25 Public-Sector Channel Leaders

6. Dawn Duross, Cisco Systems
Title: Director of Federal Channels
Years In Position: 4
Years In Public Sector: 20
Most Admired In Gov't: Nancy Pelosi, first woman Speaker of the House
Channel Philosophy: "Focus on customer satisfaction with the agencies you support. It's a small community; your best advocates can be current customers and your best marketing word-of-mouth."

7. Tom Gillman, Juniper Networks
Title: Director of Federal Channels
Years In Position: 2
Years In Public Sector: 23
Most Admired In Gov't: Military volunteers
Channel Philosophy: "Avoid vendors whose loyalty lies with partners who can 'churn' a large volume of transactions just for the sake of meeting a weekly commitment. In the end, there's not a lot of margin or longevity in order entry."

8. Alex Hart, Symantec
Title: Director of State, Local & Academic Channels
Years In Position: 7
Years In Public Sector: 7
Most Admired In Gov't: IT professionals
Channel Philosophy: "The sheer size of the state, local and academic market is an automatic challenge. It's by definition a much more fragmented market space than federal because of the disparate needs of each customer and the number of decision-makers involved. But by understanding the 'why' and not just focusing on the 'how,' solution providers find innovative ways to solve problems, thereby differentiating themselves from their competition."

9. Bill Hartwell, Motorola
Title: Vice President of Government Business
Years In Position: 2-plus
Years In Public Sector: 12-plus
Most Admired In Gov't: Scott Hastings, former CIO of the Department of Homeland Security
Channel Philosophy: "The public-sector channel and customer base are very interested in solutions that combine application software, hardware and services to solve their major business issues and mission responsibilities. Partners should position themselves as subject-matter experts and provide end-to-end solutions."

10. Jeff Hoagland, Nortel
Title: Senior Vice President of Federal Channels and Integrators
Years In Position: 2
Years In Public Sector: 2
Most Admired In Gov't: No answer
Channel Philosophy: According to Nortel, solution providers need to choose vendor partners as much by rewards as technology. [VARs should go with those that offer] an industry-leading combination of support and incentives for innovation, achievement and speed to market.

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