Power 100: The Most Powerful Women Of The Channel 2015 (Part 2)

The Power 100

CRN's annual Women of the Channel project honors female executives whose expertise and vision in the channel make them deserving of recognition. Of the 440 honorees this year, 100 have been chosen to represent the Power 100.

Here's a look at Part 2 of the Power 100. For more, see Part 1 of our list. You can also check out the full listing of the 2015 Women of the Channel.

Barbara Huelskamp, Polycom

VP, Channels, Americas

Years in Position: 1.5

Years in Channel: 20

Huelskamp executed on a significant reorganization and new coverage model, requiring a fresh look at how to grow the channel community with fewer resources. She and her team grew their partner target base by 17 percent last year.

Devi Jaspal Rai, MegaPath

VP, Channel Sales, Operations

Years in Position: 0.5

Years in Channel: 8

New to the role, Jaspal Rai has focused on growing MegaPath's indirect sales channel with programs that enable partners to transform. New initiatives included increasing the compensation of strategic masters on voice and UC services.

Pamela Johansen, BMC

Director, Global Channel Operations

Years in Position: 5

Years in Channel: 12

Working with BMC's new owners, Johansen helped steer the development of a go-to- market focusing on a specific customer tier for partners to sell, service and support. Sales of specific products increased 146 percent year over year.

Michelle Kadlacek, Time Warner Cable

Sr. Director, Channel Partner Program Business Class

Years in Position: 3

Years in Channel: 16

Kadlacek verticalized the channel management team to provide more focus on nontraditional master agents such as IT VARs, e-tail programs and more.

Colleen Kapase, VMware

VP, Partner Go To Market Experience, Global Partner Organization

Years in Position: 2

Years in Channel: 17

Kapase launched two new areas through the partner community and enhanced the VMware Partner Network to focus on new technologies such as VMware NSX and software-defined storage.

Krissy Kelley, Fortinet

Sr. Director, Partner Programs

Years in Position: 0.5

Years in Channel: 10

Although new to the Fortinet marketing and channel team, Kelley worked to advance partner engagement and make sure the marketing team was most effectively sharing the "Why Fortinet" story with partners.

Kimberly King, Progress

VP, Global Partners, Channels

Years in Position: 3

Years in Channel: 21

King worked to ensure that an internal reorganization didn't negatively affect the partner community. The advancement of new technology through strong programs she put in place helped partners move to the cloud and take advantage of Progress' portfolio.

Kendra Krause, Sophos

VP, Global Channels

Years in Position: 1

Years in Channel: 17

Overseeing North America channel sales for Sophos last year, Krause led the team to exceed quota and launched a new partner program, deal registration program and an incumbent initiative. She ensured the team stayed focused on helping Sophos be a force in the security industry.

Regina Kunkle, NetApp

VP, Americas Channel Sales

Years in Position: 3

Years in Channel: 10

Kunkle met with channel partners all over the U.S. and launched a series of Partner Executive Summits last year that were well attended by partners. She also helped drive an Americas Partner Awards program across the country and by region.

Kirsten Lee Young, A10 Networks

VP, Global Channels

Years in Position: 1

Years in Channel: 21

With the launch of A10's Affinity Partner Program, Young took several actions to boost partner engagement and build out A10's global channel footprint including a significant investment in online and on-demand enablement.

Justine Lewis, Sophos

VP, World Field, Channel

Years in Position: 2.5

Years in Channel: 8

Sophos is heavily channel-focused, and Lewis invested the majority of her time and marketing budgets with channel partners to create more business and opportunity. She also delivered Partner Conferences across three continents in one month.

Carrie Maslen, SAP

Global VP, Small, Midsize Enterprise

Years in Position: 2

Years in Channel: 30

SAP enjoys a strong footprint in the SME market, as more than 80 percent of SAP customers are SMEs who are served by 12,800 partners. Maslen delivered new products specifically designed, priced and packaged for these partners to sell.

Lisa Matherly, Intel Security

VP, Worldwide Partner Programs, Marketing, Operations

Years in Position: 3

Years in Channel: 14

Matherly helped make the new Intel Security partner program more flexible and profitable with simplified specializations. She also continued to drive a solution-selling approach and raise service attach rates for partners.

Adee McAninch, Veeam Software

Sr. Manager, Alliance, Channel Marketing, North America

Years in Position: 4

Years in Channel: 12

McAninch oversaw the rollout of the True Rewards initiative as part of the company's ProPartner program. More than 1,000 partners are now participating and completing various activities to earn cash.

Brooks McCorcle, AT&T

President, AT&T Partner Solutions

Years in Position: 0.5

Years in Channel: 3

McCorcle opened the AT&T API platform, enabling direct access to AT&T's core systems and capabilities, putting control of the customer experience into the hands of solution providers.

Melissa McCoy, Sungard Availability Services

VP, Channels, Alliances

Years in Position: 6.5

Years in Channel: 15

McCoy drove sales of hybrid IT/cloud solutions in the market by building and executing on go-to-market plans with technology partners such as EMC, Cisco and NetApp and Sungard's mutual partner ecosystems.

Gwen Milligan, Oracle

Sr. Director, Strategic Partner Initiatives

Years in Position: 3

Years in Channel: 15

Milligan expanded on the Oracle Partner Program to create advanced opportunities for partners to grow within their specialized product areas. The Alliances and Channels team drove significant growth in cloud revenue.

May Mitchell, Symantec

VP, Worldwide Marketing

Years in Position: 2

Years in Channel: 21

Mitchell implemented a more market-led partnering approach as Symantec rolled out a completely revamped and simplified Partner Program that provides additional resources and support.

Patricia Moran, Avaya

Sr. Director, Worldwide Channel Development, Activation

Years in Position: 7

Years in Channel: 17

Moran led a channel team that helped move 80 percent of Avaya product sales through channel partners. She also boosted channel coverage through business intelligence and strategic analysis for prioritized recruitment.

Marya Munir, Webroot

Sr. Manager, Worldwide Channel Marketing

Years in Position: 2

Years in Channel: 19

Munir designed and rolled out a revamped Webroot Channel Edge Partner Program, with higher profit margins and access to the Channel Edge Partner Toolkit. Since the launch, Webroot's partner base has grown 207 percent.

Lynn Murphy, Westcon Group

EVP, North America

Years in Position: 5

Years in Channel: 27

Murphy was instrumental in solidifying Westcon Group's strategic priorities to focus on key investments; last year Westcon and Comstor achieved high-double-digit growth across North America.

Nancy Pearson, IBM

Cloud Chief Marketing Officer

Years in Position: 2

Years in Channel: 15

With the channel a critical component of cloud success for IBM, Pearson built out the ecosystem through key events, partnerships and partner marketing. Pearson also was responsible for building the IBM Cloud Marketplace.

Wendy Petty, Verizon

Executive Director, Global Channel Sales

Years in Position: 0.5

Years in Channel: 25

Petty recently joined the company in a newly created position to build a national solution provider and distribution business and has since established partnerships and began building joint business plans and go-to-market strategies.

Penny Philpot, Oracle

Group VP, Worldwide Alliances, Channels

Years in Position: 6

Years in Channel: 27

Philpot continued to enhance Oracle's partner program, the Oracle PartnerNetwork, and established and deployed Partner Business Centers globally that support all 26,000 partners through their life cycle with the company.

Susan Reynolds, SAP

Global VP, Indirect Channels, Cloud

Years in Position: 1

Years in Channel: 17

Reynolds transitioned into leading this fastest-growing portfolio at SAP, offering a curriculum to help partners navigate the business and investment requirements when adding SaaS solutions to their business.

Tammy Richards, Citrix Systems

Managing Director, Worldwide Channel Strategy, Development

Years in Position: 1

Years in Channel: 6

Richards simplified partners' path to success, heightened partner profitabilty, and ensured partners were equipped with a suite of easy-to-use next-generation sales and marketing enablement tools.

Shannon Sbar, APC by Schneider Electric

VP, North America Channels, Global Channel Alliances

Years in Position: 6

Years in Channel: 18

Sbar focused on aligning the company's teams to ensure the correct support for its diverse channel, creating one to support the IT channel and another for specific support for larger partners.

Janet Schijns, Verizon

MarTech Chief

Years in Position: 1

Years in Channel: 16

Schijns ramped up demand generation by using targeted account-based marketing programs to drive customer awareness and generate new prospects for VerizonEnterprise Solutions. She also expanded the partner program to EMEA and public sector.

Gavriella Schuster, Microsoft

GM, Worldwide Partner Group

Years in Position: 1

Years in Channel: 8

Schuster and her team expanded benefits to enable partners to grow their cloud businesses, including four performance-based cloud-focused competencies for Office 365, CRM Online and Microsoft Azure.

Patty Scire, EMC

Director, Global Channel Programs, Strategic Initiatives

Years in Position: 4

Years in Channel: 15

Last year was all about delivering the refresehd Business Partner Program to the channel community, as Scire made sure partners' engagement with EMC was simple, predictable and profitable.

Lauren Shapiro, PlanetOne Communications

President

Years in Position: 4

Years in Channel: 20

Shapiro focused on partner support process improvement and better aligning resources. PlanetOne secured a record number of new accounts last year including Fortune 50 and enterprise businesses.

Barbara Spicek, Nexsan Storage Solutions Imation

EVP, Worldwide Sales

Years in Position: 1

Years in Channel: 20

Spicek launched channel expansion strategies including moving from a closed to an open distribution model to offer partners more flexibility in aligning with their distributor of choice.

Donna St. John, Splunk

Sr. Director, Worldwide Partner Programs, Development

Years in Position: 1

Years in Channel: 20

St. John enhanced the Splunk Partner+ Programs, globalizing the offering, morphing deal registration into a partner value registration program, and increasing access to technical training for partners.

Kay Stewart, Panasonic System Communications Company of North America

Director, Channel, Computers, Tablets, Scanner, DMR

Years in Position: 2

Years in Channel: 15

Stewart helped expand partner product portfolios and grow pipelines of net new business opportunities.

Meaghan Sullivan, SAP

VP, Global Channel Marketing, SME

Years in Position: 3

Years in Channel: 15

Sullivan created leading-edge programs for the global SAP channel. This has led to more than $500 million in marketing lead pipeline and helped indirect routes to market contribute to 37 percent of SAP's total sales.

Florence Sullivan, Seagate

Director, Global Channel Marketing

Years in Position: 0.1

Years in Channel: 19

Sullivan just joined Seagate this spring, and her primary goal is to improve partners' ability to efficiently drive channel revenue and develop new markets and customers.

Neeracha Taychakhoonavudh, Salesforce

SVP, Partner Programs

Years in Position: 2

Years in Channel: 6

Taychakhoonavudh helped drive changes within Salesforce's consulting partner program to better recognize the contributions of partners with specific expertise. A new evaluation weights the scores across each category.

Michele Taylor-Smith, Nutanix

Sr. Director, Channel Marketing

Years in Position: 2

Years in Channel: 8

Taylor-Smith was the first channel person two years ago, and there was no consistency in the way Nutanix approached partners. Today's team makes things simple and valuable for partners.

Heather Tenuto, ShoreTel

VP, Worldwide Channel Programs, Sales Enablement

Years in Position: 2

Years in Channel: 15

Tenuto focused on helping partners be successful selling ShoreTel's premises product while adding cloud products to their portfolio. More than 50 percent of partners are now participating in ShoreTel's cloud program.

Liz Thompson, Rackspace

Marketing Programs Manager

Years in Position: 1

Years in Channel: 1

Thompson rolled out a Partner Lifecyle Management Framework that will be delivered in phases over the next two years, with the goal of creating a consistent communications and engagement process for all types of partners.

Ali Tinney, Level 3

North America Director, Channel Marketing, Alliances, Programs

Years in Position: 5

Years in Channel: 15

As Level 3 worked toward completing a full integration of its acquisition of TW Telecom, Tinney made sure that the company's focus remained on partners and customers.

Lynn Tinney, Riverbed Technology

VP, Americas Channels

Years in Position: 1

Years in Channel: 25

Tinney dedicated resources and attention to partners in Riverbed's new National Partner Program that recognized critical partners in the channel ecosystem. The growth of these partners is double the company's overall growth.

Kandyce Tripp, Palo Alto Networks

Global Head, Channel Operations

Years in Position: 1

Years in Channel: 8

Tripp and her team drove program compliance within Palo Alto Networks. She implemented revised policies, processes, programs and metrics to operationalize channel efficiencies. She also rolled out standardized channel tools.

Michelle Wang, Tripp Lite

Director, Marketing, U.S. Channel

Years in Position: 6

Years in Channel: 13

Wang increased the tools and resources available to partners to help them generate new business with a focus on partner education, sales and marketing. A new partner program has led to stronger relationships for Tripp Lite.

Donna Wenk, Broadview Networks

SVP

Years in Position: 2

Years in Channel: 30

Wenk was brought on board to facilitate channel growth and propel the company to a nationwide cloud services provider. The company has now signed up well more than 50 new active partners since her hire and more than doubled the number of channel managers.

Dalyn Wertz, Comcast Business

Sr. Director, Indirect Channel Management

Years in Position: 1

Years in Channel: 20

Wertz leveraged her 20-plus years of indirect channels and marketing experience to roll out new programs and tools at Comcast Business. Within the first six months she delivered an online Resource Guide for partners with the content they need.

Mariah West, Zerto

Director, Global Partner Marketing

Years in Position: 3

Years in Channel: 6

West invested in growing Zerto's field teams and regional presence to meet the needs of the global channel. She on-boarded a team of field marketing resources and tripled with-partner marketing activities and events in 2014.

Jana Whitcomb, Blue Coat Systems

VP, North America Channel, Service Providers

Years in Position: 2

Years in Channel: 19

Whitcomb built new enablement tools for partners and worked with service providers, building out cloud security solutions they are selling as managed security services.

Mary Catherine Wilson, Dell

Director, North America Channel Marketing, Programs

Years in Position: 5

Years in Channel: 8

Under her leadership, Wilson's team delivered partner programs such as Greenfield for new accounts, partner rep incentives for client and networking, and new tools for MDF and lead management.

Cindy Zwerling, Toshiba America Information Systems

Director, Product, Channel Marketing, Business Solutions Division

Years in Position: 17

Years in Channel: 17

Zwerling focused on providing a high-quality entry-level product line directed toward education and SMB channel partners in the Tecra C50.