Channel News
2023 Channel Chiefs: The 50 Most Influential
Rick Whiting
As part of CRN’s 2023 Channel Chiefs, here’s a look at 50 influential leaders who drive the channel agenda and evangelize the importance of channel partnerships within the IT industry.
Palo Alto Networks
Karl Soderlund
SVP, North America Ecosystem Sales
Soderlund is responsible for driving all ecosystem routes to market, developing and executing a competitive go-to-market strategy, and leading a world-class sales team. In his previous role as senior vice president of worldwide channels at the company, he was responsible for global channel strategy sales and partnerships, ensuring the company’s mission was aligned with the NextWave Partner Program.
In 2022 Soderlund and his team rolled out a specialization program as part of NextWave based on demand from partners that no longer want to be master generalists. This specialization both enables partners to become more profitable and allows Palo Alto Networks to bring new technologies to market quickly through its partner base.
Soderlund joined Palo Alto Networks in 2017 as vice president of Americas channels and was responsible for the channel execution and revenue of partners in North America. Prior to joining the company, Soderlund had over 25 years of experience in senior executive roles driving revenue results in the enterprise software, hardware and infrastructure markets with companies such as Aruba, Cisco Systems, Fortinet and other companies.
Learn More:
Channel Programs
