The Most Powerful Women Of The Channel

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

Page 9 of 9

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

LUANNE TIERNEY
Director, U.S. Channel Marketing
Cisco Systems Inc.
San Jose, Calif.
Years In Position: 5
Years In Channel: 12
www.cisco.com

Hope To Accomplish: Tierney hopes to encourage partners to marry new media and social/viral marketing with traditional methods. New avenues and tools are having a larger impact on sales, partner and customer communities, and she wants to put the "power of Cisco" behind partners and educate them on how to take advantage of these offerings. In addition, Cisco will be hosting its second annual Partner Velocity event to further educate partners on the latest best practices around new media and Web 2.0 marketing, she says.

Mentor: Chuck Robbins, senior vice president of Cisco. Robbins gave her the "freedom to do what was needed to change the way we approach marketing with our partners." Tierney also gives kudos to Loraine Antrim, CEO of Smart Mouths, who helped her "craft my brand and my communications style."

Executives You Admire: Melody Hobson, Lana Corbi, Genieveve Bos, Nora Denzel, Robin Meade, Sue Bostrom, Barbara Ashkin, Gia McNutt, Brenda Stallings

CHERYL A. TURJA
Director, U.S. Partner Programs
Sun Microsystems Inc.
Menlo Park, Calif.
Years In Position: 1
Years In Channel: 6
www.sun.com

Hope To Accomplish: Turja is committed to leading and participating on the team that is building a competitive business proposition for Sun partners by creating programs that reward for value and investment. She also aims to capture and retain partner mind share predisposing partners to sell Sun first. In addition, Turja aims to drive partners to engage and align with Sun's offerings.

Mentor: Turja says there are many individuals she admires but she is most motivated by those who go after their personal and professional dreams with "vigor and balance" and see the "preparation and adventure of pursuing the course to be just as exciting and important as the end result."

Executives You Admire: Tom Wagner, vice president Americas, channel sales, because of his commitment and loyalty to those on the channel team. She also admires Tim Lieto, who once led Sun's Americas sales organization, because of his commitment to always do the right thing and not be afraid to "march to the beat of a different drummer."

ALLISON WATSON
Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Partner Group
Microsoft Corp.
Redmond, Wash.
Years In Position: 6
Years In Channel: 20
www.microsoft.com

Hope To Accomplish: One of Microsoft's greatest challenges, Watson says, is to build and foster an ecosystem that includes a wide array of traditional and nontraditional partners. Microsoft recently introduced new competencies around search, unified communications and hosting--each represents a growth opportunity for partners. As customers, partners and the industry evolves, she says, Microsoft will continue to evolve to make sure partners get the training, support and marketing and sales tools they need to win new customers and drive great profitability.

Mentor: One of Microsoft's greatest challenges, Watson says, is to build and foster an ecosystem that includes a wide array of traditional and nontraditional partners. Microsoft recently introduced new competencies around search, unified communications and hosting--each represents a growth opportunity for partners. As customers, partners and the industry evolves, she says, Microsoft will continue to evolve to make sure partners get the training, support and marketing and sales tools they need to win new customers and drive great profitability.

Executives You Admire: The CEO of Pepsi, Indra Nooyi, who has a different approach to collaboration and leadership, Watson says. "She looks at the world of opportunity in a new and different way."

SHARON WOOLLEY
Channel Sales Director
SpectorSoft Corp.
Vero Beach, Fla.
Years In Position: 2
Years In Channel: 27
www.spectorsoft.com

Hope To Accomplish: SpectorSoft is getting ready to roll out a Partner Portal that will make it easy to get marketing, sales, training and support with the click of a mouse, Woolley says. She also is involved in fine-tuning the company's Passport Program to make it even more meaningful to solution providers. Most importantly, Woolley says, she's totally committed to making partners even more successful by giving them the tools to close business quickly, as well as proficiently and knowledgeably install and offer support for their clients. "Our goal is to be considered an outstanding vendor to our partners--not just a good one--and we'll do what it takes to achieve that goal.

Mentor: A gentleman name Glen Harmon, who pushed her "kicking and screaming" into sales and then the channel. Woolley first starting working with him at Wangco in the 1970s, a company that made reel-to-reel tape transports for mini and mainframe computers. "He was my friend and trusted mentor up until his death a few years ago. There is hardly a day that goes by that I don't think of him and his sage advice."

Executives You Admire: Symantec's John Thompson, former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, Cisco's John Chambers and Warren Buffett

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