GTDC North America Summit Is A Sales Growth Game- Changer: Channel Chiefs

‘The GTDC Summit brings together the top executives in the channel in the same place working to drive growth in our business,’ says HPE Vice President of North America Channel and Partner Ecosystem Jeremiah Jenson.

HPE Vice President of North America Channel and Partner Ecosystem Jeremiah Jenson looks forward each year to the Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC) North America Summit to help get his arms around what needs to be done to drive sales growth in a technology market moving at a breakneck pace.

“The GTDC Summit brings together the top executives in the channel in the same place working to drive growth in our business,” said Jenson. “It is always timely and on topic. This event provides the ability to discuss the issues of the day and make plans to address the future.”

Jenson said this year’s summit—which will take place from Feb. 18-19 at the Seabird Ocean Resort & Spa in Oceanside, Calif., has him looking forward to seeing how HPE can tap into the platforms from the top distributors to drive sales growth.

“The investments that the distributors are making in platforms, ease of doing business and speed of doing business are a key component of the value proposition that distribution brings to partners and HPE,” he said. “I’m looking to figure out how I can be more integrated with all the different platforms like Arrowsphere, Xvantage and StreamOne. Distribution is investing in their business for the future. They are not standing flat-footed. They are on the move to invest in the future to drive that incremental growth. That is why they continue to be so valuable.”

Jenson said he simply cannot meet the growth goals HPE has set without leveraging distributors. “They help us acquire new customers, new workloads with existing customers as well as enabling existing and new partners on the technology that we have,” he said. “The distributors are a critical underpinning of our growth plan and our growth strategy.”

Jenson said distributors are also playing a critical role in the wake of the big opportunities opened by HPE’s acquisition of Juniper Networks and the integration with HPE Aruba Networking that is driving big new opportunities for HPE partners.

“Distribution is critical to our growth success with HPE Networking,” he said. “As we bring this together, distribution is at the confluence of that. We’re really excited about where we are with the integration, how we are bringing that together, and where we are going with HPE Networking. We’ve got our road map, the portfolio is set and we are really driving against the growth plan, and distribution is a massive piece of that.”

Frank Vitagliano, CEO of the GTDC, the global trade association for the top technology distributors, which accounts for $170 billion in technology sales, said the theme for this year’s GTDC North America Summit is “Empowering The Digital Evolution.”

“What we are seeing is a continuation of distributor platforms and marketplaces, which is all about empowering the digital evolution,” said Vitagliano. “The distributors are making massive investments in their platforms that is empowering the digital evolution.”

The next-generation distributor platforms have dramatically increased the ability of partners to get quotes, process orders and transact business, said Vitagliano.

The new distributor marketplaces are also “significantly improving productivity” with multivendor solutions that have been proven, tested and are compatible, he said.

Last but not least, the platforms are driving AI-based intelligence that is aimed at generating leads and the ability to accelerate sales to customers, said Vitagliano.

“The distributors are providing partners with information and intelligence regarding order cycles and opportunities,” said Vitagliano. “What the distributors are doing is accessing 30 to 40 years of customer data. They know who bought what, when it was bought and when the licenses are expiring. The platforms are enabling them to develop a level of intelligence that did not exist in the past. That is an exciting leap forward for distribution in the AI era.”

Among the highlights of this year’s summit will be a keynote session focused on the latest channel research and industry shifts featuring Vitagliano and Futurum Chief Strategy and Research Officer Tiffani Bova; 2026 Economic Outlook by Economist Intelligence Chief Economist Constance Hunter; a panel on “Unlocking the Power of Digital Platforms” moderated by channel chief veteran and industry consultant Donna Grothjan; and a look at how AI is reshaping the channel in a session titled, “Where Is AI Taking Our Industry” by Matt Eastwood, senior vice president of market researcher IDC.

One of the most eagerly anticipated sessions at the annual summit is the distributor CEO panel, which this year will feature Ingram Micro CEO Paul Bay, TD Synnex CEO Patrick Zammit and Arrow Electronics President of Global Enterprise Computing Solutions Eric Nowak.

Dirk Venzlaff, head of global distribution for Palo Alto Networks, said he looks forward each year to connecting with distributor executives and peers in an intimate setting at the GTDC Summit. “It’s an environment that promotes engagement both in formal settings and informal meetings,” he said. “The relative intimacy is very powerful so you can have meaningful conversations. It’s well-spent time every year.”

With all the leadership teams from top distributors attending the summit, it provides a unique opportunity to “sharpen our strategy and reprioritize how we go to market with them,” said Venzlaff.

The summit also provides an opportunity to check in with peers and distributors on the latest trends, including customer buying patterns, said Venzlaff. “It provides a connect and refresh opportunity to look at whether the race we are running is similar to what others are doing and whether there are different strategies we could be using to be more efficient,” he said. “It helps us understand some of the dynamics in the industry and the economy. That look at what is happening in the market is super helpful.”

Palo Alto Networks is actively leveraging the distributor marketplaces to drive sales growth, said Venzlaff. “With the distributor marketplaces we are enhancing the automation we already have with them,” he said. “It is also giving us the opportunity to look at them as we build a new business model or route to market. In the past, that wasn’t part of the conversation. Now it is.”

The distributor platforms have provided a structured transaction engine that is empowering partners to spend more time on services delivery, said Venzlaff. “Partners are not spending as [many] resources in how do I track my business and my order,” he said. “A lot of those cycles saved make a big difference. It enables a more strategic motion from partners to drive services growth.”

Chris Walton, senior director of global distribution programs for Dell Technologies, said the annual GTDC forum helps drive “sales growth, alignment and go-to-market” strategies.

“The forum allows us to look at how our go-to-market and coverage strategy can best be optimized through the utilization of distribution,” he said. “It’s about how do we utilize distribution to exceed market growth expectations.”

Walton said the distributor platforms are a critical example of how distribution is evolving to “support and service” the partner base. “That is critical from both a scale and reach perspective and from a customer experience standpoint,” he said. “Distribution is providing tools and resources that meet partner needs in this AI evolving age. Distribution continues to evolve with the market with changes in areas like AI, cybersecurity and as a service. This conference does a great job of illustrating the value-add that distribution provides that are now always well understood.”

Bob Skelley, vice president of global channel strategy for cybersecurity stalwart Arctic Wolf, said the forum provides an unprecedented opportunity to drive growth strategies with meetings with key distribution decision-makers and fellow channel chiefs.

“There’s no doubt that it drives growth through idea sharing and thought leadership,” said Skelley. “It also drives growth by sitting down with distributors and sharing a business problem we are trying to solve, coming up with ideas on how we can leverage the distribution relationship to do that.”

Skelley said he expects to have as many as 10 one-on-one meetings with top distribution executives and fellow channel chiefs. “Every year there is a meeting or two that allows us to drive a new initiative or a strategic alliance with a go-to-market partner,” he said. “This event is one of my top priorities each year. It allows me to see what’s working for in areas like rebates, MDF. That’s incredibly valuable.”

Skelley said he is particularly excited about the panel on the distributor platforms. “That has a direct correlation on our growth as we look at leveraging platforms and digital marketplaces to make our products more accessible, more visible and easier to configure and deploy for partners,” he said.

Arctic Wolf has dramatically improved quote management, quote processing and change control from “days to minutes” as a result of the distributor platforms, he said. “There’s a huge efficiency we are getting from the distributor platforms,” he said. “The innovation and new technologies distribution makes available to us are a critical part of our go-to-market strategy.”

Wade McFarland, vice president of channels North America for Lenovo, praised Vitagliano for doing an “exceptional job” making sure the annual summit is a vital part of how vendors and distributors can work together to drive sales growth. “The level of the executives that are at the summit from each of the distributors sets the event apart,” said McFarland. “We value the partnership in terms of how we get broader reach and scale into the market.”

Lenovo is leaning heavily on distribution to help drive growth in the 1U and 2U server transactional market with Lenovo Top Choice Express and also to continue the momentum around its AI business, said McFarland. “We have targets that we want to achieve, and aligning with our distributors is a big part of our business,” he said.

McFarland said the distributor platforms are already paying off for Lenovo. “We have seen the benefit of being able to leverage the platform capabilities, and I think we’ll continue to see more benefits,” he said. “The data intelligence and the insights that we are now able to gain through these platforms is critical.”

Another key area for Lenovo is tapping into distributors’ capabilities in the wake of AI moving rapidly to the edge. “Trying to drive AI out into the marketplace—we’re really leaning on distribution,” he said. “It’s all about how do we empower and enable partners with the help of distribution.”

McFarland said one topic that is sure to be top of mind at the summit are the supply chain issues with the memory shortage impacting SSDs and hard drives.

“There is not a more critical time for distribution than right now in terms of how we service our partners and how we are able together have our partners service their customers,” he said. “This is an important time for all of us as an industry leveraging the value of distribution.”

Vitagliano, for his part, said the annual summit plays a vital role in the success of distribution as a “collaborative networking opportunity” that provides “tremendous access” to all of the top North America distribution executives and their teams. “It’s a great opportunity for vendors to get educated on what is happening in the marketplace and to conduct significant networking meetings and collaboration sessions,” he said.