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The Most Powerful Women Of The Channel

By Jane O'Brien
August 15, 2008    5:00 PM ET

Page 2 of 9

Women Of The Channel Home
There's Strength In Numbers
Words To Live By
The List

Celine Azizkhan SHARON BRINDLEY
Vice President, U.S. Business Channels, SMB
Lexmark International Inc.
Lexington, Ky.

Years In Position: 3
Years In Channel: 12
www.lexmark.com
Hope To Accomplish: Brindley over the past year was instrumental in introducing the industry's first vertical multi-function printing (MFP) devices, including the education Station, Clinical Assistant and Legal Partner -- all of which give the company's channel partners solutions to sell, not just a "box".

Mentor: Laurie Benson, CEO of Inacom Information Systems

Celine Azizkhan LINDA BROTHERTON
Chief Technology Officer
ConnectWise
Tampa, Fla.

Years In Position: 10
Years In Channel: 10
www.connectwise.com
Hope To Accomplish: This year Brotherton will be adding distribution modules to manage purchasing, inventory and RMA functions within its product. This is going to help ConnectWise's telephony customers who require more in-depth inventory functionality.

Mentor: Her father. He worked 37 years for the power company and put three children through college. He almost never missed a day of work, Brotherton says, and showed her what you can accomplish through hard work.

Celine Azizkhan JANE CAGE
COO
Heartland Technology Solutions
Joplin, Mo.

Years In Position: 5
Years In Channel: 23
www.heartlandtechnologies.com
Hope To Accomplish: Establish standard HR procedures within Heartland Technology Solutions as the company has grown. In addition, Cage wants to automate KPI reporting for more realtime information throughout the organization. Also, she will provide input on the success and growth of Everything Channel events.

Mentor: Although she and Laurie Benson, CEO of Inacom Information Systems, are close in age, Cage says, she has learned so much from her approach to her business and her involvement on advisory boards.

Executives You Admire: Frank Vitagliano (Juniper), Justin Crotty (Ingram Micro), Shirley Turner (formerly of Intel) and Laurie Benson

Celine Azizkhan LINDA CONNLY
Vice President of Strategic Alliances, Americas
EMC Corp..
Hopkinton, Mass.

Years In Position: 3
Years In Channel: 6
www.emc.com
Hope To Accomplish: Connly says she aims to continue to grow the business and go deeper with partners to help them win more business with EMC.

Mentor: Within EMC, Connly says he mentors have been Bill Teuber, vice chairman, and Paul Dacier, executive vice president and general counsel.

Executives You Admire: John Chambers, CEO of Cisco

Celine Azizkhan LESLIE S. CONWAY
Vice President, Marketing
Digium Inc.
Huntsville, Ala.

Years In Position: Since June 30
Years In Channel: 17
www.digium.com
Hope To Accomplish: Since this is a new position for channel veteran Conway (formerly of Adtran), the focus is on what she hopes to accomplish in her new role. Her goal is to bring to bear her marketing and channel expertise to get Digium's products, including the Switchvox line, into the hands of the company's resellers. Conway also plans to build out Digium's channel, both in North America and abroad, and will be part of the team responsible for identifying strategic partners. These partners will substantially broaden Digium's ability to address a particular market segment.

Mentor: Mark Smith, founder and former CEO of Adtran. Conway says Smith taught her that you 'learn the most through discovery.' He mentored by example--if you were facing an issue he would discuss it and the options but leave the course of action up to you. He reinforced independent thinking and let Conway think outside the box, she says.

Executives You Admire: Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric. Conway says she was fortunate to be part of the Edison Engineering program at GE when he was there. His innovative management strategies left a lasting impression and influenced her throughout the years.

Celine Azizkhan MICHELLE DROLET
CEO
TOWERwall.
Framingham, Mass.

Years In Position: 15
Years In Channel: 15
www.towerwall.com
Hope To Accomplish: Drolet's goal is to increase revenue by 15 percent to 20 percent over last year. She hopes to continue increasing revenue while providing her customers with Raving Fan Service. The company is weighing the feasibility of providing managed security services. Drolet wants to help customers stay ahead of the curve by investigating new services and technologies on the market.

Mentor: Her mother, who is a general contractor in Texas.

Executives You Admire: Nancy Reynolds of Trend Micro and Terri Curran, SCO of Bose.

Next: KATIE DUMALA

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