CRN Best Of The Channel Awards 2026: How Top Channel Chiefs Are Driving Partner Growth
As CRN prepares to hand out its second annual Best of the Channel Awards, we share what our finalists for Best Channel Chief of the Year say were there most impactful changes over the past year.
As the 2026 CRN Best of the Channel Gala in October approaches, we will be spotlighting some of the awards finalists over the next several weeks, taking a look at their achievements, what inspires them and what advice they have to share with others in the channel.
The gala will honor the winners of the second-annual CRN Best of the Channel Awards—spanning nine company categories and 6 individual awards—aiming to spotlight the executives, teams and companies who have demonstrated excellence, innovation, and leadership throughout the channel ecosystem in 2026.
The finalists were revealed on July 24, and the winners will be disclosed live at the gala on Oct. 13 in Atlanta (tickets are available here).
Here, we look at the finalists for the Best Channel Chief of the Year category, which celebrates executives for achievements in the IT channel over the past 12 months as an all-around standout in channel acumen and leadership.
The finalists shared in their awards applications the details of the most significant changes or improvements they made over the last 12 months in their role as channel chief and illustrated the impact that change or improvement had in helping channel partners succeed.
Shiraz Hasan
VP, AT&T Alliance Channel
AT&T Business
Over the last 12 months, Shiraz delivered one of the most meaningful improvements to the channel business by transforming the partner engagement model to make the organization easier to work with, faster to respond, and better equipped to help partners compete and grow. Specifically focused on removing friction from the sales process, strengthening operational support, and investing in the tools and automation needed to create a more efficient and scalable partner experience. A central element of this improvement was simplifying rules of engagement across customer segments, making it easier for partners to work with internal sales teams and pursue opportunities with greater clarity and confidence. By addressing challenges such as unclear ownership, inconsistent engagement paths, and unnecessary co-selling barriers, Shiraz helped create a more streamlined and consistent model that improved partner engagement across both mid-market and enterprise opportunities. Shiraz also recognized that improving the partner experience required more than front-end sales alignment. He prioritized investments in back-office and partner support functions that directly influenced execution, including pricing turnaround, pricing accuracy, and service delivery coordination. These enhancements strengthened both responsiveness and execution quality, while giving partners greater confidence in the sales process and contributing to a better overall customer experience. In parallel, he championed investments in tooling and automation to make partner engagement more efficient and scalable. By improving the systems and processes that support opportunity management, collaboration, and partner enablement, he helped reduce manual friction and build a stronger foundation for consistent execution. These investments have enabled partners to navigate the business more easily, access resources more quickly, and collaborate more productively with internal teams. As a result of these efforts, partners have benefited from clearer engagement models, faster response times, stronger operational support, and a more unified internal structure behind their opportunities. These changes have enabled broader customer reach, stronger collaboration, and greater momentum on complex opportunities. In turn, the business realized improved cycle time, increased win rates, stronger revenue growth, or year-over-year gains across key product categories. Most importantly, Shiraz’s leadership has positioned the Alliance Channel program as a stronger growth engine by making the organization easier to do business with, more responsive, and more effective for partners. His ability to combine strategic simplification, operational improvement, and scalable execution has created tangible value for both partners and the business, making this achievement especially deserving of recognition.
Karl Soderlund
Global Channel Chief
Cato Networks
The most significant improvement Karl made was turning Cato’s channel program into a role-based growth engine for multiple partner business models. Before the launch, Cato already had strong technology and strong partner demand, but partners needed a simpler way to engage, differentiate, quote, enable teams, and build repeatable recurring revenue. Karl addressed that by leading the Cato Networks Channel First Partner Program, which introduced specialization tracks, Starter and Advanced tiers, and a zero-upfront-commitment model designed to reduce friction for new and existing partners. Karl’s team operationalized the model through clearer discounting, deal protection, no-cost certification, faster quoting, partner portal improvements, MSASE resources, SPIFFs, and route-to-market support. The program gave partners a more predictable framework for profitability and a clearer path to stand out in a fast-growing SASE market. Karl also expanded the partner opportunity for service providers through Cato Private PoP. This gave SPs a way to deliver Cato-powered SASE and SSE while keeping traffic on their own networks, protecting existing infrastructure investments, supporting data-sovereignty needs, and reducing the operational complexity of legacy multi-vendor SASE delivery.
Matthew Harrell
Chief Partner Officer
Dataminr
The most significant achievement Matt delivered over the past 12 months was scaling and deepening the Dataminr Partner Network from a newly launched program into a high-performing, globally recognized partner ecosystem. When the Dataminr Partner Network launched in February 2025, it established the foundational architecture: a reward-for-value incentive model, the Partner Central Portal, deal registration, MDF, and a streamlined tiered structure. Matt’s work over the subsequent 12 months focused on activating that infrastructure — turning a promising program into a proven engine for channel-led growth. Key improvements Matt drove in this period include: + Partner University Launch: Matt brought Partner University to life, providing structured sales and technical training that enables partners to confidently position and sell Dataminr’s full product portfolio — including ReGenAI and Intel Agents, Dataminr’s Agentic AI capability. + Expanded Global Support: Matt extended localized teams and resources across APAC and EMEA, dramatically improving partners’ ability to address region-specific market opportunities. + Deepened Technology Alliances: Matt elevated integrations with strategic platforms, unlocking new co-selling opportunities and enabling partners to deliver differentiated, integrated solutions. The cumulative impact of these improvements has been transformative. Dataminr closed a record number of partner-sourced deals in 2025, and the momentum has carried into 2026. Partners are performing at higher levels, customer satisfaction scores tied to partner-delivered engagements have improved, and the pipeline of partner-influenced opportunities has never been stronger.
Beata Reimer
Head of Global Partner Ecosystems
Dayforce
The most significant change I led was the transition from a fragmented partner model to an orchestrated ecosystem operating model. The distinction matters: a partner program coordinates. An orchestrated ecosystem accelerates. Historically, partner engagement varied across regions, roles, and deal stages. Strong components existed — but they did not connect. That limited both partner success and our ability to scale. We addressed this by building a unified operating model and then activating it as a system. This included lifecycle integration (partners embedded from pre-sales through delivery), Rules of Engagement (clear guidance on when and how partners engage at each deal stage), role clarity (PADs driving strategic depth, FADs driving regional breadth), and the DPN Advisory Council creating a formal partner feedback loop that directly shaped program design. The real shift was conceptual: from managing partners to orchestrating an ecosystem; from disconnected motions to connected outcomes; from activity metrics to business impact. The flywheel model I introduced — Market Reach, Structured Growth, Shared Value, Delivery Excellence, Ecosystem Insight — operationalized this as a compounding system, not a collection of programs.
Hope Galley
VP, Americas Partner Sales
Everpure
Over the past year, our Americas Channel organization delivered a strong period of partner alignment, execution, and sustained momentum. We launched and doubled down on a modernized partner program designed to increase profitability, simplify engagement, and better support partners as they transition toward subscription and as-a-service models. This included updated tiering, refreshed enablement, enhanced incentives, and clearer pathways for partners to differentiate and grow recurring revenue. We also strengthened collaboration with strategic partners, GSIs, and national partners through expanded certification pathways, new co-selling motions, and scalable enablement frameworks. In parallel, our investments in AI, cybersecurity, and data resilience helped position partners to capitalize on growing demand driven by AI-led transformation. From an operational standpoint, we improved ease of doing business through clearer processes, more effective tools, and more actionable insights, all informed by structured partner feedback. This helped improve consistency in execution, strengthen field alignment, and increase engagement across the partner ecosystem. Finally, we reinforced our channel community through partner advisory boards, listening tours, enablement events, and consistent communication that helped build trust and maintain momentum across the region.
Lisa Citron
SVP, Global Partner Ecosystem
F5
The most significant change Lisa introduced was the transformation of how F5 aligns partner programs, data, and incentives during key go-to-market motions. During a critical technology refresh cycle, Lisa led the shift to a more coordinated, data-driven approach—ensuring partners had access to actionable insights while also tying incentives directly to partner behavior. This created a clearer path for partners to engage, prioritize opportunities, and drive outcomes. She further enhanced this model by introducing incremental incentives for partners who attach recurring revenue solutions, encouraging a shift toward longer-term, value-driven engagements. In parallel, Lisa addressed partner feedback on renewals by strengthening incumbency protections and introducing greater structure to help partners successfully close and expand renewal opportunities. Together, these changes created a more predictable, partner-friendly operating model that has directly contributed to sustained growth and improved partner satisfaction.
Michael Day
VP, Partner Sales
GoTo Technologies
The most significant change I drove over the past 12 months was a complete strategic overhaul of GoTo's partner tier framework — not simply a structural realignment, but a ground-up reimagining of how we define, support, and invest in partner success at every stage of the lifecycle. Prior to this initiative, our program operated on a largely transactional model in which partners advanced through tiers based primarily on revenue thresholds alone, effectively rewarding past performance rather than accelerating future growth. High-potential partners who had the capability to scale were stalling for lack of structured enablement, and the experience felt arbitrary rather than intentional. The redesigned framework replaced that model with one anchored in competency milestones, tiered support commitments, and a clear, transparent path forward for partners at every level. The impact was tangible across multiple dimensions: mid-tier partner churn declined as partners gained visibility into their progression; time-to-first-sale shortened as structured onboarding replaced ad hoc guidance; co-selling motions became formalized rather than relationship-dependent, driving measurable growth in partner-influenced pipeline; and partner satisfaction scores rose, with feedback consistently citing clarity, fairness, and genuine investment in their success as the primary drivers. But the most meaningful outcome wasn't any single metric — it was a cultural shift in how partners perceive GoTo. They stopped approaching us as a vendor relationship to manage and started engaging with us as a strategic growth partner. That distinction is the foundation of everything that matters in channel: loyalty, advocacy, and shared revenue growth that compounds over time.
Tracie Orisko
VP, Sales Development, Community
Huntress Labs
The most significant improvement I made was pushing our channel and community motion to operate more globally and more intentionally. Rather than treating the partner community as a North America strength only, I invested in regional coverage, expanded leadership and support in EMEA and APAC, and stayed close to partners in-market so we could scale without becoming transactional. The impact was stronger local engagement, better alignment between the community and sales, and more meaningful partner momentum.
Scott Unger
Sr. Director, Global Channels
Keeper Security
After spending 2025 building Keeper’s global channel foundation and proving the “Channel First” strategy with record-breaking results – 1,000+ deal registrations per quarter, tenfold growth in partner-initiated opportunities and average deal sizes 10 times larger – the most significant change Unger made was designing and executing Keeper’s enhanced 2026 MSP Partner Program. This program represents the next evolution of Keeper’s channel strategy. With a unified global infrastructure now in place and sales leadership fully invested based on proven results, he designed a comprehensive program specifically for how Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) operate and grow their businesses. The program introduced tiered partner levels with Authorized, Silver, Gold and Platinum, which are all based on annualized revenue and certification achievements. Partners gained dedicated MSP account management, regional channel marketing managers and expanded market development funds. Additionally, Unger built a comprehensive enablement program through Keeper Academy certifications, including Keeper MSP Pro, Sales Professional, Demo Expert and KeeperPAM Implementation. At the core of Keeper’s program is KeeperPAM, its AI-enabled, cloud-native, zero-trust PAM platform. By offering a high-value, high-margin solution that deploys quickly without multiple tools or complex infrastructure, the program enables MSPs to meet growing customer demand for privileged access security while expanding recurring revenue. The impact has been transformative. MSPs now have clear economic incentives, technical expertise to confidently position enterprise-grade PAM, and marketing resources to accelerate pipelines. This program leverages everything Unger and his team built in 2025 and extends it specifically for the MSP and MSSP segment, creating a scalable model for profitable growth.
Wade McFarland
VP, North America Channel
Lenovo
The most significant improvement Wade has driven over the past 12 months has been the evolution of Lenovo 360 into a simplified, growth-focused partner ecosystem that enables partners to scale profitably and move into higher-value opportunities such as services and AI. By introducing clearer progression pathways through Lenovo 360 Elevate, streamlining tiering, and aligning incentives more closely to both revenue and capability development, Wade has made it significantly easier for partners to understand how to grow with Lenovo and maximize their returns. This change has had a direct and meaningful impact on partner success. In what has been a flat—or in some segments declining—market, Lenovo has continued to deliver premium-to-market performance by working with and through its channel community, gaining share by equipping partners with the right solutions, tools, and programs to succeed. This reflects a deep commitment to being channel-centric across the organization, ensuring that partners are not only supported, but central to Lenovo’s growth strategy. As a result, partners have been able to transition beyond transactional models and build more sustainable, higher-margin businesses, particularly in areas such as services, infrastructure, and AI. Lenovo has seen strong momentum in its data center business over the past year, driven by a clear commitment to helping partners expand beyond PCs and capture growth across its full portfolio of infrastructure, services, and solutions. By investing in enablement, simplified engagement models, and solution-led pathways, Lenovo is empowering partners to confidently enter higher-value markets such as data center, AI, and hybrid cloud. This strategy is delivering meaningful results: partners are increasing deal sizes, attaching more services, and building more profitable, recurring revenue streams. The impact is evident in the Infrastructure Solutions Group, where the channel delivered 57 percent year-over-year growth last quarter, underscoring the success of enabling partners to diversify and grow their business with Lenovo end-to-end. Wade’s focus on enablement has been critical to unlocking this shift. By investing in certifications, training, digital platforms, and solution-based pathways, Lenovo has empowered partners to deepen their capabilities and differentiate in an increasingly competitive market. At the same time, the simplification of processes and improved transparency around incentives and progression have reduced friction, allowing partners to engage more confidently and efficiently with Lenovo. This has reinforced the message that when partners choose to invest in Lenovo, they are aligning with a vendor that is equally invested in their long-term profitability and success. The impact on the partner community has been significant: stronger alignment with Lenovo’s strategy, increased confidence in the partnership, and greater opportunity to expand into new markets and revenue streams. This is reflected in Lenovo’s broader business performance, with more than 90 percent of revenue driven through the channel and continued growth in higher-value segments, demonstrating the effectiveness of this approach. Looking ahead, Wade’s strategy is focused on encouraging partners to make an even bigger bet on Lenovo—unlocking new routes to market, driving deeper collaboration, and delivering sustained, shared growth for both partners and the business.
Jennifer Heard
SVP, Global Commercial Sales
Red Hat
Over the past year, we successfully aligned nearly 100 percent of our selling motions with partners to achieve a true partner-first model. To drive emerging tech growth, we enhanced specialized partner capabilities, which improved partner profitability by aligning them with new services opportunities. We also introduced improved tooling and incentives, while aligning campaigns with target markets and critical workloads like virtualization. Furthermore, we implemented and are now scaling a lifecycle engagement strategy to secure customer environments through partners. Finally, our focus on AI has led to massive wins in sovereign cloud and continued innovation alongside AI platform providers.
Gretchen O'Hara
Worldwide Channel Chief, EVP Strategic Partnerships, Business Development
Sage
The most significant improvement Gretchen led over the past year was advancing a more unified partner model that better aligned enablement, strategic partnerships, and solution-led go-to-market motions. Drawing on her experience leading large-scale ecosystem transformation, she helped create clearer pathways for partners to build profitable practices, deepen technical capability, and engage customers with higher-value outcomes. This improvement gave partners a more streamlined experience, stronger access to enablement, and a clearer framework for delivering integrated customer solutions. It also expanded their opportunity to attach services, increase recurring revenue, and participate more effectively in strategic cloud and advisory motions. The impact was greater partner confidence, faster time to value, and stronger ability to meet customer needs with a cohesive, outcome-focused approach.
Michael Park
SVP, Global Partnerships, Channels
ServiceNow
Michael has led the reimagination of how ServiceNow supports the partner ecosystem. He’s helped simplify the company’s AI-led go-to-market strategy and role alignment, modernized partner motions, and empowered the leadership team to accelerate speed to value for partners and customers. As a result, Michael has strengthened hyperscaler co-sell, advanced partner AI readiness, and used the Whiteboard Masterclass to drive clarity and momentum across the ecosystem. In Q1 2026, ServiceNow announced the complete redesign of its Build Program for ISV and technology partners. The new program lowers barriers to entry, accelerates how quickly partners can innovate on the ServiceNow AI Platform, and introduces modern ways to showcase differentiated apps and solutions on the ServiceNow Store. It also adds outcomes-based pathways for ServiceNow to invest in partners based on the success and impact of their offerings. In parallel, the team transformed how ServiceNow enables Service Provider partners who combine the ServiceNow AI Platform with their own IP to deliver packaged, AI-powered outcomes. Michael led the team’s focus on clearer playbooks, stronger investment models, and a consistent framework that helps partners scale solutions faster and with greater predictability.
John Britton
VP, Channel Sales
SilverSky
Over the past 12 months, I have focused on driving meaningful transformation across our channel strategy, partner engagement model, and internal support structure to strengthen SilverSky’s market position and accelerate partner-led growth. The most significant improvements in my role have centered on expanding partner enablement, increasing market awareness, and building a more robust channel organization aligned for scale. One of the most impactful changes has been elevating our partner engagement strategy through numerous Trusted Advisor (TA) workshops, regional enablement sessions, and national conference participation. I have invested heavily in helping partners move beyond referral activity and toward building stronger cybersecurity advisory practices. Through these workshops, we have enabled partners around managed security, Microsoft security optimization, compliance-driven conversations, and practical ways to identify opportunity in their customer base. These efforts have increased partner awareness, created pipeline, and strengthened SilverSky’s relevance within the channel. A major accomplishment this year has been contributing to significant industry recognition for SilverSky through channel execution and partner advocacy. Our efforts helped support SilverSky being recognized as a Top Midmarket Provider and earning top cybersecurity supplier honors within the Intelisys community. These awards represent more than recognition, they validate the strength of our partner ecosystem, the value of our strategy, and the consistency of our execution. I have taken pride in representing SilverSky in the market and helping elevate our visibility and credibility. Another significant area of improvement has been continuous partner enablement. Beyond one-time events, I have emphasized sustained engagement through strategic planning sessions, regular partner cadences, account mapping, opportunity development, and solution-led campaigns. This has created a more repeatable motion for helping partners generate demand and grow cybersecurity revenue. My focus has been making enablement practical, scalable, and tied directly to partner outcomes. Internally, one of the most important improvements has been helping build a stronger, more channel-focused team structure to support growth. Over the past year, I have worked to refine roles, strengthen alignment across channel management, business development, and sales engineering, and help shape a model designed to better support partner recruitment, development, and opportunity acceleration. This includes improving regional engagement strategies and advancing a more intentional channel operating framework. I have also helped evolve our go-to-market approach to emphasize business outcomes such as risk reduction, compliance alignment, and cost optimization, rather than leading with products alone. That positioning has resonated strongly with partners and customers alike. Collectively, these efforts have strengthened partner engagement, contributed to industry recognition, expanded channel momentum, and built a stronger foundation for continued growth. My focus has not simply been managing a channel, but helping build a scalable, partner-centric ecosystem positioned for long-term success.
Nick Tidd
Head of Global Channel Go To Market
Zoom Communications
It is easy to suggest the New Zoom Up Partner Program is the main success of the last 12 months, due to the two clear paths to success for resellers and agency partners. But I’ll switch gears. Quote-to-cash needed a face lift. Our partners now get quotes and estimates in near immediacy and not in hours and days. It needed a transformative facelift and we delivered. We also have provided greater visibility to data for our partners via our Partner dashboard for adoption and retention -designed to help partners understand and improve their customer adoption and renewal performance. It provides visibility into how partners are driving Net Revenue Retention (NRR) and overall customer success outcomes through data on product usage and renewal telemetry. success motions. As well as, The Zoom Up Partner Program Dashboard, an interactive tool within the Zoom Partner Portal and Salesforce that provides partners with a real-time view of their program performance and standing under the Zoom Up 3.0 framework. It consolidates key metrics across the three program pillars—Performance, Proficiency, and Participation—and displays progress toward achieving higher partner levels such as Silver, Gold, or Platinum.