John Thompson, Chairman and CEO, Symantec

2006 TOP 25:

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In June, Symantec Chairman and CEO John Thompson showed up at a Symantec Partner Advisory Council meeting in Palm Desert, Calif., sat down with regional solution providers and invited them to fire away. Thompson's uninhibited demeanor and lack of reliance on structure was a refreshing approach, according to partners who were at the meeting, and several took him up on the offer.

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But then, Thompson, 57, isn't facing much discontent from Symantec's channel ranks these days. Solution providers, after early concerns that last year's Veritas acquisition would disrupt the company's channel focus, are getting on board with Thompson's vision for synergy between security and storage. The company's stock has recovered, if not boomed, and revenue was up 58 percent to $4.1 billion in its 2006 fiscal year ended in March.

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Now Thompson has set his sights on another often-stated and ambitious goal: boosting Symantec's sales to $10 billion annually by 2010, with 10 percent coming from services.

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Microsoft may have something to say about that as it hungrily eyes Symantec's desktop security cash cow. But in the enterprise business, Thompson's strategy of building a strong internal services delivery and consulting team that taps into the expertise of channel partners puts Symantec on the right track to meet this goal, says Michael Menegay, vice president of security and professional services at En Pointe, a Symantec partner in El Segundo, Calif.

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