CRN 2010 Public Sector Awards: Meet The Big Winners

The Year In Public Sector

The 2010 CRN Public Sector Awards honor some of the best and brightest in the public sector channel, and this year's recipients, honored on the final day of XChange Public Sector in Jacksonville this week, included five VAR/integrator categories and four vendor categories.

Kicking off the awards portion of XPS' gala lunch, CRN Networking Editor Chad Berndtson gave attendees a sneak peek at upcoming CRN initiatives like the CRN.com relaunch and Diverse 100 list, and pointed out that this year's awards recipients were some of the toughest choices ever.

Federal Vendor Of The Year

Hewlett Packard copped Federal Vendor of the Year thanks to its efforts toward stimulus education, advisory councils, federal engagement, market development funds and what one of its partners described as the ability to "separate hype from reality better than any other vendor with a federal level program."

Accepting for HP was Mike Humke, VP Channel Partner Specialists, Americas Solution Partners Organization, pictured left with CRN Editor/News Steve Burke.

State And Local Vendor Of The Year

Microsoft had a big year among state and local government focused solution providers thanks to Get Engaged, a targeted program through which Microsoft provided qualified leads, co-marketing funds, the elbow grease of more than 1,000 dedicated employees, and support for the 300 VARs that took advantage of it. CRN's Chad Berndtson presented the State and Local Vendor of the Year Award to Vince Menzione, Microsoft's general manager, Public Sector, Partner Strategy.

Education Vendor Of The Year

One Call Now was the winner for Education Vendor of the Year, thanks to both its state-of-the-art notification system and mission critical messaging services and the unique go-to-market strategy through which it allows VARs' open APIs to develop value-added content of their own. Accepting for One Call Now was sales director Jeff Woolf, here with CRN's Steve Burke.

Healthcare Vendor Of The Year

HP's Mike Humke returned to the stage to accept the award for Healthcare Vendor of the Year, which HP copped thanks to a compelling mix of healthcare offerings, from its Healthcare Expressway Program and partnerships with leading EMR vendors on solutions for physician practice to its Elite certifications for health-care partners. CRN's Chad Berndtson presented the award to Humke.

Education VAR/Integrator Of The Year

In the VAR and integrator categories, Technology Integration Group collected top honors for Education VAR or Integrator of the Year, thanks to 40 percent revenue growth in its education accounts and a range of offerings, from smart classrooms to wireless. TIG's Executive Vice President of Sales Jeff Di Rado accepted the award from CRN's Steve Burke.

Healthcare VAR/Integrator Of The Year

"Listen to enough people talk about our winner for VAR or Integrator of the Year in the healthcare category, and one word keeps coming up: relationships," said CRN's Chad Berndtson, saluting award winner Denali Advanced Integration. Joining Berndtson and Burke to receive the award is John Convery, Denali executive vice president of vendor relations and marketing.

State And Local VAR/Integrator Of The Year

NWN, recently seen collecting accolades at Everything Channel's VAR 500-CIO 50 event in New York, made a return to the stage at XChange Public Sector, copping State/Local VAR or Integrator of the Year following big-time gains in its SLED businesses. Regional Vice President of Sales Shannon Ludwig, accepted the award from CRN Senior Editor Rob Wright.

Federal VAR/Integrator Of The Year

Federal VAR or Integrator of the Year went to Fedstore, whose federal revenue grew nearly 50 percent in the past year and as a company, hasn't stopped growing throughout the past decade. Accepting for Fedstore was vice president of Business Development Don Tiaga, seen here with CRN's Chad Berndtson.

CRN Public Sector Integrator Of The Year

CRN's Public Sector Integrator of the Year award went to MicroTech, which grew its government business by 375 percent year over year and continues to score contract win after contract win, involving itself in high-visibility projects with everything from the GSA Presidential Transition Team to the Department of Defense and Department of Agriculture. CRN's Rob Wright presented the prestigious award to Tony Jimenez, President and CEO.

Go Team Go

In a salute to MicroTech following its Public Sector Integrator of the Year victory, Jimenez thanked his colleagues and pointed to focus and teamwork as key drivers for MicroTech's success in public sector.

Inspire Me

Following the CRN Public Sector Awards came a keynote presentation from Don Yaeger, journalist, author and speaker perhaps best known as a former Sports Illustrated Associate Editor and for Times bestsellers such as Under The Tarnished Dome: How Notre Dame Betrayed Its Ideals For Football Glory.

Addressing the packed hall at XChange Public Sector, Yaeger offered stories of inspiration from the time he's spent with sports legends like Michael Jordan, NFL running back great Warrick Dunn, and NCAA basketball coaching legend John Wooden. It's qualities like the hatred of losing (not just the strive for winning) and associating oneself with great people that make the great ones great, Yaeger offered.

No, Really, He Did

In a few extra moments of levity, Yaeger reminded the XPS audience that he once went one-on-one with Jordan -- and scored on him.

XChange Xcellence Awards

Earlier in the awards show came the XChange Xcellence Awards, which are presented to attending vendors and voted on by attendees in areas such as best of show and technology presentation.

Among the winning vendor teams was Eaton, whose attending representatives took the stage en masse flanked by Everything Channel Senior Vice President of Strategic Content Robert DeMarzo and Program Director Sonja Williams.

XChange Xcellence Awards

Panasonic's Stoney White, senior business development manager, channel sales, picked up the vendor's Xcellence Award from Everything Channel's Sonja Williams.

XChange Xcellence Awards

On behalf of Lenovo, Lorne Shackelford, national business development manager of Insight accepts the Xcellence Award from Everything Channel's Sonja Williams.

XChange Xcellence Awards

On behalf of winner Samsung, Tim Beach, channel program manager of Howard Technology Solutions, picks up Samsung's Xcellence Award from Everything Channel's Robert DeMarzo (right).

XChange Xcellence Awards

VMware's Jeff Fisher accepts the Xcellence Award for the vendor from Everything Channel's Robert DeMarzo (right).

XChange Xcellence Awards

HP's Mike Humke (center) accepts best of show honors from Everything Channel's Sonja Williams and Robert DeMarzo.

See You Next Year!

Winners of the CRN 2010 Public Sector Awards join several XChange Xcellence winners and CRN editors in a group shot.

XChange Public Sector returns to the Sawgrass Marriott in Jacksonville in June 2011.