Make Your Picks: The 2026 CRN Channel Madness Bracket Contest Is Open

The 2026 CRN Channel Madness Tournament of Chiefs bracket is live, and it’s time to make your picks ahead of voting on March 12.

Ready to call your shots? The 2026 CRN Channel Madness Tournament of Chiefs bracket is live, and it’s time to make your picks ahead of voting on March 12.

The brackets are officially set for CRN’s 12th annual Channel Madness Tournament of Chiefs, giving readers an early chance to predict the winners before the first votes are cast on March 12. This year’s field of 32 brings together some of the channel’s most influential executives in a head‑to‑head showdown decided entirely by reader voting.

With 2025 champion Tom Evans sitting out this year in favor of fellow Cloudflare executive Christine McElduff, the tournament will crown a new winner in 2026. Returning contenders include two members of last year’s Field of Four—Michael DePalma of OpenText and Scott Barlow of Sophos—along with former champion Kevin Rooney of Veeam Software.

The bracket also features several first‑time competitors, including Hope Galley of Everpure, Craig Patterson of Exabeam, Wade McFarland of Lenovo and Michael Park of ServiceNow, adding a new dynamic to this year’s competition.

The time has come to test your prediction prowess to see if you can pick the perfect bracket. Results will be displayed on the 2026 Channel Madness Bracket Contest leader board.

Join us at CRN.com/madness now to pick your bracket, then come back starting March 12 to cast your votes and choose your chief!