CRN's Top 25 Channel Mavericks are the executives who have shown an extraordinary ability to challenge the status quo in order to provide sales opportunities for the channel. Here's a look at who made the cut, in part 4 of our Top 100 Executives Of 2010.

Being a maverick means bucking the system. That’s just what Martorano has done. His Cloud Champions Club program is a winner that is getting partners to step up to the cloud challenge. It’s the kind of program that would have been kicked around at Microsoft for a year or more before getting off the ground. Martorano brought it to the table a couple of months after being named head of U.S. SMB Channel and Online Services. You can bet on Microsoft making big gains in the SMB cloud space under his leadership.

Burton is pushing EMC deeper into the SMB storage market. No one is better at developing a technology vision and then hammering it home. Bringing him on board was a coup.

This channel veteran’s plan to get partners to take the cloud plunge with 100 percent margin on first-year subscriptions is a game-changer. It’s hard to find any other company with better terms.

He’s been with Cisco for nine years and has brought fresh ideas. He’s a good listener with a firm grasp of channel metrics. Up next: cloud, video collaboration solutions.

He’s a channel superstar who’s bringing watershed changes to drive recurring revenue sales growth for partners. He’s done it before and he’s doing it again.

It is Cisco’s worst nightmare: a no-nonsense sales leader. Donatelli is making sure HP has world-class enterprise products and channel operations.

He wins over resellers looking for aggressive pricing and great customer service. His passion for providing a superior online experience for geeks, including VARs, has changed the online retail world.

His $10.6 billion acquisition of Qwest shakes things up. He walked away with Avaya’s Service Provider of Year award; look for big channel changes in 2011 that drive profit and sales growth for partners.

She’s the architect of a renaissance, laying the groundwork for 100 percent of SME sales through the channel. She knows how to win support for the channel in SAP.

He’s a 110 percent committed channel leader who has provided a big shot in the arm to IBM’s midmarket business. He’s moving ahead with a breakthrough set of prepackaged midmarket applications.

She’s always ready to go to battle for partners and has delivered significant incentives aimed at driving specialization and more MDF flexibility. She also created a fast track certification to give Cisco partners an alternative.

She helped the security company win yet another CRN Annual Report Card award and has delivered strong growth in the enterprise market with a partner program that is second to-none in margin-rich opportunities.

He put together a flexible channel program that adapts to top flight partners. He also delivered double-digit sales growth and brought new incentives—benefits for adding new customers and developing targeted accounts.

He’s a strong channel leader driving aggressive sales engagement with VARs on innovative higher-than-high-margin accessories. The company’s ClickSafe channel campaign was textbook. Look for more channel/product breakthroughs.

He gets high marks for consistent partner commitment. He delivered dramatic gains in services enablement for partners along with new front- and back-end incentives. Expect more around Cloud Manager.

He’s one of the top channel strategists in the business and has led the way for partners to play in IBM’s Smarter Planet initiative. Look for him to have a big impact on IBM’s cloud partnering initiatives.

He’s willing to do what it takes to get the job done. He built HP’s ProCurve into a $1 billion business. Now he’s breaking glass at Brocade. Partners love his no-holds-barred channel commitment.

He’s a cloud computing visionary who has put together innovative hosting products and programs to propel partners into the cloud fast lane. His goal: 70 percent of sales coming from partners.

His leadership put Sage’s channel on the right track with a slew of new partner enablement initiatives. He cleared the way for Sage partners to sell fast-growing health-care applications.

He’s putting up big numbers for Google and profits for partners. The company’s channel program is gaining momentum with each passing day. Partner testimonials speak volumes.

He increased the number of elite partners in AMD’s unified Fusion Partner Program by 56 percent and unified its partner program in anticipation of the launch of Fusion Accelerated Processing Units.

He’s a CEO whose channel track record speaks for itself. Look for him to push deeper into the enterprise and expand the company’s channel base. Evidence of his impact: a victory in the CRN Annual Report Card.

He’s providing new tools for partners to close big deals. One example: A new U.S.-based training center focused on virtualization and data center technologies. Douglas calls it helping VARs “move forward in the marketplace.”

His acquisition of VAR Shared Technologies will spur more VARs to finally unite telecom and data networks. He has vision, knows how to execute, and has VAR commitment that has stood the test of time.

He’s an industry icon and a master at providing the tools and resources VARs need to compete in new markets. He stepped up the distributor’s vertical specialization march by adding energy, financial and retail to the mix.

For more of The Top 100 Executives Of 2010, see part 1 of our list, The 25 most Influential Executives Of 2010; part 2, The 25 Most Innovative Executives Of 2010 and part 3, The Top 25 Channel Sales Leaders Of 2010.