International Women’s Day: Channel Leaders Describe Their Personal Channel Philosophy

'Whether engaging through our portal, interacting with our partner managers, or engaging with our field, there should be a sense that we are in it together for the benefit of our most important stakeholder: our customer,' ServiceNow’s Erica Volini tells CRN.

Women leaders at some of the largest technology companies in the channel share the common cause of doing right by the reseller partner and helping them achieve profitability.

“I strive to empower our partners to be leaders and help them easily engage with our customers by providing them with the tools and learning opportunities that will help them thrive selling our products and solutions,” said Jenni Flinders, channel chief at storage and infrastructure giant NetApp, which has grown its share price 25 percent year to date.

For Red Hat’s Stefanie Chiras, the partner community is full of innovators, and her organization is “deeply engaged” to drive new value and capabilities to customers.

“The end goal of each member is to maximize their impact to that goal and to thrive,” she said. “This is not about Red Hat being at the center. Our partners and customers, alongside us, are the essence of the ecosystem. Success depends on multiple partners working together to meet the unique needs of customers, by co-creating together and by closing deals.

ServiceNow’s Erica Volini said the strongest channel relationships are forged when there is trust and transparency between the vendor organization and the partners that is united by a common goal.

“Whether engaging through our portal, interacting with our partner managers, or engaging with our field, there should be a sense that we are in it together for the benefit of our most important stakeholder: our customer.”

Visit the 2024 Channel Chiefs page to see more answers and insights from these chiefs and others.

Stefanie Chiras

Red Hat

Senior VP, Partner Ecosystem Success

For me, the ecosystem is a community of innovators, much like the open-source communities Red Hat is deeply engaged in. The end goal of the community, as a collective, is to drive new capability and deliver value to customers. The end goal of each member is to maximize their impact to that goal and to thrive. This is not about Red Hat being at the center. Our partners and customers, alongside us, are the essence of the ecosystem. Success depends on multiple partners working together to meet the unique needs of customers, by co-creating together and by closing deals.

Jenni Flinders

NetApp

Senior VP, Worldwide Partner Group

My personal channel philosophy is that as the channel evolves so will partner programs. It is important to make the partner program a transparent process that helps us align with our partners and add value to their organizations. I strive to empower our partners to be leaders and help them easily engage with our customers by providing them with the tools and learning opportunities that will help them thrive selling our products and solutions.

Kimberley King

Hitachi Vantara

Senior VP, Strategic Partners & Alliances

With the tech landscape increasingly complex, partners are absolutely critical to our business. No one company can do it all. Therefore, to ensure that our partners can be successful, it is our responsibility to provide critical data to them: on the market, our opportunities, our customers, etc. Not only does this making doing business with us easier, but it supports and accelerates their ability to transform and grow. Our job is to ensure they have what they need.

Erica Volini

ServiceNow

Senior VP, Global Partnerships

Partnership is more than a transaction. It is an equitable value exchange that drives business forward. To me, partnership needs to be an intimate experience. One where there are no walls between the parties, where transparency underlies every interaction, and where trust is the foundation. Intimacy is the standard to which we aspire [for] all of our partners to feel when they work with ServiceNow. Whether engaging through our portal, interacting with our partner managers, or engaging with our field, there should be a sense that we are in it together for the benefit of our most important stakeholder: our customer.

Michelle Welch

WatchGuard Technologies

CMO and Senior VP of Business Strategy

Channel partners are not a route to market, they are our market. It is our responsibility to deliver products, people, and tools to enable them to thrive. Every dollar we spend, every service we deliver, and every WatchGuardian we hire is dedicated to empowering the channel to bring enterprise-grade security to the masses.