Scenes From The CRN 2026 Best Of The Channel Awards Gala

Some of the channel’s best and brightest stars gathered in Atlanta on Oct. 13 for CRN’s Best of the Channel Awards. Here’s a look at how the night went down.

CRN and parent The Channel Company celebrated the second annual CRN Best of the Channel Awards at a gala event on October 13 in Atlanta at the historic Fox Theatre.

This special night was dedicated to honoring the IT channel’s brightest stars and the outstanding contributions and accomplishments of visionary executive leaders, teams and companies within the IT channel.

Showcasing the pinnacle of channel excellence, the honorees of this year’s awards represent the channel at its best, setting the standard for innovation, leadership, lasting impact and success throughout the past year.

Click ahead for some scenes from the evening.

CRN received more than 300 nominations across 15 different categories for this year’s Best of the Channel Awards. The process to determine the winners included two judging panels that included CRN editors as well as a mix of solution providers, vendors and other industry leaders. Winners were kept under wraps until they were announced from the stage at the gala.

Jon LoBello, director of IT channel program strategy for North America at Schneider Electric, arrives at the gala. LoBello was the winner of the Best Emerging Leader of the Year Award at last year’s event.

Michael Csoke, senior account executive at ePlus Technology, and Andrea Watkins arrive at the Fox Theatre.

EPlus was a finalist for Best AI Solution Provider of the Year, Best Solution Provider of the Year and Best Security Solution Provider of the Year.

Quantiphi’s Jim Keller (left) and Jhon Alexander global marketing leader (second from the right), pose with CRN’s Jennifer Follett and Steven Burke.

Keller, global head of AWS and Snowflake partnerships, went on to win the Best Channel Visionary of Year – Solution Provider Award, while Quantiphi took home the trophy for Best Solution Provider of the Year.

Halo CCO Tim Barton-Wines (left) poses with Chesley Choudhury, founder and chairman of TanChes Group, while Tanaz Choudhury, president of TanChes, snaps a photo.

Halo went on to win the Best Vendor of the Year Award.

The team from ConRes included (left to right): Fred Sponholz, senior cloud services manager; Aaron Schnarrs, solutions manager, Modern Work; Shawn Timmerman, account executive; Paul Rossi, senior client account executive at Ingram Micro; Ashton Lande, Director of Cloud Services & Customer Success; Mark Boisvert, director of marketing; Peter Mirabile, Chief Service Officer, Managed Services; Liz Costerisan, CRO; Aaron Leiberman, CTO and Nick Novello, account executive.

Mirabile was a finalist for Best Channel Visionary of the Year – Solution Provider, while ConRes was a finalist for Best Solution Provider Team of the Year.

Nucleus Networks CEO Jennifer Roy poses with NetGain Technologies CEO Hank Dallam for Brook Lee, senior director of community and channel at Rev.io.

Roy was a finalist for the Best Solution Provider CEO of the Year Award, while Lee went on to win the Best Channel Achiever of the Year Award.

Eaton’s Stephanie Durden, channel marketing manager, chats with other attendees during the cocktail hour.

Eaton was a finalist for the Best Channel Marketing Team of the Year Award.

CEO Anthony D’Ambrosi and Pamela Diaz, managing director of global marketing and partnerships, of Abacus arrive at the gala.

D’Ambrosi was a finalist for the Best Solution Provider CEO of the Year Award.

Gordon Lord, vice president of channel sales at Schneider Electric, arrives at the Fox Theatre.

Lord would go on to win the Best Channel Visionary of the Year – Vendor/Distributor Award. The company was also a finalist for Best Channel Marketing Team of the Year.

Best of the Channel Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Felise Katz, CEO of PKA Technologies, poses with her family ahead of the awards ceremony.

From left to right: Eli Katz, director of cloud and consumption services, PKA; Peter Katz, co-founder and chairman, PKA; Felise Katz; Ricki Gelbart and David Katz.

Ashley Huntley, vice president of marketing operations, and Meredith Payne, vice president of digital growth and customer service (right), at TD Synnex sit together at the gala.

Payne was a finalist for Best Channel Visionary of the Year, while TD Synnex won the Best Channel Team of the Year Award and was also a finalist for the Best Channel Marketing Team of the Year Award.

Jon Groves, CEO of Logicalis US, walks to the stage to accept the award for Best Solution Provider CEO of the Year.

Felise Katz, CEO of PKA Technologies, gives her acceptance speech for the 2026 CRN Best of the Channel Lifetime Achievement Award.

Katz for nearly three decades has built a career around a simple but powerful philosophy: Listen to your customers, understand what they truly need and always show up when they are counting on you. She is also a trailblazer for women in technology and the channel, opening doors, developing leaders and demonstrating that combining strength, empathy and an unwavering commitment to customers and community is a powerful formula for success.

Felise Katz, CEO of PKA Technologies, is welcomed back to her table by Russ Chow, vice president of PKA, after she accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award.

CRN Executive Editor, News, Steven Burke prepares to welcome an award winner the stage.

Patrick McGrath, director of sales (left), and David Burke, account executive, at GuidePoint Security head to the stage to accept the award for Best Solution Provider Team of the Year.

Melissa Nacerino, vice president of global marketing at Zscaler, leaves the stage with the trophy for Best Channel Marketing Team of the Year.

AHEAD’s Alessandro Douvis, managing CSE (left) and Stephen Ayoub, executive chairman, make their way to the stage to accept the Best AI Solution Provider of the Year Award.

Christina Pulley, vice president of North America channels, and Dave Rogers, head of worldwide channels and alliances at Cyera, walk to the stage to accept the award for Best AI Vendor of the Year.

Arctic Wolf’s Bob Skelley, vice president of global channel (center), celebrated the company’s win of the Best Security Vendor of the Year Award onstage with The Channel Company’s Cody Savoie (right) and CRN’s Steven Burke.

Halo CCO Tim Barton-Wines hugs CRN’s Jennifer Follett as Amy Sellers, enterprise implementation consultant, and CRN’s Steven Burke look on. Halo won the Best Vendor of the Year Award.

Quantiphi’s Saurabh Mishra, global head of Google Cloud business (right), joins magician Ben Seidman on stage as part of the evening’s entertainment.

Mishra was a finalist for the Best Channel Achiever of the Year Award.

The winners of the 2026 CRN Best of the Channel Awards.