics, Gilroy came to SAP nearly two years ago to help the enterprise software maker build up its indirect sales business. Now SAP is changing its reputation in the channel with some key partner program enhancements and incentives.

3. Judson Althoff

Senior Vice President, Worldwide Alliances, Channels, Embedded Sales
Oracle

Oracle has a new look these days, thanks to several acquisitions and a new hardware-software stack approach to enterprise computing. The company has upped the ante in the channel, too, and Althoff is the point man for that effort as Oracle aggressively recruits HP partners and pushes new products such as its SMB-focused database appliance.

2. Rich Hume

General Manager, Global Business Partners
IBM

The veteran IBM executive has been at the IT giant since 1984. After serving in a number of roles during his distinguished career, he was tapped to lead IBM's channel business in 2008. Now he's leading the revamped charge in the all-important midmarket while continuing to emphasize IBM's Smarter Planet and business analytics offerings.

1. Greg Davis

Vice President, General Manager, Global Commercial Channels
Dell

Few channel executives have had higher mountains to climb than Davis. Dell, the former direct-sales nemesis of solution providers, has undergone a steady sea change over the past five years and built a strong channel business through key acquisitions and strategic maneuvers. Davis has been on the front lines of that effort ever since the longtime Dell executive was tapped to head the computer maker's North American channels in 2007. Today, Davis continues that effort on a worldwide level as general manager of Dell's Global Commercial Channels business, and he's a big reason why Dell is working its way up to 100,000 certified partners.