Women Of The Year Finalists: Top Marketers Reveal The Strategies That Defined Them In 2025

As CRN prepares to name the winners of its third annual Women of the Year Awards, we look at the efforts our 23 finalists for the Marketing Executive of the Year categories say paid off for their companies.

With the 2025 CRN Women of the Year Gala nearly upon us, we’re spotlighting the finalists in the Marketing Executive of the Year – Solution Provider and Marketing Executive of the Year – Vendor/Distributor categories, which spotlight women whose marketing prowess helped increase brand awareness and drove growth for their channel businesses.

Each of our 23 finalists shared in her awards application a look at the most impactful marketing actions she took over the past year.

The gala will honor the winners of the third-annual CRN Women of the Year Awards—spanning 15 individual categories and three company categories—aiming to illuminate women who have made significant contributions to the channel throughout 2025 and the companies that support them.

The finalists were revealed on Sept. 22, and the winners will be disclosed live at the gala on Dec. 9 in New York City (tickets are available here).

Read on for a look at how these marketing mavens found success.

More from this series:

• 22 Women Of The Year Finalists On Lessons Learned From Their Own Role Models
• 9 Women of the Year CEO Finalists On Finding Inspiration And Fostering Innovation
• 9 Women Of The Year Finalists On How To Be A Better Executive Mentor

Marketing Executive of the Year - Solution Provider

Lauren Butka

Marketing Director

ECMSI

Lauren has excelled by leading a swift and strategic repositioning of ECSI’s marketing approach to better align with the real-time behaviors and concerns of our target audience. By refocusing our messaging around common IT pain points and digital trends, she was able to shift quickly toward a more targeted strategy that proved highly effective in generating SQLs. These leads were more aligned with our service offerings and helped drive momentum toward sales objectives.

Lauren also stepped into a more community-facing role by hosting and participating in partner events designed to foster discussion around the perception of IT services, areas for improvement and how we can better serve our partners. These events were not only about brand exposure but created to deepen the trust and encourage customer lifetime value through open, two-way, educational dialogue.

She organized and led several month-long and targeted educational campaigns, offering workshops and resources for both partners and the broader community. These focused on IT best practices, tips and essential skills, helping to position ECMSI as the go-to resource for knowledge and support. This blend of strategy, education and engagement has helped build relationships and long-term brand credibility.

Stacey Doherty

SVP, Marketing

NRI

At the start of 2024, NRI had no effective content marketing program in place, preventing the company from projecting thought leadership, engaging and nurturing its prospect base, and creating a pipeline of new business for itself and its partners.

The team embarked on a crash course to create a content strategy, build a supporting infrastructure and align resources.

• Promoted an internal high-potential team member to the newly created role of Content Marketing Manager.
• Enlisted the assistance of a content development agency to create eBook and blog post content.
• Began a monthly cross-functional content strategy meeting to communicate current projects and collaborate on new ideas.
• Recruited internal subject matter experts noted for their expertise on topics that reflected high interest from our clients.
• Created multiple channels for the distribution and visibility of our content, including syndication, social media, sales enablement, email marketing, and a new company newsletter.
• Launched an employee advocacy program to encourage employees to promote our content to their followers on social media.

Linda Ford

VP, Marketing

Arctiq

This year our team delivered high-impact roadshows, designed demand generation campaigns and supported co-sell enablement. Simultaneously, we launched a new brand, introduced internal campaign frameworks, and developed repeatable processes that improved campaign velocity and partner engagement.

From building targeted messaging to managing logistics and surfacing insights, every member played a role in making these programs high-performing. It was a demonstration of our shared mindset: think like owners, contribute with intent and deliver as one team.

One of the clearest examples of impact came from the rebranding and relaunch of our company following the consolidation of multiple businesses. It required strategic oversight across messaging, design, vendor positioning and partner enablement, all while continuing to deliver results in a high-growth environment. We helped architect and execute our new brand, voice and messaging strategy while delivering 100+ campaigns and events. Together with our field teams and partners, we built campaigns that generated qualified leads and increased visibility in both new and legacy markets. The impact: we improved engagement, contributed to double-digit growth in managed services revenue and created sales tools that enabled more confident positioning across regions.

Krista Grande

Manager, Marketing

NWN

Marketing and AI – I own and co-own multiple marketing and enablement systems (Gong, Zoominfo, Gov Win IQ, Demandbase, Sendoso, etc.). I don’t only build them, but I also enable them through onboarding, continuing education, and communication, and create microlearning libraries for ease of use for our sales teams. This year, I focused on automation and AI with one thing in mind: How do I scale what the marketing team does, and how can I scale automation for the sales team? I released more than 10 new AI functions last year to our sales teams that took hours out of the workflows. I also enrolled in multiple betas with our vendors to test new product abilities ahead of the market with my teams so I could make sure they would be effective and long-lasting. I built more than 20 new automated workflows between different tools and systems that allowed the best data to flow between tools for better lead generation and awareness.

Amy Gregory

Head of Marketing

ANM

Over the past 12 months, Amy has excelled by standing up a strategic account-based marketing (ABM) program that has transformed how ANM approaches prospecting and pipeline development. What sets this effort apart is the close collaboration she’s built between marketing and the sales team. Amy didn’t just deploy modern tools like 6Sense to power the program—she rolled up her sleeves and worked directly with prospecting reps to build account plans, prioritize targets and align messaging to real buyer pain points.

The result is a coordinated, insight-driven approach to account penetration that blends digital marketing, sales outreach and event touchpoints. Marketing is no longer operating in a silo—it’s embedded in the field strategy. Early results show stronger engagement with high-value accounts, improved conversion rates and clear attribution from marketing-sourced efforts.

Amy’s leadership has helped shift the perception of marketing from lead generation to strategic growth partner, and this ABM initiative has become a model for how the company will go to market moving forward.

Rachel Haag

CMO

GuidePoint Security

Rachel has prioritized nurturing deeper connections internally and with channel partners, ensuring open communication and alignment on shared goals. Through close collaboration, this has unlocked new co-marketing opportunities and enhanced GuidePoint Security’s go-to-market strategies, enabling us to deliver even greater value to our customers and partners. One standout initiative was the rollout of a unified campaign framework that streamlined execution across field, digital and partner marketing and thought-leadership efforts. This approach enabled greater consistency to drive brand awareness, improved attribution and accelerated campaign velocity—contributing to a year-over-year increase in influenced pipeline and driving double-digit revenue growth.

This success is further reflected in GuidePoint Security’s continued expansion and brand recognition across the industry. The company has opened three new offices to date in 2025—including a new headquarters—and expanded its service offerings to meet growing customer demand. GuidePoint has also earned an exceptional number of accolades, including a record-breaking 24 Partner of the Year awards and recognition as a USA Today Top Workplace—a testament to both its market leadership and the strong internal culture that Rachel has helped build.

Kristina O’Connell

CMO

Thrive

When you hear customers saying that they’re seeing Thrive everywhere, you know your marketing team is doing something right—and that has been normal feedback we’ve heard over the past 12 months. As CMO, I strive to take Thrive to new heights as we innovate and expand our brand and performance engines.
As Thrive continues to provide new services to customers and increase its geographical footprint through acquisition, my guidance in ensuring brand visibility and consistency across regions, growing the company’s thought leadership and influence, and raising Thrive’s overall profile amongst the channel, prospects, media and other stakeholders will be critical.

Heather Rim

CMO

Optiv

My team’s goal is to build pipeline, and I’m proud of the many integrated campaigns that have advanced growth this year. What truly sets Optiv apart is what powers those campaigns from within: a mission-driven culture and brand that employees are proud to represent.

A key focus of our marketing strategy is engaging employees as ambassadors of our brand—because there isn’t a paid ad that can compete with the credibility and reach of an inspired, purpose-led employee. At Optiv, cybersecurity isn’t just a job—it’s a calling. That shows up in how our teams support clients and give back. We saw a 51 percent rise in employee volunteerism and a 92 percent increase in hours contributed this past year.

We’ve also built a diverse, media-ready expert bench, achieving a 137 percent increase in coverage in Q1 2025 compared to Q1 2024. And with marketing driving awareness of Optiv Market System (OMS)—our industry-defining reference architecture for cybersecurity—we play a key role in transforming how clients engage with Optiv.

“By pairing OMS with marketing’s ‘Presenting Excellence’ program for world-class proposals, our win rate soars to 70 percent—a powerful testament to the impact of innovation, storytelling and data-driven marketing.” – Kevin Lynch, Optiv CEO

Janet Valvano

Sr. Director, Marketing, Events

SHI International

With a high-performing team that is consistently moving to put on the next event, my team has a high output of over 500 events every year. Over the past year, I’ve led SHI’s marketing events team through a strategic transformation—shifting from a logistics-focused function to performance-driven strategy.

For example, our SHI Summit, which saw a 40 percent increase in attendance/registration year-over-year, featured over 50+ vendor partners and influenced over 15,000 opportunities for sales. We secured key industry thought leaders, like [NightDragon’s] Dave Dewalt and AMD’s Lisa Su, to provide value to customers. Each year, our Summits continue to outperform the last, with growing customer attendance (300+) and consistently receiving positive feedback from both internal and external stakeholders. At our most recent event, customers went out of their way to recognize my team for delivering a high-value experience that educated, inspired and reinforced SHI’s role as a trusted strategic partner.

Additionally, by implementing a more rigorous approach to event measurement—tracking KPIs like attendance, engagement and ROI—we’ve aligned marketing more closely with sales and partner goals. These efforts have not only elevated SHI’s brand presence but also delivered tangible business impact, positioning marketing events as a strategic driver of growth for our sales organization.

Dori White

VP, Field, Partner Marketing

ePlus Technology

Over the past year, I have excelled by stepping into expanded leadership roles and delivering measurable results across new and existing areas of the business. I have taken on responsibility for both security and U.K. marketing, and under my direction both have grown in engagement, pipeline and partner investment. I also completed AI training to stay ahead of emerging trends and bring innovation, efficiency and customer understanding into our marketing strategy.

A key part of this success is the incredible team I have the privilege to lead. They are a group of very talented, driven professionals who bring creativity and executional excellence to everything we do. Together, we have built strong credibility with our partners who rely on us to lead programs and events that deliver results.

This success is rooted in a data driven collaborative approach aligning tightly with sales, optimizing campaigns in real time and continuously pushing creative boundaries to stand out in a crowded technology landscape. These outcomes underscore how marketing, when done well, can drive measurable business results and long-term growth.

Mary Catherine Wilson

CMO

Future Tech

Over the past 12 months, I focused on increasing our company’s visibility, fostering customer engagement and driving growth. A key achievement was leading the launch of our new website, which centralizes valuable content and tools. It clearly showcases our mission, innovative solutions and customer success stories. On the site, customers and prospects can access our AI Readiness Assessment, which evaluates their maturity across eight key vectors and guides next steps. We also provide customers a technical debt calculator, helping forecast productivity cost savings by addressing outdated technology. Beyond digital initiatives, I executed CIO events that brought together industry leaders and decision-makers. These events showcased emerging technologies like PC-as-a-Service, hybrid cloud and AI, offering attendees valuable insights from peers and experts to drive business outcomes.
As a result, we’ve seen a 21 percent increase in our social media user base and a 79 percent boost in engagement—clear indicators that our messaging is resonating and our brand visibility is growing. These efforts have deepened relationships with key customers and positioned our company as a trusted partner in their technology journeys. I’m proud of the success these initiatives have delivered and remain committed to boosting brand awareness and supporting customers with transformative solutions.

Marketing Executive of the Year - Vendor/Distributor

Tricia Atchison

VP, Global Partner, Americas Marketing

Equinix

Over the last 12 months, I led the development and successful launch of our company’s first-ever MDF program, a transformative initiative that has significantly strengthened our partner ecosystem and driven measurable business impact through a return of 10:1 in partner-generated pipeline and increased partner-generated opportunities.

Recognizing the need for a scalable partner marketing framework, I designed the MDF program from the ground up, defining funding criteria, building operational workflows, and aligning cross-functional teams including marketing, sales, finance and operations.

I also collaborated with key partners to ensure alignment to business objectives and their business plan and offered co-branded campaigns, event sponsorships and digital demand generation opportunities. To ensure performance tracking, I implemented a streamlined reporting framework and feedback loop to ensure continuous improvements and strong executive visibility. The launch of our MDF program has created more collaboration with our partners, better business alignment and focus on driving joint success.

This program not only delivered immediate business results through increased partner-generated opportunities, it has also laid the foundation for long-term partner engagement, generating more joint opportunities and creating a deeper commitment to our ongoing partnerships and mutual growth.

Jennifer Bodell

Corporate VP, Marketing

Pax8

Over the past 12 months, I’ve embraced my role as a servant leader—leading from behind while still being a clear, strategic voice for the team and the organization. I’ve focused on putting the right leaders in the right seats, building a high-performing, agile marketing organization capable of meeting the fast-paced demands of our business. This structure has enabled us to drive meaningful partner engagement, scale globally and execute under pressure.

I’m particularly proud of the global brand refresh, the success of our Beyond events globally and the buzz generated by our New York Times article, which helped position Pax8 as a bold, forward-thinking brand in the channel. These initiatives not only elevated brand perception but delivered measurable business impact in terms of pipeline growth, partner satisfaction and ecosystem awareness.

On a personal note, being named to the 2025 CRN Women of the Channel, Power 100, and CRN Channel Chiefs are honors that reflect not just my individual contributions but the collective achievements of the incredible team I have the privilege to lead.

Gabie Boko

CMO

NetApp

When NetApp made a strategic push to reposition itself as the Intelligent Data Infrastructure company, enabling organizations to manage any data, for any application, anywhere it’s needed, Gabie Boko led the charge with an enterprising campaign combining data-driven storytelling and high-profile partnerships. The result? A 42 percent year-over-year surge in brand engagement, 23 percent more qualified leads, and enhanced customer retention as evidenced by a 17 percent increase in NPS scores.

A key element of Gabie’s strategy was the integration of AI-powered personalization across campaigns. This innovative move not only reduced customer acquisition costs by 28 percent but also resonated deeply with audiences by serving hyper-relevant content through the appropriate channels. Gabie embraced AI as a driver for impactful messaging, engaging target audiences while strategically optimizing spend.

She paired innovation with connectivity by expanding partnerships with brands like Aston Martin F1 and the San Francisco 49ers, highlighting how NetApp drives performance at the highest levels, and drove engagement with channel partners like CDW, TD Synnex, WWT, Insight Enterprises and the rest of the NetApp partner ecosystem. These efforts helped solidify NetApp’s position as a dynamic, forward-thinking brand at the heart of data-led transformation, leaving a measurable impact across both customer engagement and bottom-line growth.

Brooke Cunningham

CMO

LogicMonitor

Over the past 12 months, Brooke has fundamentally transformed LogicMonitor’s marketing organization—elevating performance through data-driven strategy, precision targeting and operational rigor. Under her leadership, marketing influenced over 60 percent of company bookings, the highest contribution in LogicMonitor’s history, while improving efficiency by 20 percent. This reflects not only smarter execution but strategic resource allocation at scale.

Brooke’s rebalanced marketing mix has delivered measurable commercial impact. By aligning high-value content to CIO and IT buyer personas and activating it across channels powered by advanced [marketing technology] like Qualified and 6sense, marketing-influenced business now yields 48 percent higher deal sizes, 34 percent faster sales cycles and nearly 2x higher win rates compared to deals without marketing involvement.

A forward-looking leader, Brooke embraces innovation as a competitive advantage. Following LogicMonitor’s strategic partnership with OpenAI, she championed the integration of generative AI—most notably ChatGPT—into daily marketing workflows. This not only delivered immediate productivity gains but ensured LogicMonitor remained ahead of the curve in both technology adoption and marketing innovation.

Brooke’s results-driven mindset, combined with her ability to lead through change and deliver at scale, underscores her value as a marketing executive and a transformative force within the channel.

Marlena Fernandez

VP, Marketing

Scale Computing

I led the marketing efforts for the announcement around deploying AI at the edge. To answer the increased demand of enterprises transitioning to agentic AI-driven operations, Scale Computing is uniquely positioned to provide the foundation for intelligent, autonomous infrastructure. Scale Computing’s Platform (SC//Platform) integrates autonomous management, decentralized AI processing, while AI-driven optimization capabilities empower organizations to deploy AI at the edge with confidence, ensuring resilience, adaptability and operational simplicity. As such, we’ve been able to grow the business in both revenue (with an increase in software sales of over 40 percent YoY for Q1), partners and end customers.

Aliona Groh

SVP, Brand

ThreatLocker

Over the past 12 months, I’ve not only driven my own growth but also played a key role in expanding the APAC region and supporting the success of my broader sales team. This period has involved transformation and scale, and I’ve leaned into every opportunity to adapt, lead and deliver results. One of my biggest strengths as a sales professional is my ability to meet customers exactly where they are, whether they’re an emerging startup or a global enterprise. No two deals are ever the same, and I’ve thrived by tailoring my approach to align with the specific needs, buying cycles and goals of each customer. This flexibility has helped me build long-term partnerships and convert complex sales conversations into trusted relationships. For example, I worked on a very large enterprise sale that recently closed. This company had never had application control before, so it was a significant and, at times, scary change for them. We successfully sold about 7,000 endpoints for their internal machines.

Monica Kumar

EVP, CMO

Extreme Networks

Monica has successfully engaged partners, customers and internal stakeholders over the past year, leading one of the most significant product launches in Extreme’s history. The best way to demonstrate effectiveness as a marketer or communicator is to demonstrate messaging resonance, awareness and demand. Throughout the launch of Extreme Platform ONE, Monica and her team have clearly communicated the value of the platform for both partners and end-users, and those messages have come through clearly in media coverage, analyst reports and partner feedback. To date, hundreds of customers and partners have signed up for Extreme Platform ONE, and there are over 40 MSPs in Extreme’s MSP program.

Marketing professionals also must be measured against internal effectiveness. Demonstrating her commitment to her team, Monica has also implemented several new programs across the marketing organization, including regular Marketing "Power Hour" Sessions, cross-functional sales plays to power drive and demand campaigns, account-based marketing for targeted prospecting and a CXO Program, including virtual and in-person events. Combined, these new programs helped drive internal alignment across sales, marketing and product teams.

Jessica McDowell

SVP, North America Marketing, Digital Customer Success

TD Synnex

After more than a decade leading TD Synnex’s Security & Networking business (growing from $300M to $3.5B+), I entered marketing determined to translate sales-side rigor into outcome-based marketing and to build a team capable of outperforming expectations.

A prime example is the launch of our North America Partner Loyalty Program.
The program offers real-time incentive tracking via a digital platform and rewards for activities such as training, event attendance, technology adoption, MDF credits, financing perks and travel support.

Metrics and deliverables matter, but the true mark of leadership is the talent you unleash. I reorganized our team around a Modern Marketing framework and empowered specialists to “think big, deliver bigger.” We adopted agile sprints, embedded data analysts and launched an AI knowledge agent that halves research time. The creative team won multiple ADDY awards for top-tier event orchestration and innovative campaigns. The communications and presence team opened our Instagram channel and tripled social engagement in one quarter.

By linking clear business outcomes with an environment where people can innovate boldly, I’ve proven that great marketing is a team sport and that a leader’s legacy is measured by the extraordinary results their team achieves.

Christina Nairn

Sr. Director, Americas Marketing

Sophos

I led the integration of end-user and partner demand functions into one unified engine, powered by a shared data model and AI-augmented workflows. This shift cut campaign planning time in half and reduced ramp-to-revenue for new MSPs by 35 percent. Our new Pax8 partnership, launched alongside this model, was called “a revolution in how MSPs deploy cybersecurity” by Pax8 CEO Scott Chasin. His words: “Sophos’ offerings simplify management, reduce risk and drive profitability.” Our new MSP Elevate program has already signed 100 partners in its first 30 days. These initiatives contributed to double-digit growth in channel pipeline and services revenue across the Americas. In addition to operational improvements, these efforts drove measurable revenue outcomes: MSPs engaging with our marketing programs saw a 55 percent lift in ACV billings compared to non-engaged MSPs, while across the broader channel, engaged partners delivered a 28 percent ACV billings lift over those who did not participate. These results underscore the direct business impact of strategic, data-driven partner marketing.

Kate Schlarf

VP, Marketing

Moovila

Over the past 12 months, Kate Schlarf has led her team in 250 percent growth within the channel while simultaneously reducing CAC and expending the team’s capacity by doubling in size.

Kate has demonstrated exceptional marketing leadership by bringing rigor and clarity to our funnel metrics, enabling data-driven decisions across the business. She built and maintains a dynamic funnel model that tracks conversion rates at every stage, updating it monthly based on trailing 60-day performance. This gives the executive team real-time insight into lead quality, velocity and the volume required to meet sales and marketing quotas. Her work has aligned cross-functional teams and empowered more accurate forecasting and resource planning.

Beyond internal impact, Kate has also made meaningful contributions to the broader channel community. She has volunteered her time with GTIA, MSP GeekCon and other industry groups—helping them raise awareness, increase engagement and build stronger connections with the MSPs and vendors they serve. Her ability to drive both operational excellence and community leadership underscores why she stands out as a marketing professional.

Geraldine Tunnell

CMO

Dell Technologies

Becoming Dell’s CMO last year positioned me to tackle one of the biggest shifts we’ve seen in decades: how customers buy technology is changing rapidly, and AI is accelerating that change.

Customers are more informed than ever—they’re researching solutions before they engage with us or partners. But when they engage, they expect personalized interactions. This reality demanded a fundamental rethink of how marketing operates.

My biggest achievement this year has been modernizing our marketing approach so Dell and our partners can meet customers where they are. We’re focused on three areas: generating productive leads and intelligence, creating relevant content and programs, and building a thriving brand reputation.

While there’s more to do, the impact has already been significant. We’ve increased creative productivity by 20-plus percent and cut product launch creation time by 40 percent through AI-powered automation and simplified processes. This frees our teams’ time to focus on strategic planning and partner engagement. We’ve significantly streamlined sales plays while increasing revenue per buyer. Most importantly, we’ve created a marketing organization that anticipates customer and partner needs rather than reacts.

This transformation has positioned Dell and our partners to thrive in an AI-driven marketplace where customer expectations continue evolving.

Jaclyn Woodward

Head of Partner Marketing

Illumio

Over the past 12 months, I’ve focused on streamlining and strengthening Illumio’s go-to-market collaboration with partners. As part of this effort, I launched a unified Global Partner Marketing strategy that aligns all routes to market under one cohesive vision. Furthermore, I led the development of six comprehensive “campaigns-in-a-box” to accelerate partner-led demand generation.

A key initiative within this strategy to streamline our go-to-market with partners was guiding MSPs through a strategic migration to a new partner program. This involved cross-functional alignment between sales and marketing and ultimately resulted in the successful migration of over 100 customers to the Illumio Breach Containment Platform.

In parallel, I partnered with operations to enhance Salesforce logic for managing partner campaigns and leads, resulting in more efficient campaign execution and improved visibility. I also launched Illumio’s first integrated marketing strategy for technical enablement, including a bootcamp and webinar series designed to activate and empower our partners’ sales engineering communities.