The 2026 Inclusive Channel Leaders Awards
CRN recognizes over 60 individuals across the channel who are dedicated to building an inclusive culture where everyone can thrive and reach their full potential.
In its fourth annual Inclusive Channel Leaders list, CRN shines a spotlight on those executives who lead by example and are driving diversity, equity and inclusion across their organization.
What does it mean to be an inclusive leader? These 62 executives have taken this critical issue to heart, and they work every day at their companies to ensure all employees feel valued and respected. Fostering such a workplace environment isn’t an easy endeavor or a quick fix — it takes time, effort and education to bring together people from diverse backgrounds and make certain that their voices are heard.
Here are this year’s honorees, all of whom are making sure everyone’s voice is heard.
(By last name)
Kelly Allbright
VP, Americas Partners
Saviynt
After joining Saviynt in September, Allbright founded a Women in Cyber Identity group to build a community of women who are shaping that space. She also is focused on mentoring, pursuing job candidates with non-traditional paths and has deepened her involvement with the Women in Cybersecurity community.
(By last name)
Jackie Anderson
VP, Americas Partner Sales
Ericsson
For Anderson, inclusive leadership means knowing she doesn’t always see every perspective and intentionally involving diverse voices in decision-making. She makes space for differing views, aims to ask thoughtful questions and resists coming to quick conclusions so that she can draw on the collective insight of her leadership team.
Vij Balakrishna
Global Account Manager
Amazon Web Services
Last year, Balakrishna fostered inclusive partnership environments through accessible, collaborative leadership that created space for diverse voices and perspectives. She mentored women in technology, providing career guidance and advocacy. She also did award winning work launching and leading the Women in WWPS (Worldwide Public Sector) Partners initiative at AWS, growing it to 125 members.
Alison Bartalino
VP, Finance, Controller
Logicalis US
Bartalino is proud of her efforts to be an advocate and ally, ensuring every team member and colleague knows their voice matters. She also focuses on dismantling barriers, fostering collaboration and empowering her team to speak up, creating a culture where everyone feels supported and valued. She serves as the chairperson of the Community Pillar on Logicalis’s Responsible Business committee and has helped drive corporate volunteerism.
Kiran Bhujle
Global Head of Cybersecurity
SVAM International
Bhujle makes it a priority to recruit from underrepresented communities, to consider minority and women-owned business enterprise subcontractors in government proposals and to ensure diverse professionals lead client-facing teams at SVAM. When building partnerships, his first question is always, “Whose voice is missing from this conversation?”
Laura Blackmer
President, Dealer Sales
Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A.
Blackmer practices inclusive leadership by seeking input from people with diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives, whether making decisions about business, benefits or hiring. She also mentors students, supports Konica Minolta’s Step Together mentorship program and works with Families to Families, a grassroots group aiding women and children without stable housing.
Marc Botham
VP, Global Channels, Alliances
Jamf
Over the past year, Botham has intentionally created space for diverse perspectives in leadership discussions, ensuring team members across functions and levels have a voice. Through mentorship and thoughtful delegation, he has empowered emerging leaders, promoted within his team and reinforced a culture where inclusive decision-making drives stronger outcomes.
Jamie Bourne
Director, Global Partner Marketing
Arctic Wolf
Bourne’s creed is that strong, inclusive relationships ultimately drive deeper partner commitment, better execution and sustainable business outcomes. To that end, over the past year she built and led a globally distributed team, hiring three new direct reports across EMEA and North America. This shift required her to redesign programs and decision making with a global, partner-inclusive lens—ensuring regional voices, equity, and impact were embedded into how initiatives scale.
Tanaz Choudhury
President, CEO
Tanches Global Management
Choudhury over the past year strengthened inclusive leadership by fostering open communication, encouraging diverse perspectives in decision-making, and creating opportunities for team members to contribute and grow. One key initiative involved standardizing partner touchpoints to ensure consistency and equitable access to resources and opportunities. As a result, Tanches strengthened relationships, increased partner trust and created a more inclusive, transparent environment that supports long-term collaboration and mutual success.
Chris Clinton
Chief Partner Officer
Sovos Compliance
Clinton has zeroed in on how Sovos shows up in partner executive briefings, making it a priority that its internal representation in those meetings reflects the diversity of its partners to send a clear signal about the kind of organization it is. He also created structured opportunities within the global team for people across different geographies and roles to lead conversations. The impact has been tangible: stronger partner relationships and a team that feels more connected and confident in their contributions.
Stacie Corcoran
Sr. Director, Global Channels
JumpCloud
Corcoran’s leadership is defined by “intentional inclusion,” ensuring that every partner, regardless of size or background, has an equal seat at the JumpCloud table. She is also focused on partner expansion efforts that aim to engage all types of partners, including women-owned and veteran-owned small businesses, to fuel JumpCloud’s next stage of growth.
Larissa Crandall
Global VP, Channel, Alliances
1Password
Crandall prioritizes trust over hierarchy, sponsors and mentors talent and actively works to remove bias in hiring, development and recognition so everyone on her team can contribute and succeed. She has invested significant time mentoring emerging talent, both within 1Password and across the channel, ensuring individuals have the support, visibility and opportunities needed to grow and succeed.
Desiree Cruz
VP, Vendor Management
TD Synnex
Cruz brings a servant leadership mindset to bear as she strivers to remove barriers, advocate for others and create space for growth. She supported business resource groups in advancing digital bridge initiatives, ensuring diverse perspectives were heard. She also strengthened partner engagement through the distributor’s advisory council boards and ensuring partners were connected to the company’s digital bridge initiatives.
Matthew Dickey
Sr. Director, Logistics Systems, Engineering
TD Synnex
Dickey provides opportunities for team members to partner with other leaders/problem solvers from major organizations to see how TD Synnex can better support them within the channel. With a focus on identifying gaps, he assigns team members to bring a diversity of thought to a given project that helps customers feel heard and leads to a better solution for everyone involved.
Mitch Diodato
Global Channel Leader
Infinidat, a Lenovo company
Diodato is known for consistently advocating for equity, diversity and inclusion in ways that have impacted hiring decisions and collaboration with Infinidat partners. He introduced key objectives for a diverse workforce and diverse partner base, provided mentorship and trained others within the company on how to exhibit inclusive leadership.
Jeff Dugan
Sr. Manager, Sales Enablement
Arctic Wolf
Dugan serves on the Women Transforming Tech Professional Relationships Committee, where he helped champion a mentorship program and actively mentor participants. He also has a passion for driving inclusive enablement by making training accessible in person and online, including the launch of the Arctic Wolf Academy for partners.
Chris Essex
CRO
Cobalt
Essex has prioritized building a more connected and inclusive go-to-market organization by increasing direct engagement with regional teams and partners. Through regular field interaction and structured feedback loops, he has worked to ensure local insights inform global strategy. His efforts have resulted in a more collaborative environment that supports both performance and long-term growth.
Tom Evans
Chief Partner Officer
Cloudflare
Over the past year, Evans has prioritized mentoring emerging channel leaders and ensuring Cloudflare’s partner strategy reflects a global, diverse range of perspectives. By championing inclusive hiring within his team and fostering open dialogue across the company’s ecosystem, he has worked to ensure every partner has an equitable path to success. He also focused on diversifying Cloudflare’s partner advisory boards to tie regional and minority-owned partners more closely into the vendor’s strategy.
Sommer Figone
Director, Field Enablement
RapidScale
A member of RapidScale’s Empow[HER] and Momentum employee resource groups, Figone over the past year has focused on creating visibility and confidence for early‑career individuals. She also advocates for the Alliance of Channel Women internally and externally, expanding involvement beyond sponsorship to active participation and engaging male allies to participate as advocates. These efforts have helped foster stronger allyship, greater confidence and a more inclusive culture within RapidScale and its partner community.
(By last name)
Kathy Flick
VP, Partner Channel
Nextiva
Flick feels it’s important to lead by example and to share her own experiences that lacked inclusivity as well as how she navigated those situations. She encourages others in the industry to let their voices be heard and supports their career growth. She is also dedicated to continuing her own education on DEI topics podcasts, books and classes that enable her to recognize biases and mitigate them during decision making.
Aleesa Foltz
Associate VP, Partner Management, Sales Support
SHI International
Over the past year, Foltz served as culture advocate lead for partner management, launching the Inspire mentorship program, expanding leadership and employee development, and leading the culture committees and events that increased engagement and accountability. She also took on the role of executive sponsor for SHIs WiSH ERG, which focuses on driving career growth for women in technology.
Hope Galley
VP, Americas Partner Sales
Everpure
Galley has expanded partner recruitment to intentionally include underrepresented groups and standardized enablement with accessible training. This has led to measurable impacts such as stronger partner engagement, broader pipeline contribution and a more equitable environment where all high-potential partners can grow. She is also an executive sponsor for Women of Pure, the company’s largest ERG, connecting with women across all career stages and helping build an internal board of directors.
Ethel Garcia-Simon Matachana
Head of Partner Customer Segments GTM Strategy
Amazon Web Services
When building AWS’s recent launched Partner Greenfield Program and partner-led acquisition strategy, Garcia-Simon Matachana structured working sessions to surface input from team members across regions and seniority levels before decisions were finalized, resulting in a more resilient program and stronger cross-functional buy-in. She also championed equitable recognition and awards by creating a consistent practice of attributing contributions publicly, ensuring team members in less-visible roles got credit in leadership forums.
Margaret Good
Head of Partner Marketing
Meter
Good actively brings in diverse perspectives when shaping programs and ensures decisions reflect partner needs, not just internal priorities. She is also mindful of the need to intentionally step back from specific projects to give her team full ownership of their individual functions, giving them space to make independent decisions and grow confidence.
Wendy Harmon
VP, Global Channel Marketing
RingCentral
Harmon says it all comes down to perspective. “I’ve led global teams for 25-plus years, and the more I experience, the more I realize I don’t know.” That’s why she relies on a diverse team craft the marketing strategies that will be most effective for their regions, empowering her team to do their best work.
Bronwyn Hastings
Group VP, Global Partners, Alliances
Docusign
One of Docusign’s key principles is “Say What Matters,” which encourages building trust, active listening, soliciting diverse perspectives and practicing candid communication with empathy. As the executive sponsor Docusign’s Inclusion and Engagement Council, she has proactively participated in thought-provoking considerations, resulting in actionable recommendations. She is also developing the next phase of the company’s “Partnering with Purpose” initiative, which brings companies together around Autism at Work.
Rae Hawkins
Sr. Director, Events, Creative Agency
TD Synnex
Over the past year, Hawkins has intentionally embedded inclusive leadership into how she designs experiences and leads her team. She restructured how the team plans and executes work to ensure that diverse perspectives are included in decision-making. She has also deliberately opened opportunities for a broader range of voices to lead, present and shape outcomes.
Julie Hens
SVP, Global Distribution
Ericsson
Hens has mentored and sponsored emerging and underrepresented channel executives with a focus on helping leaders navigate the channel ecosystem, expand their networks, and gain visibility with key partners and decision‑makers. Beyond advice, she made direct introductions, advocated for their inclusion in strategic conversations and shared practical insights to accelerate their impact. The result was increased confidence, stronger engagement across the channel and broader representation in critical forums.
Michelle Hodges
SVP, Global Channels, Alliances
Barracuda Networks
Hodges is passionate about collaborating with HR teams and boards to keep women in the workforce. She also hosts women’s breakfasts during visits to global offices and special events. She believes that helping men be better allies to women is also critical, often simply by raising awareness of what female colleagues experience and endure.
Joyce Hofman
Global Director, AI, Innovation Partnerships
Ingram Micro
Hofman intentionally embedded inclusion into global AI go-to-market leadership by creating space for diverse voices across regions, functions and partner ecosystems. She focused personally on widening participation, increasing visibility for underrepresented contributors, and ensuring strategic decisions reflected broader perspectives, not just the loudest voices.
Barb Huelskamp
Global VP, Channels, Alliances
SolarWinds
Huelskamp embodies inclusive leadership by advocating for others, coaching others to advocate for themselves, sharing her own experiences and lessons learned and calling out problems when she sees them. She has also asked her direct leaders to prioritize diversity in the hiring process by ensuring interview panels are diverse.
John Jordan
Co-Founder, COO
BetterWorld Technology
Jordan’s commitment to inclusive leadership shows up in how he structures teams, assigns opportunities and creates space for voices that might otherwise go unheard. He personally prioritized the recruitment of women into technical roles at BetterWorld and championed the expansion of its bilingual service delivery team, ensuring clients can access enterprise level IT and cybersecurity support in both English and Spanish.
Kam Kaila
President
IT By Design
Over the past year, Kaila focused on building structures that make inclusion real, not aspirational. That meant launching a leadership training program for every leader across the organization, creating spaces for women to access mentorship and opening pathways through internship program. She believes that professional development shouldn’t depend on where you sit or who you know.
Naman Kher
VP, Head of Dexian IT Solutions
Dexian
Kher strives to make decisions with an emphasis on fairness, clarity, accountability and diverse perspectives, ensuring people are empowered to contribute, take ownership and grow through work. He intentionally expanded who gets visibility, ownership and a voice in strategic work and encouraged broader participation across teams.
John Kinnan
Executive Director, Cybersecurity
Ingram Micro
Over the past year, Kinnan led inclusive listening sessions with a diverse cross-section of associates, actively gathering candid feedback on key issues and topics important to them while addressing questions in real time. This built greater trust and psychological safety, leading to more open team communication and several actionable ideas being implemented within our strategies. He also participated in tailored mentoring sessions to provide career guidance, skill-building feedback and strategic introductions to internal and external stakeholders.
Shannon Lightfoot
Director, Technology Alliances
Ping Identity
Lightfoot has worked hard to foster psychological safety and equitable opportunity within her team, elevating diverse perspectives in strategic partnership decisions. She accomplishes this by grounding decisions in transparency, empathy and shared context to build alignment, strengthen trust and empower her team to lead confidently. She also co-led Ping Community Cares, expanding inclusive engagement, visibility and global impact across the organization.
(By last name)
Lloyd McCoy
Sr. Director, Public Sector Marketing
TD Synnex
Over the past year, McCoy sought ways to elevate women into visible leadership roles by supporting promotions, assigning high-visibility speaking opportunities and providing strategic ownership. He expanded early-career pipelines through HBCU outreach and mentorship and embedded inclusive practices into team operations, ensuring recognition, access, and advancement opportunities were consistently and intentionally distributed.
Sabur Mian
Founder, CEO
STN
As far as Mian is concerned, STN’s growth and its people’s growth are the same thing, which is why inclusive leadership drives his daily decisions. He has prioritized creating pathways for every team member to grow by mentoring emerging leaders, championing internal promotions and ensuring diverse voices shape STN’s strategic direction. These efforts reflect his belief that inclusive leadership strengthens not just STN but also the broader channel community.
Melissa Nacerino
VP, Global Partner Marketing
Zscaler
Nacerino strengthened her focus on inclusive leadership by broadening ownership of key initiatives so more voices shaped decisions. She also made sure diverse perspectives were represented in executive and partner-facing moments while creating stretch opportunities that raised visibility for emerging leaders. The result was stronger visibility and confidence for more leaders on her team and more authentic partner engagement.
Kelly Nuckolls
CMO
Jeskell Systems
For Nuckolls, inclusive leadership shows up in how she leads conversations and makes decisions. She prioritizes creating space for all voices, especially those not always heard and aims to listen more than she speaks. She also works with youth organizations within her community with the goal of expanding access, building confidence and creating opportunities for the next generation to engage in technology and leadership.
Gretchen O’Hara
Worldwide Channel Chief, EVP, Strategic Partnerships, Business Development
Sage
From sponsoring underrepresented talent to challenging how partner programs are designed and scaled, O’Hara ensures that inclusive leadership shows up in her daily decision-making. She challenged the ways in which Sage partners access programs, enablement and growth opportunities, pushing for simpler, more equitable models that work for partners of different sizes and business models. She also actively sponsored and mentored underrepresented talent, ensuring visibility, advocacy and stretch opportunities.
Maryann Pagano
CEO
BlackHawk Data
Over the past year, Pagano has mentored emerging leaders, elevated diverse voices and created opportunities for others to grow. Her mentorship and sponsorship of emerging leaders, particularly women in technology, helps them build confidence, visibility and career direction. I’ve also used my platform in industry panels and community events to share practical insights and encourage broader participation in leadership conversations. Under her leadership, BlackHawk has been recognized as one of New York City’s top DEI vendors.
(By last name)
Dani Pickens
VP, Global Channels
AgileBlue
Pickens launched the Women’s Employee Resource Group at AgileBlue to create a space for mentorship, professional development and peer support within the organization. She also continues to mentor emerging professionals through The Executive Evolution and its TEEM Mentorship Program. Her focus remains on creating environments where diverse voices are supported, developed, and empowered to lead.
Keisha Powell-Burgess
Technical Architect
NWN
Powell-Burgess encourages team members and partners to share their ideas, perspectives, and feedback, especially those who are less comfortable speaking up. In practice, that means she’s intentional about creating space for feedback. She has focused her efforts on mentorship through NWN’s Aspire program and supporting community initiatives that seek to expand technology access in underserved communities.
Lauren Powers
Managing Director, New England, Upstate N.Y. Sales
EchoStor
Powers built and scaled a Women in Technology series that connects executive leaders with emerging talent, supports women- and minority-owned businesses and integrates philanthropy, creating a platform that drives both community and measurable opportunity. She also prioritizes hiring and developing diverse talent by identifying potential outside traditional leadership signals and investing in long-term growth.
Paige Powers
VP, U.S. Distribution Sales
Fortinet
Powers leads inclusively by engaging diverse partners and teams to align on growth priorities, improving pipeline velocity and execution. By fostering trust, elevating contributions and accelerating onboarding, she increased partner productivity and collaboration to drive measurable growth and stronger ecosystem alignment. She has also served as a mentor for the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder, supporting young women in the sales program.
Satish Raj
Managing Director
Trace3
Raj has intentionally expanded access, visibility and opportunity for women, leveraging his platform and professional relationships to support initiatives that advance women’s education, career mobility and leadership development. A large part of his focus has centered on three areas: visibility, empowerment, and pipeline, including efforts to help young women pursue STEM careers.
Stefanie Rice
VP, SMB Marketing
OpenText
For her team, Rice has expanded access to opportunity by assigning stretch work and pilot initiatives to women, early-career professionals and emerging leaders while elevating their visibility in partner-facing and executive forums. She also launched initiatives like Building Bridges—a vendor-agnostic marketing workshop—to amplify diverse voices across the channel.
Alex Richards
VP, Partnerships
Quantum Metric
Richards mentored emerging talent internally and externally and drove more inclusive decision-making in how partners are prioritized to ensure diverse perspectives shaped strategy and execution. He also mentored emerging talent internally at Quantum Metric and externally, providing guidance to individuals who may not typically have access to executive leaders.
Duncan Robinson
VP, Global Cloud
Ingram Micro
Robinson deliberately builds teams that span geographies, backgrounds and disciplines, and actively creates space for quieter voices. He led a significant organizational restructuring, merging two global teams under unified leadership. In that process, he prioritized transparent communication across geographies, ensured diverse voices shaped the new structure and created new growth pathways for team members from underrepresented backgrounds. The result was a more cohesive, globally-representative team driving Ingram’s cloud and AI agenda.
David Rogers
Head of Worldwide Channel, Alliances
Cyera
Rogers championed inclusive leadership by encouraging team participation in Cyera’s ESG initiatives and actively sponsoring involvement in external communities like The Channel Company’s Women of the Channel. These efforts have supported professional growth, strengthened diverse representation and reinforced a culture of inclusion both within his team and across the broader ecosystem.
Jennifer Roy
CEO
Nucleus Networks
Roy has advanced inclusive leadership through hands‑on mentorship, intentional leadership development and elevating diverse voices in industry and advisory settings. She focused on listening, creating space for contribution and leading with empathy and accountability to support growth, representation and meaningful impact. In her roles as co‑chair of the MSP Interest Group, mentor in GTIA’s mentorship program and as a member of the GTIA board of directors, she has worked to elevate diverse voices and encourage inclusive participation.
Allen Shahdadi
VP, Global Sales
Sycomp, A Technology Company
Shahdadi takes great pride in Sycomp’s diversity and inclusion efforts, particularly the resulting inclusion of minorities and women in sales leadership positions. Sycomp expanded its internship program in the last year, including dedicated resources to support multiple HBCU student interns.
Jay Snyder
SVP, Partners, Alliances
Dynatrace
Snyder led a globally diverse team and intentionally built an inclusive partner ecosystem, ensuring half of his executive partner advisory board represented women and people of color. He personally advanced inclusion by presenting to DynaSpace for Women on mentoring and executive selling, translating inclusive leadership into tangible leadership development and business impact and also mentored two high-performing female leaders.
John Tavares
SVP, Worldwide Partner, Alliances Sales
Orca Security
Tavares’ inclusive leadership efforts over the past year focused on two areas: broadening who has a seat at the table in Orca’s partner ecosystem and developing the next generation of channel leaders. He engaged diverse-owned partners in strategic planning discussions, giving them visibility and influence they hadn’t previously had. Internally, he invested time in one-on-one mentorship with high-potential team members from varied backgrounds, helping them navigate growth opportunities. The impact has been stronger partner relationships, a more engaged team and a culture where inclusive leadership is expected, not exceptional.
(By last name)
Sherri Thomas
CRO
Camelot Secure
Thomas has mentored countless women throughout her career, helping them navigate the complexities of the cybersecurity sector, build their technical expertise and develop their leadership skills. At Camelot, she created a new partner ecosystem program that included partners with diverse backgrounds, including recruiting women-owned, minority-owned, and veteran-owned companies to work with Camelot Secure on client opportunities. This channel diversification resulted in a 30 percent increase in engagements within untapped markets and a faster win rate in established territories.
Mitko Todorov
Director, Channel Programs
Acronis
Todorov works with diverse stakeholders across departments to exchange ideas, share feedback and resolve issues. He has translated diverse partner feedback into action, leading structured listening efforts across partner segments and regions. The result has been turning recurring challenges into clearer, consistent program changes and updates to reduce friction and increase partner value.
Anthony Torsiello
SVP, Global Partner Ecosystem
Zscaler
Torsiello has expanded access to leadership opportunities by mentoring early-in-career talent and ensuring Zscaler has diverse interview panels to land top talent. His efforts to reshape hiring criteria and interview panels helped reduce bias and widen access to leadership roles. For the first time, the company created Tiger Teams with individuals from various countries and backgrounds to tackle the biggest challenges surfaced through an employee survey.
Leslie Vitrano
VP, Global IT Channels Ecosystem
Schneider Electric
Vitrano over the past year deepened her inclusive leadership impact by partnering with the Black professionals ERG on Schneider Electric’s annual STEM Night with City Year, where employees volunteered in a public school to teach students about Black innovators. She also helped spearhead the first-ever city-level Black professionals coalition in Boston, bringing together eight major companies to collaborate across ERGs, creating a shared community focused on development, visibility and support for Black professionals in the area.
Mary Beth Walker
VP, Head of Global Partner Experience, Enablement
HP Inc.
Walker led the evolution of HP’s Amplify Impact program by embedding partner insights into its design and introducing streamlined recognition tiering, enabling milestones like new top-tier partner recognition in India. This drove targeted support, stronger engagement, improved satisfaction and scaled inclusive, sustainable practices across HP’s global partner ecosystem. By incorporating partner feedback, she helped reduce barriers and increased engagement, resulting in broader participation and measurable progress, with approximately half of assessed partners launching inclusion initiatives in 2025.
Jessica Yeck
SVP, Vendor Solutions
TD Synnex
Yeck sponsored and mentored diverse talent, creating executive, vendor and partner-facing visibility through stretch assignments that encouraged individuals to be seen and heard. She also elevated business resource groups by amplifying their voices, expanding exposure across the organization and community, and encouraging cross-functional participation. By embedding diverse perspectives into channel strategy and execution, she strengthened trust, engagement throughout the channel ecosystem.
Victoria Zona
Director, Americas Channel Sales
Opengear
As part of the Women’s Initiative Network, Zona created “Brewed for Success,” a monthly session featuring peer-led discussions on topics like imposter syndrome, emotional intelligence and mentorship. Each session encourages open idea-sharing among participants, with one member guiding the conversation. She also organized and led a panel discussion for Hispanic Heritage Month that colleagues said was meaningful and provided valuable insight.