The 100 People You Don’t Know But Should 2019
CRN’s “100 People You Don’t Know But Should” spotlights some of the channel’s best and brightest people who may not be as visible as some channel chiefs or CEOs but are just as important to the partner community.
Unsung Heroes
When it comes to building a state-of-the-art channel go-to-market strategy, technology vendors need consistently to commit to providing the resources and support those partners will need in order to be successful. That often involves a small army of people.
From those who manage channel programs to those who provide marketing support to those who offer training and technical know-how, channel-friendly vendors assemble strong channel management teams to ensure partners are positioned to win. While some channel executives are familiar faces, not all of them are. In fact, many work tirelessly behind the scenes to support their partners without ever being recognized by the channel at large.
CRN’s “100 People You Don’t Know But Should” spotlights some of the channel’s best and brightest people who may not be as visible as some channel chiefs or CEOs but are just as important to the partner community. Consider them the channel’s unsung heroes.
(By company name)
April Miller
Sr. Director, Channel Operations, Development
8x8
Miller is known for her ability to operationalize 8x8’s channel vision in a way that translates into success for both customers and partners, and she runs a channel operations team that’s lauded internally for its relentless pursuit of excellence.
Nicolas Ponce
Head of Operations, Security
Addigy
Ponce’s’ responsibilities span many of the programs that support Addigy’s partner community. Whether he’s making sure that the company’s SaaS solution is up, available and secure or evolving on-boarding and support programs, he is an integral part of partner success.
Judith Aponte-Randall
North American Distribution Manager
Aerohive
Acclaimed as a “master communicator,” Aponte-Randall manages Aerohive’s relationships with its distribution partners, with the prime directive of making sure the products solution providers need are available and ready to go. She prides herself on staving off delays due to product shortages.
Kyle Lichtenberg
Global Head, AWS Growth Partners
Amazon Web Services
Lichtenberg is in charge of Amazon Web Services’ growth partner initiative, leading a team that enables and nurtures tens of thousands of partners who are early in their AWS journey. He’s helping turn the cloud giant’s newest solution providers into the next wave of Advanced and Premier Consulting partners.
Darren Grasby
Chief Sales Officer
AMD
Grasby has spent the bulk of the past 12 years in crucial channel and sales roles for AMD’s EMEA business, but in March he stepped onto the global stage when he took over the chipmaker’s top sales job. Key will be a full-bore sales blitz behind the company’s new second-generation EPYC processors.
Darryl Richardson
Chief Product Evangelist
Aparavi
Heralded by Aparavi as a subject matter expert in the areas of data management, governance and archiving, Richardson joined the multi-cloud data management upstart in July and will have a hand in everything from amping up the company’s technical innovation to marketing to presales engineering and customer support.
Dawn Rundell
Director, Ecommerce Channel Sales
APC by Schneider Electric
As customers complete more of their buying journey online, Rundell is leading a team that’s creating compelling, engaging content for APC by Schneider Electric partners to syndicate and helping them get maximum results through traffic driving and lead conversion initiatives.
Justin Saxton
Director, Sales Engineering
AppRiver
Saxton wins praise for the rare combination of sales and technical skills that have enabled him to not only lead AppRiver’s sales engineering team but build the processes that scale to support AppRiver’s 60,000 customers, all while contributing to the company’s 93 percent customer retention rate.
Jennifer Psaltis
Director, Dell Technologies
Arrow Electronics
With 20 years’ worth of sales, marketing and channel skills in her back pocket, Psaltis is driving channel enablement to grow the partner ecosystem for the portion of Arrow’s distribution business that focuses on Dell Technologies solutions.
John Moran
Director, North America Distribution
Aruba, an HPE Company
Moran’s hard work, creativity, and commitment to partners’ success have played a key role as Aruba rolled out a new SMB initiative—including a rich support structure —across all of its distributors, which have seen tremendous growth in that market as a result.
Sara Straley
Area VP, Sales, Marketing
AT&T
Partner enablement is Straley’s middle name. She was instrumental in the planning and implementation of the inaugural Fusion by AT&T Partners Solutions channel sales event at the end of 2018, where she strove to provide more tools, technology and products to partners across the group.
Jordan Redd
Director, Sales, North America, MSSP
AT&T Cybersecurity (formerly AlienVault)
Redd joined AlienVault two and a half years ago as a partner manager and recruited a record number of partners. He was promoted to lead the MSSP initiative for North America and has been driving new initiatives into the partner ecosystem.
Matt McCarthy
Director, MSP Partner Management
Barracuda MSP
McCarthy leads the charge in taking a consultative approach with Barracuda MSP’s partners to help them successfully uncover new opportunities in their managed services businesses, regularly presenting insight on industry trends and emerging solutions to the channel to drive sales growth.
Evey Thallmayer
Director, Sales, Business Development
Belkin
A 22-year industry veteran with experience across sales, marketing and business planning, Thallmayer oversees North American distribution, the DMR channel and strategic partnerships for Belkin and its Linksys and WEMO brands, leading the teams that develop new business and drive profitable sales.
Andrada Georgescu
Worldwide Partner Program Development Manager
Bitdefender
Georgescu wins kudos for putting all her energy and skills into building the Bitdefender Partner Program as a living organism that evolves in line with market needs and offers solution providers added value and tangible reasons to work with the security vendor.
John Peppler
VP, Worldwide Channels
Bitglass
Peppler joined Bitglass in May and has since been laserfocused on helping the cloud access security broker deepen its channel presence. He says the company’s global expansion “represents the next wave of opportunity for the channel to engage in margin-rich, annually recurring business.”
Jordan Randall
Director, Channel Sales, North America
Blancco
Randall’s follow-through, creative initiatives and sincere desire to make channel partners shine have all contributed to Blancco’s success in North America. Colleagues say he takes time to listen to the data security company’s partners and learn about their needs, creating an environment for success.
Bill Rhodes
Director, Channel Sales
Buffalo Americas
Rhodes directs a team that oversees a network of 4,000 authorized reseller partners for Buffalo’s North American business, driving all facets of the networking and storage company’s indirect channel sales program. He also prides himself recruiting and mentoring top talent.
Tara Murphy
Director, Strategic Channel Alliances
Carbon Black
Murphy is known around cybersecurity company Carbon Black as a woman who is passionate about leveraging the power of partners and making sure that they are fully recognized by what they bring to the table. She always has the channel’s back.
Jennifer Taylor
Sr. Manager, Federal Field, Channel Marketing
Centrify
A go-getter who joined privileged access management company Centrify nearly two years ago, Taylor wins praise as a multitasker able to juggle field and channel marketing activities. She’s credited with having a tremendous impact on the sales pipeline in the government and East commercial markets.
Meghan Wilkinson
Vice President of Applications Engineering – Enterprise Sales Enablement
CenturyLink
Wilkinson works tirelessly to enhance the partner experience and ease of doing business, driving improvements in both the operations and marketing areas of the CenturyLink Channel Partner Program over the past year. That all translates to more profit for partners.
Abigail Maines
Head of Channel Sales, Americas
Check Point Software Technologies
Described as “the perfect combination of intellect, execution, pragmatic outlook and leadership,” Maines joined Check Point in August. She is helping to develop a new channel program while driving advanced technology adoption and breaking into new Americas accounts.
Lukas Brzak
Sr. Manager, Value Incentive Program
Cisco Systems
Praised by colleagues as highly collaborative, Brzak manages Cisco’s wildly popular Value Incentive Program, its incentive offering for increasing partner margins. Brzak leads the team that plans, implements and oversees every aspect of the program.
Donna Buffet
Sr. Director, Worldwide Partner Enablement
Citrix Systems
Under Buffet’s leadership, Citrix’s global partner enablement team standardized, built consistent metrics and KPIs, and partnered with internal sales enablement and technical teams to work with almost 6,000 partners globally while helping 500 earn their cloud certifications.
Michael Zedosky
Sr. Director, National Partner Programs
Comcast Business
Zedosky, a three-time Comcast Business Sales Director of the Year, is respected by colleagues for his integrity and positive, high-energy style. He’s someone they can rely on to not only hit goals and build strong relationships, but to take risks and implement new strategies.
Karen Falcone
VP, Worldwide Cloud, Service Providers
Commvault
A former executive at Sungard Availability Services and Dimension Data, Falcone knows a thing or two about cloud services. In her new role at Commvault, which she took on in February, she’s focused on finding new opportunities for the storage vendor and its partners to drive cloud revenue.
Scott Scrogin
Innovation Director, IT Nation
ConnectWise
Scrogin has won praise from colleagues for his “amazing work behind the scenes to enable program success.” He has been a key player in assisting with the development of focus groups during IT Nation Connect, and is responsible for much of the success ConnectWise has had with that undertaking.
Colleen Schmidt
VP, Partner Success
CoreDial
As the head of the cloud communication services company’s Partner Success program, Schmidt and her team work directly with channel partners from on-boarding to supporting them through their first sales, to helping them develop business once they’re a longer-term partner.
Anthony Farinha
Sr. Director, Strategic Alliances, Technology Partnerships
Couchbase
One of Farinha’s key accomplishments includes building Couchbase’s Red Hat partnership to the point where Couchbase is now a managed partner, winning Red Hat’s “Land and Expand” 2018 ISV Partner of the Year award. He also worked with Infosys to launch a new Couchbase offering.
Lisa Majdi
Executive Director, Marketing
Cox Communications
An early believer in the important role partners would play for Cox Business, Majdi was key to securing marketing and other resources to help launch and grow Cox’s indirect channel business. She was promoted to her current role in August.
Peter Hurley
Director, ProAV Business Unit
D&H Distributing
Hurley sees a big opportunity for the channel to incorporate digital signage, video walls, projectors, collaboration and unified communications into their solutions. As part of a new initiative, he helped drive 111 percent sales growth in D&H’s AV/commercial display business in fiscal 2019.
Christine Gassman
Director, Global Channel Engagement
Datto
With thousands of MSPs among its channel ranks, it can be challenging for Datto to engage those partners. Enter Gassman with her keen ability to plan live events that bring the Datto partner community together to network, share suggestions and provide feedback on how to keep getting better.
Shawn Trotter
VP, North America Commercial Channel
Dell Technologies
Labeled by colleagues as a “partner hero,” Trotter is credited for inspiring the Dell channel group to do their best work every day by investing in her team’s development, leadership and selling skills. They in turn use those improved skills to create a better experience for thousands of partners across North America.
Darren Bibby
VP, Partner Programs, Strategy
Docusign
As a former IDC channel analyst, Bibby knows his way around a partner program. He’s putting that knowledge to good use in his current role leading Docusign’s channel programs team, driving program development and process improvements for the electronic signature company.
Jamie Case
Manager, Americas Channel Sales
Dropbox
Case started at Dropbox as a partner account manager in 2017. Two years later he has already been promoted twice. In his current role, he’s focused on growing channel sales as the company works to position itself as a content and collaboration platform for business accounts.
Stephanie Durden
Partner Lifecycle Marketing Manager
Eaton
Durden is a tireless evangelist who’s always waving the channel flag, educating solution providers on the ins and outs of Eaton’s portfolio and partner program and making sure no stone is left unturned when it comes to uncovering opportunities for growth and success.
Kristina Hodge
Sr. Partner Marketing Manager, North America
Eset
Hodge lives by the motto, “Partner success equals vendor success.” That’s why she’s always looking for new ways to educate and enable Eset’s partners, particularly when it comes to providing educational content and materials to help the IT security vendor’s partners enhance their marketing efforts.
Patrick Huth
VP, Alliances, North America
Exclusive Networks
Huth joined Exclusive Networks two years ago with one primary goal in mind: to help the company disrupt the North American security and cloud distribution market. He’s in charge of growing vendor and partner alliances across the continent to bring the most innovative offerings to partners.
Natalia Vianden
Director, Global Channel Programs
Extreme Networks
Vianden brought her operational and leadership skills to bear when she played a main role in integrating multiple channel programs into a unified Extreme partner program. She also led the development of the vendor’s Partner Solution EXcelerator and Global Partner Reach Network.
Rob Whiteley
VP, Marketing, Nginx
F5 Networks
After joining F5 Networks through its acquisition of DevOps-focused load balancing company Nginx earlier this year, Whiteley is now looking at ways to leverage the strengths the sides bring to each other while putting the influx of F5 resources to good use.
Len Gilsenberg
Sr. Director, Commercial, Partner Systems Engineering Teams
FireEye
Known as someone who is always taking the initiative to improve the security company’s channel presence, Gilsenberg is lauded by colleagues as a valued team player and a reliable coach, one who manages his team strategically and is willing to adjust when business calls for it.
Courtney Armstrong
Sr. Manager, USA, Canada Channel Operations/Deals Desk
Fortinet
With nearly five years at security company Fortinet’s deals desk under his belt, Armstrong wins praise for always bringing an objective view to the channel conflict resolution process, ensuring that there is a fair and consistent outcome for the vendor’s partners.
Kristen Kliphouse
President, North America, Google Cloud
As of June, Kliphouse is the new face of Google Cloud in North America, charged with carrying the banner as the company moves to stake a claim in the enterprise market. With less than 50 percent of enterprise workloads in the cloud today, she sees a lot of room for growth.
Paul Ryan
Executive Director, Partner Experience, Partner Services
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Ryan is the man responsible for setting partner business requirements for HPE’s tools and focuses on improving the end-to-end experience for solution providers. He is credited for driving a lot of change, particularly in his efforts to integrate HPE’s partner community in the wake of recent acquisitions.
Greg Popham II
VP, Global Channel Sales
Highfive
After a stellar eight years at HPE, Popham jumped in January to videoconferencing upstart Highfive, where he’s now focused on delivering a channel-first go-to-market strategy that promises rich partner margins and full channel compensation on renewals, expansion and upsell opportunities.
Jay McGloin
VP, Americas Sales, Partners, Commercial, Strategic Solutions
Hitachi Vantara
With digital transformation on the brain, McGloin leads the business development charge, running a team that taps into Hitachi Vantara’s channel partners to deliver health-care, Internet of Things and analytics solutions with the goal of helping customers monetize their data.
Gary Simms
Head of Americas Channel Programs, Enablement
HP Inc.
In the year since he took over leadership of HP’s partner program and development team, Simms is credited with driving innovative changes that emphasize areas of strategic growth yet maintain the consistency and predictability that solution providers crave.
Christopher Oliver
VP, Strategy, Transformation, Partner Ecosystem
IBM
As the strategy leader for IBM’s $13 billion partner ecosystem organization, Oliver is tasked with developing and executing unique ways of accelerating revenue and value created through the channel. And as a former solution provider executive, he’s more than familiar with what that takes to achieve.
Dan Tomaszewski
Channel Manager, Central, West
ID Agent, a Kaseya Company
After 16 years as the president of an MSP, Tomaszewski took that passion for the managed services space to cybersecurity startup ID Agent, where he helps partners master the company’s dark web monitoring tool and use that knowledge to grow sales.
Casey Cheyne
VP, Cloud Partnerships
IGEL
Cheyne joined IGEL in July to take on a newly created role that focuses on driving strategic alliances and cloud service provider expansion. He also works with IGEL’s cloud ecosystem partners to create opportunity for channel partners.
Eric Hembree
Director, Internet of Things
Ingram Micro
When it comes to the IoT market, Hembree is knee-deep in the hoopla. Known as a “to the point” executive who fully understands both the benefits and the chaos IoT brings, he is a strong advocate of a policy-based approach to IoT security to help keep users safe.
Tiffany Sargent
Chief IoT Architect, Sr. Principal Engineer, U.S. Channel Scale, Partners
Intel
Sargent wins kudos for her work to create a scale plan for partners that integrates IoT, Machine to Machine, complex systems and distributed analytics into their business objectives. She’s known for creating transformative strategies that partners can deliver on, creating a win-win situation for both partners and Intel.
Curt Mark
VP, Channel Sales
Intermedia
Mark is known around the halls of Intermedia for his channel-first commitment, evident in his focus on collecting partner feedback and bringing it to the team to make sure it gets incorporated into the company’s channel efforts. He’s also keen on communicating with partners to provide updates.
Christian Goffi
Head of Channels and Distribution, Americas
Juniper Networks
In August, Goffi became Juniper’s new Americas channel chief, heading up partner sales, federal sales and distribution. In his new role he’s expected to leverage his keen knowledge of analytics to help drive partner profitability and business success.
Matthew Courchesne
Head of SMB, Channel, U.S.
Kaspersky Lab
Since taking over as Kaspersky’s U.S. channel chief earlier this year, Courchesne has overseen the rollout of a new global channel program that provides partners with recognition and back-end rebates for specializing in certain technologies. The program offers six specializations that aim to unlock additional margin for partners.
Joe Pinnix
U.S. Director, National Solutions Provider Partners
Lenovo
A battle-hardened leader with 26 years of sales experience behind him, Pinnix is also a mentor and coach for many of Lenovo’s sales directors and sales executives. He was one of a trio of people who played a leading role in last year’s sales team transformation efforts to better align and optimize investments.
Cassandra Johnson
Sr. Manager, North American Business Development
Lexmark
Described by colleagues as a “go-getter that is the glue of our organization,” the 15-year channel sales veteran takes pride in working hard to cultivate Lexmark’s partner community and has responsibility for program and promotion development and oversight.
Steven Kahn
Director, Channel Sales
LogicMonitor
Since taking on the lead channel sales role in January, Kahn has been running in overdrive to help LogicMonitor partners win big in the IT monitoring space, drawing on his previous four years in various sales roles across the company.
Jennifer Weis
Director, Partner Development
Microsoft
Weis created a partner-to-partner initiative connecting some of Microsoft’s ISVs with key channel partners, driving go-to-market and co-selling activities across these partners. The initiative has led to more joint wins and helped build the overall strength of the company’s partner ecosystem.
Kelly Brady
Director, Worldwide Partner Enablement, Adoption
NetApp
Brady is still garnering applause for her development of NetApp’s Rules of Engagement program over two years ago and has since put herself right in the middle of any internal or external conflicts to ensure that partners get a fair shake and to make any changes on that might be needed to keep things running smoothly.
MeiLee Langley
Director, Channel Marketing
Nextiva
Langley has big plans for Nextiva this year after joining the company in January, rolling out an aggressive channel marketing road map with the aim of increasing the scalability of the VoIP vendor’s partner recruitment engine and through-partner demand generation machine.
Derek Gabbard
VP, Partner, Service Activation
Opaq
Gabbard is the rock star who created the Opaq services playbook that partners use to accelerate solution-building, empowering them to transform from a Capex to Opex business model. He also drives sales enablement to get to revenue faster with each partner.
Zoe Hruby
Director, Strategy, North America Alliances, Channels
Oracle
A member of Oracle’s Leadership Development Program, Hruby works to drive and land strategy and initiatives. She leads Oracle’s North American Partner Cloud Advisory Board and has a hand in global strategy alignment and execution through her work with the Alliances and Channels team.
Ryan Burton
VP, Product Strategy
Pax8
When cloud distributor Pax8 considers what new vendors it wants to work with, the responsibility of researching and vetting that potential partner falls to Burton. To do that effectively, he’s constantly listening to partners to understand their needs and testing offerings to ensure they fit the bill.
Ohad Mandelbaum
VP, Global Sales
Perimeter 81
Mandelbaum is banking on an influx of channel business through a new partnership with Ingram Micro. The software-defined Securityas-a-Service vendor is now featured in the distributor’s Cloud Marketplace, making it easier for solution providers to purchase, provision, manage and invoice its solutions.
James Green
National Mobility Channel Manager
PlanetOne
Green is lauded as a savvy sales and marketing professional who is working alongside PlanetOne’s partners to realize untapped value in IoT and enterprise mobility. Described as being obsessed with customer experience, he is also focused on helping partners close deals with maximum margins.
Mike Fong
Founder, CEO
Privoro
As nation-state actors become an increasing security threat to not only the U.S. government but American businesses as well, Fong is leading the channel charge around Privoro’s SafeCase, an intelligent smartphone case developed to protect government and enterprise customers from espionage.
Victoria Brumbaugh
Director, Global Partner Strategy, Operations
Qlik
Brumbaugh is helping channel partners get smart about delivering data management and analytics solutions that bring customers squarely into the digital era, particularly as the company seeks to build deep strategic relationships with a smaller number of strategic solution providers.
Meg Brennan
Sr. Director, Global Channel Operations
Riverbed Technology
With 20 years of experience that includes the design, execution and analysis of sales and channel programs, Brennan is considered an integral part of Riverbed’s channel transformation efforts, particularly the digital elements of the vendor’s Rise Partner Program.
Angel Grant
Director, Identity, Fraud, Risk Intelligence
RSA Security
While leading RSA’s go-to-market strategy, planning and execution for several of the company’s identity management and anti-fraud product portfolios, Grant is the face of RSA to a number of key organizations, committees and task forces related to finance, banking and payment card security.
Mario Estavillo
Director, Worldwide Channel Programs, Promotions
Ruckus Networks
When the channel team at Ruckus needs insight into the financial justification or business value behind new partner initiatives, they turn to Estavillo. He is credited for constantly evaluating the results and ensuring that the vendor’s leadership teams, field and partners have the visibility.
Jason Perocho
Sr. Director, Product Marketing
Salesforce
A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Perocho is laser-focused on researching and evangelizing how businesses can use data to better engage customers and partners across their digital properties. One area he’s been talking up lately is the business improvements customers see from adding AI to Salesforce Sales Cloud.
Brent Patrick
Sr. Marketing Manager
Scale Computing
After jumping into the channel marketing role at Scale Computing two years ago, Patrick ramped up quickly to bring his expertise in digital, social and field marketing to bear. Colleagues say the marketing initiatives he developed made a noticeable positive impact on the vendor’s channel right away.
Kyle DeWitt
Director, Technical Services
ScanSource
Whether it’s communicating better or developing a new tool for solution providers, colleagues say DeWitt is always on the lookout for what else ScanSource can do to be a better partner. His team has rolled out a number of new improvements that have made the distributor easier to do business with.
Chanda Dani
Sr. Director, Product Marketing
ServiceNow
Dani leads product and technical marketing for ServiceNow’s IT Operations Management business unit, including its high-growth Software-as-aService offerings. Currently her attention is drawn to how AI can use big data and machine learning to optimize IT operations.
Tammy Allen
Sr. Channel Sales Specialist
SolarWinds MSP
Allen wins praise for always putting partner needs first and working to ensure they have exactly what they need to succeed. To wit, she was heavily involved with the launch and training for SolarWinds MSP’s MSP Institute, which uses real-world experience to educate partners on managed services best practices.
David Bankemper
VP, North America Channel Sales
SonicWall
A tech industry veteran with channel experience at Juniper, Lenovo, IBM and, most recently, Poly, Bankemper as of May is leading North American channel sales for SonicWall, where he’s putting his “hunter mentality,” his focus on teamwork and his entrepreneurial attitude to good use for partners.
Barry Weller
Sr. Manager, Global Channel Programs
Sophos
Weller handles the care and feeding of Sophos’ partner support programs, ensuring that the channel gets the professional services and support it needs. He wins kudos for building programs that allow all partners to receive the levels of support they need to win business.
Mitch Lopez
Director, Channel Marketing
Spectrum
Lopez owns the strategy and execution of multiple indirect sales channel marketing programs focused on engagement and growth of the Spectrum Partner and Carrier channels. He also develops marketing strategies, campaigns and sales materials, all through a channel-focused lens.
Ryan Yahrmatter
Head of Channel Sales
Sprint
A self-described enthusiastic telecom executive whose ethos is “refuse to lose,” Yahrmatter prides himself on being a hands-on, motivational leader who draws on his 20 years of sales experience at Sprint to build a strong culture and deliver results, spurring channel partners to new sales heights.
Laura Oberle
SVP, Sales, Southern U.S.
Star2Star Communications
Oberle’s goals for this year are to continue improving Star2Star’s channel partnerships and encourage more engagement between its sales team and solution providers. She’s doing that by connecting with partners and helping them stay informed of training opportunities and product launches.
Jennifer McCready
Global Channel Chief
Steelcase
McCready is opening doors to new revenue opportunities for solution providers with the creation and execution of a global channel strategy for Steelcase, whose portfolio includes a bevy of technology mounting, acoustics, and power/cable management products that help customers build collaborative office spaces.
Zach Yarnes
VP, Sales Operations
StorageCraft Technology
The channel team at StorageCraft sings Yarnes’ praises for being well-connected to partners and heavily invested in their success. He’s said to provide support and guidance while taking a hands-on approach in developing the back-end processes that are critical to channel program success.
Zach Mandeville
Sr. Director, Global Channel Programs
Symantec
The mastermind behind Symantec’s Secure One partner program and the architect of the revised program, Mandeville is lauded for approaching the partner program with a balance of practical simplicity and easy ways for partners to contribute and be rewarded.
Emily Chen
VP, Product Management
Synnex
In her role managing a diverse portfolio of HP Inc. print products and supplies for distributor Synnex, Chen says there is no magic potion when it comes to success. It simply is achieved “by putting our efforts into working with our vendors and resellers consistently.”
Maghen Hannigan
Director, Converged, Integrated Solutions
Tech Data
Hannigan’s team is responsible for the integration and services capabilities that are opening the door to new business opportunities for Tech Data. Under her leadership and due to her team’s expertise, the distributor has won numerous complex deals as well as earned additional business with its vendors.
Sean Hagerty
Sr. Director, Channel Sales For North America
Thycotic Software
Described as a stalwart with an impeccable reputation, Hagerty is said to have a passion for what he does that shows in his efforts to mentor Thycotic’s channel sales team. Colleagues say he is consistently engaged with the sales team and communicates the value of leveraging the channel.
Sean O’Connell
National Account Manager
Tripp Lite
An award-winning national account manager, O’Connell has repeatedly garnered recognition from his Tripp Lite peers as a standout for his strong desire to support partners—even when things don’t go exactly as planned— and make sure that they are successful.
John Stewart
Director, Partner Sales
Veeam Software
A people person with 25 years of sales and channel sales experience, Stewart describes building top-performing sales teams as “one of the great joys in my life and career.” He’s now tapping into that passion at Veeam, helping the 100 percent channel company drive channel growth.
Amy Mummert
Sr. Manager, Channel Sales, Public Sector
Veritas
Veritas tapped Mummert two years ago to expand and reinvigorate its federal and public sector channel sales business with measurable revenue and partner satisfaction impact. She’s done just that, driving expansion by segment, vertical and end-user customer base.
Bridgitt Rhodes
Sr. Manager, Americas Channel
Verizon
Rhodes’ colleagues commend her “unwavering commitment to our channel partners,” pointing to her pledge to meet with every partner to learn its business and understand its pain points. She has created a straightforward strategy to grow business that led to double-digit year-over-year growth.
Ricardo Duque
VP, Channel Strategy, Americas
Vertiv
Duque is helping Vertiv partners capitalize on new revenue opportunities around the rise of 5G, energy consumption and the edge with a number of channel program enhancements, including improved tools, new rebates and additional programs, all with the aim of capturing significant growth.
Rich Steeves
Sr. Director, Worldwide Partner Programs
VMware
Working handin-hand with VMware’s global channel chief, Steeves is the chief architect of VMware Partner Connect, the transformative channel program coming early next year that is already winning praise for its simplicity and for putting increased emphasis on the certified competencies partners earn.
Mario DeRiggi
SVP, National Channel Sales, Business Development
Vonage
DeRiggi is on a mission to boost channel sales within Vonage Business, spearheading a major push to develop and grow a robust partner program that brings the VoIP provider deeper channel partnerships that help it bring products to market faster.
Laurie Mitchell
Sr. Director, Partner Marketing
Wasabi Technologies
Mitchell is playing a critical role in helping Wasabi capitalize on the growing channel momentum stemming from the launch earlier this year of a new partner program and enablement portal, plus a new partnership with cloud distributor Pax8.
Adam Otis
Manager, Product Management
WatchGuard Technologies
With responsibility for collecting and cleaning partner data that is always changing, colleagues call Otis “the glue between the business and operations.” His direct engagement with the WatchGuard channel is credited for allowing the company to make quick decisions and ensure positive partner experiences.
Mike Fitzmaurice
Chief Evangelist, VP, North America
Webcon
Tapping into 25 years of experience, Fitzmaurice is building Webcon’s partner program in the U.S. and Canada, pulling in engineering resources, marketing dollars, training professional development, leads and sales to help the channel find success with the vendor’s application development platform.
Teri Teague
Manager, Channel Marketing
Webroot, a Carbonite company
Playing a key role in a number of channel areas for Webroot including building and implementing marketing programs and running the security vendor’s MSP advisory council, Teague brings an organized, detailed approach to her work while striving to foster teamwork and collaboration with colleagues.
Mat Gruen
Sr. Director of Channel Sales
WekaIO
Over the course of his first year at WekaIO, Gruen has developed and implemented a channel-centric sales model that’s driving record-setting growth for the parallel file system storage company. He is credited with identifying and developing strategic channel partnerships in every region.
Ryan Azus
Chief Revenue Officer
Zoom Video Communication
Azus joined Zoom in August, bringing with him nearly 20 years of communications industry experience as he takes on global responsibility for the videoconferencing vendor’s direct sales, channel, sales operations and enablement, customer success and sales engineering teams.