CRN's 30th Anniversary: 30 In Their 30s

Channel Leaders In Their 30s

CRN is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and with that, we're recognizing 30 channel leaders that are still in their 30s. While members of this list may have been toddlers when the technology channel was first taking shape, they are putting their own stamp on the industry and helping to mold the technology landscape that keeps reinventing us all.

Daniel Adamany

President
Ahead Consulting
Chicago

Five years ago Adamany left a job at EMC as global account manager to start his own Chicago-based solution provider business focused on next-generation data centers. Today the company has seen astronomical growth -- $3 million in 2007 to $130 million in 2010. He's certainly a VAR to keep an eye on.

Ira Bell

COO
Nimbo
New York

As COO of Nimbo, Bell helps customers understand the opportunity around cloud computing and SaaS, specifically leveraging Microsoft's Azure platform. Bell started his career as a Computer Forensics Engineer at Grant Thornton before moving to EMC and then helping to start Nimbo a little more than two years ago.

Michael Cohn

Co-founder, SVP, Marketing
Cloud Sherpas
Atlanta

As one of the founders of the high-flying cloud services company Cloud Sherpas, Cohn helps position the company, helping it to earn Enterprise 2011 Partner of the Year from Google, merge with GlobalOne and receive $20 million in funding.

Brooke Cunningham

Sr. Director, Global Partner Marketing
QlikTech
Radnor, Pa.

Cunningham earned her chops helping to develop VAR and distribution programs at Business Objects, SAP and CA. Today she leads global partner marketing for Qlik Tech, a business intelligence software company founded in Sweden.

Jeremy DeSpain

COO, Partner
Explore Consulting
Bellevue, Wash.

DeSpain is a busy guy and quite the Renaissance man . He is COO and Partner at Explore Consulting, one of the largest NetSuite VARs and 2011 NetSuite Partner of the Year. He also currently holds active management roles with DeSpain Land & Cattle Co. and Kidd Island Lodge as well as being involved in residential and commercial painting.

Adam Famularo

GM, Enterprise, Cloud Solutions
CA Technologies
Islandia, N.Y.

Famularo put CA on the enterprise cloud map. Now he's helping the U.S. get its cloud house in order as a commissioner for the TechAmerica Foundation CLOUD2 Commission, which is chartered with developing best practices for cloud deployment for the Obama administration.

Kyle Forster

VP, Sales, Marketing
Big Switch Networks
Palo Alto, Calif.

As the co-founder of this hot network virtualization startup, Forster promises to be someone to watch in the future. He got his start at Web integrator Scient and then moved onto Cisco in product management roles.

David Geevaratne

President
New Signature
Washington, D.C.

As president of this D.C.-based consulting firm, business value and ethics is front and center for Geevaratne (pictured here with CRN's Kelley Damore and Steve Burke). Six months after New Signature was born, a major client went out of business and left New Signature with a substantial amount of bad debt. The company got a loan from a customer -- a nice endorsement -- and paid it off within three months.

Eran Gil

Co-founder, SVP, Business Development
Cloud Sherpas
Atlanta

Three years ago Gil jumped on the cloud bandwagon and started Cloud Sherpas. Last month the organization merged with GlobalOne, combining expertise in Google apps and salesforce.com.

Adam Gray

Co-founder, CTO
Novacoast
Santa Barbara, Calif.

For 15 years Gray has led the technical charge at Novacoast, a Southern California VAR. His area of expertise is security, earning him the title of Certified Information Security Manager.

Allison Harabis

Channel Program Manager, Americas
McAfee
Santa Clara, Calif.

Harabis is the go-between: She works closely with McAfee's VARs, seeking feedback and ferreting out new opportunities for partners to invest and engage with McAfee. She also works closely with McAfee internal teams to highlight the importance and value of the channel.

Ron Huddleston​

SVP, Global ISV Alliances
Salesforce.com
San Francisco

Huddleston had a 13-year career in channel development and direct sales at Oracle before he jumped to Salesforce.com more than two years ago. Today he has been tasked with cultivating and managing Salesforce.com's ISVs and OEM partners and supporting their cloud efforts on the Force.com platform.

David Koretz

President, CEO
Mykonos Software
Rochester, N.Y.

Onetime child prodigy Koretz has pushed the technology envelope since the turn of the century. His latest and greatest role is leading the charge for Mykonos -- a Juniper Networks company -- touted by Gartner as a 2010 cool vendor.

Kendra Krause

VP, Channel Sales, Operations
Fortinet
Sunnyvale, Calif.

For much of her career Krause has been focused on security, working at WatchGuard, SonicWall and Fortinet. She's been leading the charge on channel sales and operations for five years at Fortinet, earning high marks from VARs.

Gordon Lord

Director, Channel Marketing, Programs
APC by Schneider Electric
West Kingston, R.I.

Lord is in the sales trenches hooking up APC by Schneider Electric partners as part of the company's partner-to-partner collaboration program. It's all part of a massive effort to get partners to work together to take the high ground in the data center power/cooling transformation march.

Erin Malone

Sr. Director, Channel Sales
CA Technologies
Islandia, N.Y.

Malone built up her channel resume at Websense where she focused on channel sales, marketing and enablement for more than 10 years. Last year Malone moved over to CA as senior director of channel sales.

Brad Maltz

CTO
ICI
Marlborough, Mass.

Maltz is technology wizard that has put ICI at the forefront of the virtualization/cloud solutions market with his technology skills and leadership. He's also one of only 36 VMware certified design experts in the world.

Eric Martorano

Senior Director, U.S. SMB Channel Group
Microsoft
Redmond, Wash.

Martorano has almost single-handedly moved Microsoft onto the cloud computing fast track with new programs and partnering initiatives that are powering big transformations in the partner ranks. And he never misses a chance to give back, leading a massive Microsoft channel charitable program.

Pat Matthews​

SVP, Core Business
Rackspace
Austin, Texas

Matthews founded Webmail.us and was one of Rackspace's largest customers. In 2007 Rackspace acquired his company and today he leads the charge on the company's cloud initiatives and strategy, heading up Rackspace's Cloud Business unit.

Kara Myers

Director, Americas Field Marketing, Channels
EMC
Hopkinton, Mass.

Myers started in distribution with stints at IE, Ingram and Arrow. Five years ago she moved over to EMC in a field marketing role where she oversees program execution, communications, marketing and regional support for business unit teams.

Kevin O'Brien

Sr. Director, Cloud, ISV, SaaS Strategy
Oracle
Redwood Shores, Calif.

Fresh off a business degree from Harvard, O'Brien landed at Oracle where, for the past six years, he has developed and executed Oracle channel programs. Today he focuses on Oracle's ISV and SaaS partner strategies.

Scott Putnam

President, CEO
Apex Technology Management
Lancaster, Calif.

Putnam began working at Apex as a technician while he was a high school student and was CEO of the company at 25. With his hands-on solutions experience, he has built Apex into one of the most respected technology innovators in the country.

David Rabin

Director, Channel Marketing
Lenovo
Morrisville, N.C.

Rabin leads the channel and retail marketing efforts as Lenovo forges into new areas such as tablets. He has been with Lenovo for five years and previously worked at Young & Rubicam for four years.

Tony Safoian

President, CEO
SADA Systems
Los Angeles

Safoian has led SADA for 11 years offering managed services, remote monitoring and IT consulting to businesses in Southern California. SADA has moved heavily into cloud services and in 2009 Safoian became one of the first Google apps resellers in the world. Today SADA is a global Premier Google App Reseller to the enterprise and SMB.

Marc Sherman

VP, Marketing, Sales Enablement
APC by Schneider Electric
West Kingston, R.I.

A 16-year APC by Schneider Electric veteran, Sherman has directed an unprecedented investment in power/cooling partner enablement and training. One of his biggest accomplishments: a suite of energy assessments to help partners win deals.

Narinder Singh

Co-founder, Chief Strategy Officer
Appirio
San Mateo, Calif.

As co-founder of red-hot cloud provider Appirio, Singh helps enterprises accelerate the adoption of public cloud applications and platforms. His former stint at SAP working in the Office of the CEO, Corporate Strategy Group surely must have helped him to see the future opportunities in the market.

Matt Smith

Director, Channel Marketing
HP
Palo Alto, Calif.

With an engineering background, Smith started at Intel in marketing and business development roles. Two years ago he moved to HP, where he leads the channel marketing efforts for the Americas.

Dave Sobel

Director, Partner Community
Level Platforms
Kanata, Ontario

For 15 years Sobel was CEO of Evolve Technologies, a Mid-Atlantic VAR focused on managed services, and a regular contributor to CRN. He recently moved to Level Platforms where he will use his channel expertise and relationships to lead the partner communities.

Paul Vallee

Founder, CEO
The Pythian Group
Ottawa, Ontario

As founder and executive chairman of The Pythian Group, Vallee has in-depth expertise in managing databases of all kinds as well as administering ERP applications.

Mary Catherine Wilson

Director, Channel Marketing
Dell
Round Rock, Texas

When you think of PartnerDirect, you should think of Wilson. She is responsible for the strategy and delivery of Dell's partner programs, including online initiatives in the U.S. and Canada.

More From CRN's 30th Anniversary Celebration​

CRN Turns 30:
CRN's 30th Anniversary
30 Peers With 30 Years
Happy Anniversary, CRN