Channel Chief: Mark Hanny

> YEARS WITH THE COMPANY: 18
> AGE: 45
> QUOTE: "We are committed to helping our business partners achieve profitability and growth,especially our top contributors,through a consistent and comprehensive solutions strategy that incorporates our business partners developing applications or performing customized services around our IBM software and hardware infrastructure platforms."

Despite a slow,and in some cases, declining,market, IBM Software grew 2.7 percent in 2001, the year in which it officially assimilated Lotus. On the whole, IBM remains one of the biggest players in the software space, with annual revenue of almost $13 billion. The unit headed by Hanny offers a product line built around the WebSphere family and relies on solution providers to help it reach the SMB space,one of several keys to the division's growth.