Email this article   Print article 


2007 Industry Hall Of Fame

By
June 25, 2007    12:00 AM ET

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once wrote that perseverance is a great element of success. "If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody," he said. It's safe to say this year's inductees into the CRN Industry Hall of Fame have suffered their fair share of calloused knuckles and hoarse voices throughthe years. Individually, their paths to success were quite different, but collectively, they shared the same drive to overcome obstacles and become some of the most successful and influential leaders in the IT channel.


When Anne Mulcahy took the reins at Xerox, the company was seriously in the red. Following her famed "Partner or perish" rallying cry, the company last year topped $1.2 billion in profit and has regained its reputation as an innovative technology leader. Roy Vallee's rise to success was more gradual, but no less impressive. The chairman and CEO of Avnet began his distribution career 36 years ago counting parts in a warehouse. Now he counts warehouses around the world as head of the $15 billion supply chain giant. Meanwhile, Gil Shwed's career truly came full circle at the May 22 Hall of Fame ceremony at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Just 13 years earlier, at the same Network+Interop conference, Shwed launched Check Point Software Technologies from a shared booth with no press release, no money and a product developed through 16-hour days and Coca-Cola diets. We applaud this year's trio, who join our long list of honorees previously selected for their outstanding achievements in creating new technology and using the channel to bring that technology to the marketplace.

To continue reading this article, please download the free CRN Tech News app for your iPad or Windows 8 device.
Related: Videos | Slide Shows | Comments

SHARE THIS ARTICLE

More Channel Programs

Recent Articles

The Future Is Bright: Winners Of The Annual GTDC Rising Star Awards

GTDC honored the winning recipients of the Rising Star Awards for hardware and software vendors with the fastest-growing sales through distribution.

The Best (And Worst) Third-Quarter Technology Vendor Stocks

Gainers outnumbered losers among tech vendor stocks in the third calendar quarter, with some vendors like Salesforce.com and Brocade Communications seeing big run-ups in stock prices and others like BlackBerry recording big drops in share value.

5 Companies That Had A Rough Week

For the week ending Oct. 4, CRN looks at IT companies that were unfortunate, unsuccessful or just didn't make good decisions.

  More Slide Shows




Related Videos
Loading...