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| Executive | Ken Archer |
| Title | Vice president of North America channels |
| Where based | Basking Ridge NJ |
| Responsibilities | Responsible for North America channel strategy, program and team that supports all sell-thru channels, which includes solution providers/VARs, system Integrator and service providers |
| To whom do you report | Kevin Cook/ vice president of North America Region |
| No. of years in current position | 2 |
| No. of years in the channel | 26 |
| Number of direct reports | 13 direct, 160 in organization |
| Amount of revenue responsible for | Approximately $1 billion |
| Best business decision in the past 12 months | Understanding and focusing Avaya's Partner Portfolio's core competencies on a differentiated program and deployment strategy. This was done in large part by listening, learning and relying on Avaya's partner council(s). |
| Top channel goal for 2007 | Have Avaya's channel be the growth engine for the company as measured by growth in market share, revenue, margin and the number of new customers. |
| Top lesson learned from solution providers | You have to earn the loyalty and dedication of your partners every day. Never forget that partners are our customers and they need to be treated that way every business day. |
| Biggest challenge | Never enough channel resources or investment dollars to do everything that is a potential opportunity for growth. |
| Biggest technology innovation to affect your channel philosophy/operations | Creating an electronic storefront capability for our partners that allows for e-commerce to shorten sales cycles and allow for less complex products to be sold in a volume sales model. |
| Favorite gadget | PDA |
| First personal computer | HP150 in 1988, I think |
| Most admired channel leader | Kevin Gilroy, the new president of Arrow, understands the success formula using partners. |
| Most admired company | Cisco has figured out the route to market economics (expenses to revenue) can be rationalized to allow for 100% fulfillment through the channel. |
| Most admired business person | Bill Gates. No matter what the obstacle (lawsuits, product delays etc), he kept Microsoft focused. |
| Degree(s), College(s) | West Chester University (BS/marketing) Fairleigh Dickinson University (MBA/executive management) |