The 2021 Rising Female Stars Of The IT Channel

The very characteristics that saw us all through the pandemic are the ones exhibited by our 2021 Rising Female Stars: perseverance, a positive attitude and a whole lot of toughness. We honor their achievements as the world -- and the channel -- chart a course to what our new normal will be.

With this year’s special issue honoring our Rising Female Stars, we are celebrating some truly remarkable achievements. These 100 dynamos delivered for their companies when times have never been so tough, helping pivot strategies, events and partner programs to help the channel thrive.

The traits they exemplified—perseverance, outside-the-box thinking and a willingness to go above and beyond every day—are what we all relied on to see us through the pandemic.

Kudos to all of our Rising Female Stars, and we look forward to their future accomplishments.

By Company:

A-E | F-K | L-O | P-S | T-Z

Gemma Graham

Sr. APN Program Manager

Amazon Web Services

Graham spearheaded the rollout of AWS’ ISV Partner Path and won praise for her grit and ability to deliver results. She worked across internal teams and pilot partners to ensure the right experience and navigate the complexities of making changes to a program that touches thousands of partners.

Kayla Sanderson

Channel Marketing Manager

AppRiver, a Zix company

Sanderson brings a unique blend of experience—having worked at a solution provider and now providing strategic thinking at the vendor level at AppRiver. She has demonstrated an unwavering passion for helping the company’s partners grow their business.

Madi Lubeley

Channel Marketing Specialist

Arctic Wolf

Lubeley performs the behind-the-scenes work that makes Arctic Wolf’s engagement and enablement programs possible, including managing the tech stack and overseeing processing and fulfillment to fuel promotions and engagement incentives.

Leah Woomer

Director, Channel Marketing, Events

Area 1 Security

Woomer was instrumental in the launch of Area 1’s Accelerate Partner Program. Her indispensable efforts included executing recruitment webinars, creating materials for the new partner portal and managing marketing initiatives.

Jennifer Landgren

Business Operations Manager, Customer Success Management

Arrow Electronics

Lauded for her approach to partners, Landgren managed several B2B implementations with customers to help them on their automation journey. She also led Arrow’s Partner Operations Council, enabling partners to share best practices.

Beth Jensen

Director, Worldwide Channel Partner Programs

Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company

Jensen is helping Aruba and its channel pivot toward an as-a-service model. Colleagues describe her as an extremely creative change agent with a relentless focus on partners. She is said to tap into her passion to always push the status quo.

Myrah Ward

Sales Manager, Alliance Channels

AT&T

Ward consistently meets revenue targets while acting as her indirect sellers’ biggest advocate. Partners and peers give her kudos for the influence she has on their day-to-day activities, all as a result of her positive approach to challenges and her can-do attitude.

Helena Kuly

Director, Partner Programs, Marketing

Attivo Networks

Described as having tireless energy and a passion for the channel, Kuly tackles both strategy and execution, finding ways to pull the marketing and channel sales teams together for mutual success.

Hope Davó

National Partner Manager

Avaya

Davó successfully made the transition from channel marketing to sales, driving Avaya’s Master Agent program through her ability to build meaningful relationships. She has become an advocate for Avaya, relentlessly pursuing ways it can become better aligned with partners.

Rachael Dahan

Marketing Program Manager

Avnet

Dahan has made a name for herself as a critical player driving Avnet’s IoT business, making it her mission to articulate the value proposition across Avnet’s customer segments. This has improved the distributor’s ability to deliver targeted content that drives leads. [Editor’s Note: CRN was notified after press time that Dahan recently left Avnet.]

Kaitlyn Langer Sr.

Marketing Manager

Axcient

Langer played an instrumental role in implementing Axcient’s go-to-market strategy through activities such as a lunch-and[1]learn series, industry events and Axcient’s Partner Advisory Council. She and the marketing team launched Axcient’s first virtual partner conference, MSP Xperience, in September.

Jennifer Schnell

Channel Development Manager, East

Barco

The multi-talented Schnell recently was tasked with bringing her resourcefulness to bear in helping implement a new training program and partner portal. Her efforts lay out a clear path for solution providers on how they can level up within the Barco partner program.

Doris Au

Product Marketing Manager

Barracuda MSP

Au was on a mission this past year to help Barracuda MSP’s team better service and educate its partners. Some of her wins included supporting several product updates, producing “campaign in a box” assets for a partner toolkit and authoring numerous blog posts.

Karlene Alameda

Field, Channel Marketing Manager

Barracuda Networks

Alameda’s colleagues paint her as a marketing standout who exemplifies tenacity, creativity, dedication, leadership and thoughtfulness. She earns kudos for caring deeply about her team, always thinking of ways to better enable them to succeed.

Heather Harlos

Global Marketing Manager, Cloud, MSP

Bitdefender

Colleagues say they couldn’t get their jobs done without Harlos, who takes her title as just a jumping-off point. She leveraged her knowledge of the channel, distribution and marketing to shift Bitdefender’s sales messaging to focus on thought leadership.

Tera Reynolds

Manager, Channel Operations

BlackBerry

Playing a key role in unifying the BlackBerry and Cylance channel programs, Reynolds’ focus is on ensuring the partner ecosystem is aligned, organized and agile. She has earned a reputation for always providing the direction needed to operationalize the company’s goals.

Poonam Advani

Global Distribution Sales, X-Architecture GTM Strategy Lead

Cisco Systems

Advani drives global technology growth programs and has won praise for a global security campaign that enrolled thousands of partners. Colleagues say her efforts have led to explosive growth in Cisco’s SaaS offerings through distribution.

Monica Desai

Sr. Director, Global Technology Partners, ISVs

Citrix Systems

As Citrix pushes forward with its Future of Work strategy, Desai is fostering alignment across sales and product management, building industry use cases and creating enablement and marketing materials for quick results.

Valaretha Brown

Sr. Partner Marketing Manager

Cloudera

Brown leads the strategy behind the go-to-market plans with Cloudera’s software partners, bringing her innovative mind to partner marketing. She was also one of the first members of Cloudera’s Equality Committee, which aims to foster diversity and inclusion at the company.

Steva Shea

Channel Alliances Manager

Cockroach Labs

Shea is focused on driving channel growth by building a strong value proposition for MSPs and developing a pipeline of quality partners. All in all, she increased the pipeline associated with her partners by 200 percent in the first quarter of 2021.

Holly Hunt

Director, National Partner Programs, Indirect Sales Channel

Comcast Business

Hunt earns accolades for bringing a high level of energy to her work every day and for caring about her partners’ success. She is described as a dynamic speaker who brings a new perspective in how to approach the business.

Nathalie St-Maurice

National Partner Account Manager

CommScope

St-Maurice is described as a breath of fresh air whose creativity and “ability to execute small needle-moving activities” make her a tremendous asset to CommScope and its partners. She draws on her years of channel experience to truly understand what partners need.

Kalesha Wiley

Partner Business Manager, Team Lead

Commvault

Wiley impressed even colleagues outside her team as she worked tirelessly to incorporate CDW as a launch partner for Commvault’s Metallic SaaS backup and recovery offering and searched for opportunities to expand Metallic awareness.

Tori Alvarez

Manager, Partner Sales

ConnectWise

Alvarez has tapped into her extensive knowledge of ConnectWise partners, their needs and how best to work with them as she builds out systems and training for the newly formed Associate Account Management team, which aims to quickly resolve inbound partner requests.

Simone Feldman

Channel Account Manager

CrowdStrike

Feldman, a member of CrowdStrike’s Public Sector Alliances team, oversees the health-care vertical in the Eastern U.S., a hotbed of activity throughout the pandemic. She has cultivated a reputation as a true innovator who adds value outside her core responsibilities

Courtney Spencer

Channel Development Rep

Cytracom

In the two-plus years Spencer has been at Cytracom she has earned kudos for bringing resourcefulness and creativity to her role as she uncovers unique engagement and partner acquisition strategies that bring new MSPs into the fold.

Maria Moran

Sr. Cloud Development Manager

D&H Distributing

Moran is the face of D&H’s Cloud and Services Business Unit for many of the company’s new and most strategic cloud partners, helping them understand the vast resources the distributor provides to help them grow and providing “white-glove” on-boarding support.

Desraie Thomas

Channel Development Manager

Datto

Known for her sense of humor and passion for partners, Thomas used time that normally would have been spent traveling to industry events to create quirky videos that kept partners and co-workers laughing as she continued her mission to spread Datto’s story.

Gretchen Murray

Distribution Marketing Programs Manager

Dell Technologies

Murray understands what Dell’s distributors need, whether it’s for on-boarding new partners, reactivating partners or creating pipeline. She taps into long-cultivated distribution relationships to understand distributors’ needs and enable sales growth.

Samantha Pendergast

Partner Sales Manager

Dropbox

With a steady stream of promotions under her belt in the three-plus years Pendergast has spent at Dropbox so far, it’s clear that she’s turning heads for her commitment to helping partners as the company boosts its focus on the SMB market.

Donna St-Denis

Channel Marketing Manager

Eaton

St-Denis is admired for her creativity, which shone through in many of the unique ideas she used to help partners nationwide. Colleagues say she knows how to take positive risks while keeping her eye on what’s important to find the best ways to engage with partners.

Erin Crofut

Partner Transformation Sales Manager

Extreme Networks

Described as an effective and kind leader, Crofut’s strategic approach to problem-solving has already transformed the way internal teams and partners are supported. Co-workers say she is open to others’ ideas and feedback in a way they find inspiring.

Jessica Simon

North America Distribution Manager

FireEye

Simon wins kudos for always helping behind the scenes while rarely tooting her own horn. She gets the job done, often meeting tight timelines, and has used her numerous talents to build FireEye’s flexible billing offering and joint solution enablement with key OEMs.

Kim Visconti

Director, Channel Sales, Southeast

Fortinet

Co-workers call Visconti one of the most positive, caring and driven colleagues on Fortinet’s North American team. She has won respect from colleagues and the partner community through her experience, commitment to win and ability to get things done.

Lakshmi Saranath

Global Head of Partner Incentives

Google

Just one year into her tenure on the Google team, Saranath has already had a significant impact on the delivery of partner incentives. She is admired for her partner-first mentality and known to set the bar high when it comes to building the best partner experience.

Lorena Little

Channel Development, SMB Sales Leader

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

With over six years at HPE, Little is said to have done an outstanding job building relationships and differentiating distribution programs to reach new, emerging partners and accelerate the advancement of existing ones.

Victoria Smith

Enterprise Partner Manager, Southeast

Hitachi Vantara

Colleagues say Smith is a rock star in her role as one of Hitachi Vantara’s partner managers, driving engagement and growth across her partners, providing exceptional support and delivering the desired outcomes.

Lori Welch

Southeast Regional Manager, Channel MPS

HP Inc.

In her role for HP’s Commercial Print Organization, Welch focuses on managing and developing the company’s Premier Channel Partners. She is credited with contributions that have helped elevate the company’s standing in managed print services.

Tanja Tomić Sr.

Demand Generation Manager

HYCU

A marketing specialist who strives to find the subject and medium that best fit her company’s unique identity, Tomić works closely with channel and resell partners to get the most value out of their relationship with HYCU globally.

Kena Scott

Channel Sales Manager

IBM

In her new management position, Scott is lauded for the experience she brings to bear in making sure IBM and its Business Partners have the right digital strategy. One colleague says she is also known for having “a fantastic attitude that everyone appreciates.”

Nur Rahman

Sr. Manager, Sales Operations

immixGroup, An Arrow Company

Rahman supports the public sector and commercial businesses in North America, leading key initiatives around public sector compliance for partners. Her hard work has resulted in faster time to market of the quote-to-cash cycle.

Rachna Srivastava

Sr. Director, Channel Marketing

Infiot

Srivastava is known as a versatile team player. As Infiot is a startup, every employee wears many hats. Srivastava was quick to identify that Infiot’s primary route to market should be the channel and quickly started a channel training program.

Diane Hoffmanner

Executive Director, Global Operations, Cloud

Ingram Micro

Hoffmanner has led the continued expansion of operations to meet the needs of Ingram Micro’s growing cloud business. Her tireless efforts and “can-do, will-do” attitude set her apart in meeting partners’ needs to better serve their customers.

Kerry Sama Rubio

Sales, Marketing Development Manager

Intel

In her role at Intel, Sama Rubio is known for embracing the customer-obsessed mindset and is always ready to step outside the box. She is willing to take risks with the end goal of achieving impactful results.

Andrea Vanegas Sr.

Global Program Manager

Juniper Networks

Vanegas has had a huge impact on creating opportunities for Juniper’s partners. She has done this through programs that not only drive leads but also drive individuals to take advantage of personal growth opportunities that will continue to benefit them and Juniper in the future.

Nishma Ruda

Channel Marketing Manager, Canada

Kaspersky

Ruda is knowing for arming her channel partners with the right tools, resources and skills to be able to easily and quickly sell Kaspersky solutions. She has built strong relationships across her partners and works with them to develop strategic marketing plans.

Stacey Goodman

Director, Distribution Sales

Lenovo

Goodman has worked tirelessly to forge a new path and relationship with Lenovo’s distribution partners, helping lead them to adopt the Path to Platinum initiative. She has helped Lenovo improve its ability to be nimble in an ever-changing technology landscape.

Amanda Clark

Global Channel Strategy Manager

Lexmark

Clark has been instrumental to Lexmark’s recent accomplishments, including the delivery of the new Connect program platform. She is known for bringing forward transformative initiatives that create win-win scenarios for Lexmark and its partners.

Carolyn Gluth

Head of Education Channel Sales

Logitech

Gluth’s energy and passion are contagious. Having been recently promoted to head Logitech’s education business, she is key to growing the business in the channel and will provide the right programs and find the right solution for every institution.

Heather-Violet Minnella

Director, Channel Sales

Lumen Technologies

Minnella has excelled in every step of her career and now leads Lumen’s relationship with one of its most strategic partners. Her rare combination of work ethic, leadership qualities, drive and strategic vision make her a tremendous asset to Lumen and its partners.

Florence Le Goff

Director, Channel Marketing

Masergy

Le Goff has transformed Masergy’s channel marketing strategy, launching the Zenith Partner Program in July 2020. She has been key to delivering value to partners via a new MDF program and partner communications to drive awareness and increase sales.

Harsha Bennur

Director, Industry Partner Technology

Microsoft

Just one example of Bennur’s extensive leadership impact is her launch of a training initiative in partnership with the Aspire Artemis Foundation for middle- to high-school students who are being left behind due to not having access to digital technologies.

Denise Hanson

Senior Director, Partner Experience

Mitel

Hanson has stepped in to assist partners with escalations and has taken the time to understand their needs and what works best for them. She is a team player with a can-do attitude who will follow through until a problem is solved.

Katherine Heisler

North American Channel Partner Manager

Monday.com

Heisler’s commitment to excellence is evident in her communication, teamwork, professionalism and drive. She works in the fast-paced growing monday.com partner ecosystem and thrives when given the opportunity to share the value of monday.com with partners.

Catherine Craig

Sr. Partner Success Manager

N-able (formerly SolarWinds MSP)

Craig works smart and works hard to get to know partners and elevate their experience. She brings positive energy to the team, looking for the good in all situations and celebrating the hearts and minds of the people behind the brands.

Michelle Lerner

Channel Sales Manager, South Area

NetApp

As a partner advocate with extensive channel experience, Lerner strives to provide exceptional support to partners while driving partner sales development through programs such as BlitzMasters, Executive Briefings and collaboration with channel resources.

Danielle Cadena

Director, Revenue Strategy, Chief Of Staff To CRO

Nextiva

Cadena is described as a jack of all trades who is always willing to roll up her sleeves to help anyone at Nextiva, especially its channel team and channel partners. She is key to enabling the channel sales teams to sell effectively.

Nia Ware

Director, Channel, Scale Programs

Nutanix

Ware delivers programs at-scale for the partner community, such as the XPAND demand generation center; XTRIBE, where partners can engage, learn and get rewarded; and WoW, a partner incentive program to help partners declare “War on Whitespace.”

Alex Rapazzini

Public Sector, Higher Education Marketing Lead

Nvidia

Rapazzini is known for being intelligent, hard-working and an excellent teammate at Nvidia. Over the past year she has helped Nvidia partners develop and execute marketing campaigns that led to more than 3,000 new leads.

Jennifer Grimaldi

Sr. Manager, Channel Marketing

OpenText

Grimaldi is credited with being a key component in the success of OpenText’s channel marketing strategy. She has taken the time to understand and really know the vendor’s MSP and channel partners and is shaping programs that best suit their needs.

Erin Brodie

Head Of Alliances North America

Oracle NetSuite

Brodie leads NetSuite’s alliances partner ecosystem—one of its fastest-growing programs— driving both partner strategy and business development. She is said to advocate tirelessly for her partners, ensuring she’s matching the right partners with the right projects.

Corinne Shepard

Director, Worldwide Channel Enablement

Palo Alto Networks

Shepard had a banner year, taking Palo Alto Networks’ partner sales enablement to new heights with the launch of the Amplify program. She helped raise sales enablement to one of the highest-scoring areas in 2020 in the partner satisfaction survey.

Mary Kusen

Sales Enablement Manager

Panasonic Systems Solutions Company of North America

Kusen amazes colleagues with her positive attitude and ability to get things done. She draws on her strong marketing experience to bring new sales enablement programs to life for the Toughbook channel team.

Jean Plank

Director, Channel Sales

Park Place Technologies

Plank is the ultimate channel champion, leading a team that is laser-focused on partners’ success. From maximizing partners’ margin to solving conflict, she is behind the scenes working for the win-win for Park Place and its partners every day.

Jordan Saylor

Director, Channel Programs

Pax8

Saylor wins praise for being ambitious, detail-oriented and unafraid to take risks. Known for always going the extra mile for partners, she is responsible for Pax8’s education and enablement events, which equip partners with advanced knowledge of solutions.

Jessica Samuels

Global Partner Sales, Marketing Enablement Manager

Poly

In her short time at Poly thus far, Samuels has already had a huge impact on the channel experience. Her creative nature and ability to optimize the enablement practice through the delivery of key tools have greatly benefited partners.

Margret Moyle

National Channel Account Manager, Canada

Proofpoint

Colleagues say Moyle is truly an army of one. She oversees all Canadian channel partners and consistently exceeds benchmarks. Her approach has helped her earn exceptional feedback from internal and external stakeholders.

Julie Rosenberg

Director, Global Partner Technical Sales Programs

Pure Storage

One of Rosenberg’s key skills is that she excels at technology solutions development. She works closely with partners to enable revenue and profit growth and maintains a deep understanding of sales enablement technologies and best practices.

Gina Osmun

Director, Global Partner Engagement

Qlik

Osmun delivers value for Qlik’s partners and team by always taking a data-driven approach to uncover key business insight. Using analytics, she worked with Qlik’s product and finance teams on its Analytics Modernization partner offer and got it to the right partners.

Lindsay Curtis Kindem

Director, Global Partners & Alliances

Red Hat

Kindem secured a third party co-sell infrastructure provider to form the basis of Red Hat’s ISV co-sell program. She also earned a spot in its Advanced Development Leadership Program, where her project was one of the few chosen.

Jenny Kimbley

Partner Programs Manager

RingCentral

Kimbley helps manage RingCentral’s strategic partnership with Avaya and has stepped in to tackle some of the more complicated aspects of the relationship remarkably fast. She distinctly understands how to strategize and succeed within this unique contract model.

Eleanor Winship

Cloud Channel Development Manager

Riverbed

Winship works with Riverbed’s U.S. partners to develop long-term growth strategies for cloud practices. With a combination of curiosity and enthusiasm, she always has the partner top of mind and is the first to offer suggestions and ways to improve.

Kelley Ruffoni

Director, Channel LED

Samsung Electronics America

Ruffoni, who was recently promoted to her role, leads Samsung’s new outdoor LED channel product sales efforts with partners. The product will enable partners to deliver turnkey LED outdoor solutions designed for education, automotive and other segments.

Thi Than Thuong Tran

Chief of Staff, Office of Global Partner Organization

SAP

Tran has been instrumental in helping to make fast decisions that have had a positive impact on SAP’s partner strategy. A key part of the good feedback SAP has received has been “the how” that she helps communicate.

Jillian Murphy

Field Marketing Manager

Scale Computing

Murphy shifted her in-person events skills to creating digital events for Scale Computing’s corporate program and for partner lead generation activities. The results in the pipeline generated from events equaled the amount from the previous year, even though the economic climate had changed.

Eileen Hansen

National Account Manager

Schneider Electric

Hansen is extremely creative when it comes to partner engagement. She outperformed the market by investing in her relationships within her account, partnering with key segment executives to reinvest in an e-commerce strategy, which is returning great results.

Kysha Weeks

Sr. Manager, Global Partner Programs

Sectigo

Weeks played an integral role in the development and launch of the Sectigo Secure Partner Program in January 2021, with a focus on supporting Sectigo’s partners to build new capabilities, deliver more value to customers, drive higher profits and accelerate growth.

Nicole Stavroff

VP, Worldwide Channels

SecurityScorecard

Stavroff led a relaunch of the partner program in fiscal year 2020 while creating valuable relationships with new strategic partners.

Since joining SecurityScorecard, she has ensured partners understand why they should care about security risk ratings and how they can drive their profitability.

Tania Fortin

Account Manager

SherWeb

Fortin is a star among SherWeb’s passionate team of account managers. She gets involved in every aspect of her partners’ business and pushes them to be the best they can be. Her particular area of expertise is Dynamics 365 and how it benefits both partners and their end customers.

Haley Ruiz

Public Sector Channel Enablement Manager

SolarWinds

Ruiz has undertaken the role of nurturing SolarWinds partners and spends a great deal of time creating very thoughtful and effective campaigns that help them drive their business.

Alice Strange

Channel Account Manager

SonicWall

Strange is described as an “amazing talent” and has been key to the success of her partners. Partners have penned notes to management about her going above and beyond to ensure they are successful. Never giving up, she refuses to turn down a challenge.

Michelle Viray

Sr. Manager, Customer Reference Program

Sophos

Viray wears many different hats, but one of the things she does really well is helping partners learn from each other. She identifies unique customer case studies and profiles them so that when prospects or customers are looking for references, she can share these scenarios.

Jackie Balkus

Senior Regional Channel Manager

Spectrum

Balkus started with Spectrum in 2012 and moved to her current position selling in the channel in 2014—and she has never looked back. Her passion to help others succeed has made her successful in her role today.

Jessica Black

Director, Public Sector Systems Integrator Sell-Through

Splunk

Black is known as highly motivated and goal-oriented, bringing an unmatched passion to the team. She has a proven ability to build and grow alliances while driving revenue through innovative partner development and enablement programs.

Kate Saign

Web, Special Projects Manager, Marketing

StorageCraft

Saign is described as a “cool cucumber under pressure,” being “super easy to work with” and gets big kudos for being “whip smart” to top it all off.

Alyssa Tongco Daniel

Manager, Product Business Management

Synnex

Daniel is a top performer and has proven her ability to contribute at a higher level for Synnex. She delivers record program participation and funding and takes an aggressive approach to developing initiatives that address key trends such as AI, IoT and digital transformation.

Jennefer Power

RVP, Partner Sales, Industries, North America

Tableau Software

Power leads a high-performing and diverse team of talent and is known as an inspiring leader in the Americas partner organization. She has aligned her team and partners to better serve customer needs in retail, health care, life sciences and financial services.

Ashleigh Castrichini

Director, Global Integration, Alliances

Tech Data

Castrichini not only knows how to get the technical work done, but she knows how to sell it to resellers and she knows how to calm the same resellers if issues arise. She’s a talented technologist wrapped in a terrific salesperson with very strong management skills.

Grace Ries Regional

Channel Account Manager

Thycotic

A natural leader, Ries has established herself as a trusted connection among her partners. A large part of her success is due to her large partner network. She innately understands how to provide excellent customer and partner support and provides the same service to the sales team.

Anna McElhany

Sr. Partner Success Manager

Todyl

McElhany is where the true impact of Todyl is experienced by its MSP and MSSP partners: interacting, getting answers quickly and knowing that Todyl is there to support them. She brings a deep domain technical expertise and combines it with relationship-building capabilities

Yen Pham Sr.

Manager, Channel Programs, Partner Marketing

Trend Micro

The mantra on the Trend Micro team is “Yen for Everything,” meaning that she is indispensable. Pham has initiative, smarts, drive and is giving of her time and energy to support every ask she gets.

Karen Williams-Rivera

Account Director, Canadian Distribution

Veeam Software

With a strong work ethic and tremendous passion, Williams-Rivera does a phenomenal job in supporting Veeam’s distributors while ensuring that Veeam continues to evolve its plans to meet partner and customer needs.

Joy Brown

Manager, Channel Strategy

Verizon Business

Brown is an innovative thought leader who acts boldly and drives change. She has had a tremendous impact on partners as the strategy lead for the distribution channel and is leading business transformation around the evolution of mobility channel programs.

Katie Oakes

Partner Marketing Manager

Vertiv

Oakes is a rising rock star of the channel. She consistently considers how Vertiv can do better by partners and actively works to create world-class experiences. Many of the programs she managed contributed to the company’s channel success in 2020.

Caroline Fisher

Director, Cloud Sales Planning, Strategy

VMware

Fisher approaches projects with a can-do attitude and has the rare ability to build a big-picture vision and drive the execution of the details required to bring the initiatives to fruition for partners. Her approach, quality of work and dedication are an inspiration to her teammates.

Chelsea Rodgers

Sr. Manager, Partner Marketing

Wasabi Technologies

Rodgers has taken the North America channel by storm. She works with the channel to execute demand generation events and has run many super-creative virtual events from cookie decorating to bourbon tasting and more. Partners love it and so do their customers.

Julia Forsyth

Field Marketing Manager

WatchGuard Technologies

Forsyth is a true business partner for solution providers in her region and an inspiration to the WatchGuard team. This past year, as partner field support become more critical, she paved the way for partner enablement and cooperative demand generation through all phases of the pandemic.

Kristen O’Neal

Channel Business Manager

Xerox

As O’Neal is newer to the Xerox team, she brings many new ideas to her partners, many of which have very established businesses. Her approach to showing them how to use digital resources has been key, with one partner recently saying that “she really can teach an old dog new tricks.”

Julie Green-Heffern

Global Partner Programs

Zoom Video Communications

Green understands how to build, launch and manage programs, while driving company growth as well as profitability for partners. She is a driving force and executes with efficiency and urgency and doesn’t allow hurdles to stop her in achieving her goals.

Bryce Grow

Director, South, Latin America Channel, Alliances

Zscaler

Grow brings incredible partner depth and experience to Zscaler’s partner organization. Her integrity, grit and operational excellence make her an extraordinary channel leader who fights every day for what she feels is right.