Here’s How 20 Channel Chiefs Describe Their Personal Channel Philosophy
Channel executives on the CRN 2025 Channel Chiefs list were asked to describe their personal channel philosophy. From the role the channel plays in IT vendors’ go-to-market strategies to best practices for building vendor-partner relationships, here’s what 20 channel chiefs had to say.
Channel executives set the tone and pace for how their company works with channel partners, both on a day-to-day basis and for the strategic long term.
So how these executives think about the channel is critical. Truly effective channel chiefs go beyond “channel management” and consider more deeply about vendor-channel partner relationships and what makes them successful.
As part of the CRN 2025 Channel Chiefs Project, we asked the more than 550 channel executives that made the list to describe their personal channel philosophy. Here’s what 20 had to say.
1Password
Lori Cornmesser
VP, Channel & Alliance Sales
My personal channel, and general life, philosophy is to stay curious and continue learning. Even after over 28 years in this business, I'm always reminded of something my dad used to say: "If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room." In my work with the partner community, I apply this by going on comprehensive listening tours and approaching strategic decisions from the lens of the partner. Not only does this set the stage for building strong, lifelong partner alliances, it also helps with really understanding what it takes to be the vendor of choice.
Amazon Web Services
Ruba Borno
VP, Worldwide Specialists, Partners
I truly believe that partners are a force multiplier for customer business outcomes and can help them achieve more across their digital transformation. AWS partners are enabling our customers by onboarding and scaling their capabilities to get the most out of their cloud journey. I continue to be committed to working with our partners today, and building on these relationships to drive greater customer outcomes in the future. This means deeply understanding our partner's needs, ensuring we listen to their feedback and innovate to provide a simple, personalized, experience that helps partners grow their business and increase profitability.
Arctic Wolf
Bob Skelley
VP, Channel Strategy, Programs, Development
Partnerships are built on trust, and the IT channel in particular has always valued relationships, trust and a bi-directional business relationship where both parties are invested in each other's success. My channel philosophy is grounded in these core tenets and form the foundation of how I approach every relationship in the channel.
Cloudflare
Tom Evans
Chief Partner Officer
My channel philosophy is rooted in the belief that partners are essential to our success and critical in enhancing our customers' security posture. I focus on building collaborative, value-driven relationships that transcend transactions, creating an ecosystem where we navigate challenges, innovate, and thrive together in a dynamic marketplace. The success of our channel partners directly impacts our collective achievements, so I prioritize investing in their growth through tailored programs, strategic guidance, and ongoing support. This approach strengthens our greatest competitive advantage: our partners, reinforcing our commitment to delivering exceptional value and resilience to our customers.
CrowdStrike
Michael Rogers
VP, Global Alliances
Partnering has always been about "the power of we," meaning there is exponentially more that multiple parties can accomplish together than alone. My philosophy is a model where all parties understand the value that each brings to the opportunity with a mutual focus on a positive outcome for customers. By putting the customer in the center of the ecosystem, all partner types can play a role in an opportunity. Culture is everything – whether it's within the team I have the pleasure of leading at CrowdStrike or our partners. My goal is to fulfill the shared mission of stopping breaches.
Dynatrace
Jay Snyder
SVP, Global Partners, Alliances
My motto is that in sales you "do business," but in the channel, you "build" a business. A successful ecosystem requires understanding partner motivations, investing in their enablement, and ensuring your program is simple and profitable. Focus on the partners driving 80 percent of revenue, create three-year business plans, and establish structured governance to scale effectively. Finally, I want to drive a culture of "partner first" whereby accountability sits on both us and the partner. To do this, I believe strongly in teaming agreements which ensures expectations are aligned early and we can get maximum impact from the partner.
Fortinet
Tom Babula
Director, Channel Sales
Pay close attention to the details and never underestimate the power of having small successes every day that add up to significant results. Do the math – don't lose sight of the goals and work together with your partners to achieve them.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Jesse Chavez
VP, Worldwide Partner Program, Operations
You treat the channel like you would your own company. It's all about honesty, transparency and keeping to your commitments.
HYCU
Chris Nelson
SVP, Global Sales
This goes back to every decision I typically make, which is with a partner's customer in mind. You start at your partner's customer and work your way back. I use that approach to understand what needs to be done. It's important to understand why a partner is winning and losing and who their ideal customer profile is, and how we can help. That means focusing on five key items: 1. Understand your differentiation and business value. 2. Focus on enablement. 3. Understand your technology fit and purpose. 4. Understand your partner's ideal customer profile. 5. Understand your core business value.
Infoblox
George Hope
VP, Americas partner Sales, Alliances
My personal channel philosophy is to focus on strategic partners by dedicating 80 percent of my time to the top 20 percent who drive the most value. I develop clear goals and priorities that align with my partners' objectives. By fostering strong relationships and understanding their unique needs and challenges, I provide tailored resources and support to help them achieve their goals. This approach ensures impactful collaborations that drive mutual success and long-term growth. Concentrating efforts on key partners maximizes efficiency, enhances partner satisfaction, and achieves greater overall success.
Ingram Micro
Therese Ferullo
VP, Sales
The channel is all about people. Success stems from partnerships, relationships, and a deep understanding of customer goals. While how we deliver results evolves, the people we rely on remain a constant. We achieve more together, building connections powered by human effort and trust. Technology enhances efficiency and optimization, but it's the people driving those connections who truly make success possible. Together, we win.
NetApp
Jenni Flinders
SVP, Worldwide Partner Organization
My personal channel philosophy is that as the market and customer needs evolve, partners and the programs that support them need to evolve. Building a partner-first culture and rewarding our partners for delivering value to our customers enabled through programmatic benefits, training, and tools. I strive to empower our partners to build their capabilities with NetApp and accelerate our joint-success and co-selling together.
NetBrain Technologies
Alex Alvarez
SVP, Worldwide Partners, Alliances
I look for ways to create a triple win. First, the customer solves key business problems and saves money. Second, the partner makes great margins, sells recurring services and becomes an integral part of the customers ecosystem. Third, NetBrain sells more software to happy customers and partners. The synergy in partners delivering services alongside leading-edge AI, observability and automation NetBrain technology makes this possible.
Palo Alto Networks
Michael Khoury
VP, Ecosystem Partners
When I think of partners the first word that comes to mind is “scale.” In my view, companies have limited growth opportunities without leveraging their full partner ecosystem. Particularly in cybersecurity, partners add value throughout the entire customer lifecycle, from solution development and proposal, to resale and distribution, to support and managed services. When customers are buying cybersecurity solutions, they're looking to solve a challenge (or multiple) and partners act as trusted advisors to listen and help them solve these challenges. Partners have the pulse of customers in region and market demands, leading ultimately to strength of customer relationships.
Pax8
Rob Rae
Corporate VP, Community, Ecosystems
MSPs are the heart of everything SMB technology. As vendors, our responsibilities should be to build programs, campaigns, roadmaps, etc. with the MSP in mind.
RingCentral
Zane Long
SVP, Global Partner Sales
I've always strived to meet partners where they are, based on their business model and needs. That means offering partners the flexibility to choose their level of involvement for each deal, while providing the tools and resources they need to win. Whether they prefer to act independently or simply submit qualified leads, I've also always committed to removing all channel conflict. That way, everyone can work together to close the deal while still getting the compensation and rewards they deserve for their hard work.
Secureworks
Suzanne Swanson
VP, Global Partners
Channel partners are a critical part of demystifying complex technologies, enabling their customers to leverage the right solutions required to achieve their business objectives. As such, collaboration and knowledge-sharing between channel partners, vendors and other members of the ecosystem is paramount to best serve customers. The channel partners that I look to recruit and develop will engage with us in an open dialogue that encourages diverse perspectives and constructive criticism – all with the goal of maximizing the growth of the partnership and expanding the potential benefit of the technology.
SentinelOne
Brian Lanigan
SVP, Global Partner Ecosystem
In a cloud and data world, the days of independent routes to market are no longer applicable. The partner ecosystem has evolved to become an interconnected fabric where hyperscalers, value added resellers, MSPs and MSSPs, incident response firms, technical alliances and systems integrators are often working on a "power of many" go-to-market model. By working together as an interconnected fabric, we can leverage each other's strengths and synergies in the market and focus on maximizing value for our customers.
TD Synnex
Jessica McDowell
SVP, North America Marketing
The power of the channel is only as strong as its weakest link. As a value-added distributor it is our job to be a consistent and steady – yet dynamic and flexible – link in the chain. Operational efficiencies, expanded finance capabilities, and peak levels of customer service are imperative, but also table stakes. The true value of distribution lies in our ability to augment both our vendor and our reseller partners' reach into the market through customized enablement programs, expanded routes to market, and new delivery models that help future-proof a business model.
Zscaler
Anthony Torsiello
SVP, Worldwide Partners, Alliances
My partnering philosophy centers on mutual success through trust, accountability, and shared vision. I believe the strongest partnerships are built when we prioritize customer outcomes above all else, working as one team to solve real-world digital transformation challenges. It's about leveraging each other's strengths, fostering innovation, and driving growth together. I see partners not as extensions of our team but as integral to it – true collaborators in delivering value and transformation.