25 Channel Chiefs You Should Know

ADRIAN JONES

VP and General Manager

HP Solution Partners Organization (SPO), Americas

Jones' focus will be to keep strong channel momentum going at the world's largest IT company.

Most innovative initiative: In May, HP announced a broadening of its HP Channel Partner Co-marketing Program to support HP's integrated server and storage (ISS) products following a highly successful rollout of the program to support PSG solution sales in January.

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GREG DAVIS

VP and General Manager of the Americas Group

Dell

Davis is the man charged with making Dell's new channel initiative a success.

Most innovative initiative: Reducing Conflict: To be successful and gain the business and trust of our channel partners, reducing conflict is a priority for us: * Deal registration serviced by SalesForce.com's partner relationship management tool -- the same system our direct sales force uses * Direct sales force motivated to work with partners by neutralizing compensation -- meaning they get paid the same if a customer buys directly from them or through a partner

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FRANK VITAGLIANO

Senior VP, Worldwide Channels

Juniper Networks

Juniper is challenging Cisco in large part because Vitagliano is keeping its channel engines revved up.

Most innovative initiative: We created and delivered a customized Juniper partner engagement program (The J-Partner Teaming Standard) for the entire enterprise sales and support organization. Every member went through a one day Channel 101 and partner engagement training.

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BILL FALK

VP, Sales

Kaseya

With 200 percent revenue growth in 2007, 80 percent of it with solution providers, Falk is on to something good.

Most innovative initiative: The launch of the Kaseya emPower Program was particularly significant as it builds on our effective IT automation software and provides our partners with everything they need to succeed.

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LEONARD IVENTOSCH

VP, Global Channels

NetApp

Iventosch needs to keep NetApp ahead of the pack as a major channel storage player.

Most innovative initiative: NetApp dramatically changed the way we view professional services for partners -- culminating with the opening up of services to all partners. We are now hiring people to help build channel partners' services -- that's a very important change.

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STEVEN HOUCK

VP, Worldwide Channel Sales

VMware

Houck makes sure everybody keeps scrambling to partner with VMware.

Most innovative initiative: VMware demonstrated its commitment to the channel partners success by introducing the new Advantage+ financial incentive program for VMware VIP partners. The new program rewards partners for registering opportunities, bringing in new accounts influencing deals as well as the new volume purchase program and enterprise license agreements.

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KEITH GOODWIN

Senior VP, Worldwide Channels

Cisco

Goodwin continues to drive demand through strong channel partnerships.

Most innovative initiative: At the Cisco Partner Summit in April, we announced significant enhancements to the Cisco Channel Partner Program designed to recruit and enable smaller partners that focus on the SMB market. Select Certification marked Cisco's first new certification in more than 10 years and the SMB specialization became our first market segment specialization.

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STEPHEN B. MUNGALL

VP, Worldwide and Americas Channel Sales

Lenovo

Mungall's challenge is maintaining Lenovo's strong channel momentum.

Most innovative initiative: Lenovo TEAMs program where we provide additional marketing support and sales team integration for 'go to' partners around the country who focus on one of four customer segments (SMB, Midmarket, Large Enterprise or Public Sector). And Club Lenovo, which is an online Solution Partner and Solution Partner Sales Rep incentive and education portal.

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ROBERT DESHAIES

VP, U.S. Partner Group

Microsoft

Deshaies will do well keeping Microsoft firing on all cylinders.

Most innovative initiative: Our NextWeb initiative is one of our greatest areas of innovation and is focused on helping us connect with next generation partners. NextWeb engages with solution providers, such as Web designers and agencies, who are developing rich Internet-based applications and are engaged in design work. Custom application developer and Web agencies that focus on design represent a tremendous opportunity for Microsoft -- from the smaller web generalist partners all the way up to national and top global agencies.

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STEVE DALLMAN

VP, Intel Wordwide Channel Reseller Organization

Intel

Strong relationship with custom system builders ensures Intel is a force in the channel.

Most innovative initiative: We have replaced the product line top to bottom with 65nm-based Core 2, Architecture.

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DOUG KENNEDY

Senior VP, Worldwide Alliances And Channels

Oracle

Kennedy's challenge is to manage the processes, systems and programs to meet the needs of the worldwide partner community globally.

Most innovative initiative: We believe the most innovative initiative we launched was the VAD Remarketer Program. It is a very different approach from what how we managed relationships with our resellers, and has opened up the Oracle product set to a broader set of resellers.

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RANDY COCHRAN

VP, Channel Sales, Americas

Symantec

Cochran can use increased customer satisfaction to put company on path of channel success.

Most innovative initiative: Simplify the Symantec experience coupled with the partner feedback via the NetPromoter survey. In 2007, Symantec really focused on being the "Vendor of Choice" that partners want to do business with.

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MICHAEL ROSS

Area VP, Americas Channel

RSA, the Security Division of EMC

Ross needs to win partner support as RSA evolves from selling security authentication point products to developing data security solutions.

Most innovative initiative: Transitioning from what was perceived as a "One Product Company" to a Solutions-oriented Company that provides additional service opportunities for our channel partners.

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JESSE CHAVEZ

VP, Global Partner Sales Organization

Sun Microsystems

Can Chavez lead Sun to a greater channel comeback?

Most innovative initiative: Some of the strongest benefits offered through the Sun Parter Advantage program have been the Partner Growth Fund, Partner Demonstration Program and the Partner Rewards Program.

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PETE KOLIOPOLOUS

VP, Global Channel Marketing

EMC

Koliopolous will push EMC to hold its place as a major player in storage.

Most innovative initiative: The full EMC Partner Marketing initiative is truly innovative. It includes: Dedicated field marketing resources in each commercial sales district in North America, Dedicated MDF funding to drive lead generation activities for our partners, EMC Showcase, a dynamic syndication tool which enables partners to re-publish the latest information on EMC products and solutions to their company website and Campaign Builder, a demand generation tool with interactive fully integrated marketing campaigns; all the assets together make for comprehensive marketing support.

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MARK ENZWEILER

VP, North America Channels

Red Hat

Open source is hot. So Enzweiler should keep Red Hat as a Linux leader.

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TED COLE

VP, Channel Sales

Adtran

Solution providers love Adtran and Cole is one of the reasons why.

Most innovative initiative: The most innovative initiative that ADTRAN undertook as a channel organization in 2007 was the development of a Partner Progression Plan. This is a multifaceted program encompassing multiple staff for a period of more than six months to date. Every aspect of the channel program has been examined, particularly those related to partner relations.

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STEVE MATHESON

VP, Channel Sales -- Americas

CommVault

Matheson ensures CommVault's data protection and archiving software strikes a cord with solution providers.

Most innovative initiative: A reseller program that measured and rewarded resellers on a criteria beyond simple license revenue. Dramatically expanding the infrastructure available to serve CommVault channel partners by moving to distribution was a key change in CommVault's business in 2007.

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ANN MOSER

Senior VP

Ricoh Americas

Moser ensures Ricoh maintains its reputation as one of the companies easiest to do business with.

Most innovative initiative: In 2007, Ricoh PSD realigned our sales force to create closer geographic association with our partners. This alignment has created more opportunity for face to face interaction with our partners, and allowed us to be more productive in our ability to support and manage our partners.

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NANCY REYNOLDS

VP, Channel and SMB sales, North America

Trend Micro

Reynolds' challenge is to better align channel and field sales and to grow partners that are specialized in vertical markets.

Most innovative initiative: Flexible model for deal registration.

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CHRISTOPHER M. FRANEY

VP Sales and Marketing

Samsung

Franey will try to build on the success of Samsung's new and improved 2007 channel program.

Most innovative initiative: Restructuring our budget process to allocate more dollars to the indirect reseller channel while maintaining our awareness and presence within Distribution and our DMR/Etail partners.

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MICHAEL VALENTINE

VP, Americas Channel Sales

Fortinet

Valentine needs to keep Fortinet a leader in unified threat management

Most innovative initiative: While Fortinet has historically been a 100-percent channel sales company with multiple types of partners, there was previously little classification of these different types of partners.

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CHRISTOPHER RAJIAH

Director, North American Channels

Extreme Networks

Rajiah will have to execute on announced enhancements to Extreme Networks its North American Channel Partner Program.

Most innovative initiative: The establishment of a new "Diamond" category of partner, aimed at our top elite partner base which will go into effect in early 2008. This serves to motivate high revenue/high margin large national and regional partners to sign-up and grow further.

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W.B (BILL) LIPSIN

Senior VP And General Manager, Global Channel Sales

CA

Lipsin will continue to lead a new channel organization as CA moves towards a channel breakthrough.

Most innovative initiative: This past year, Bill Lipsin unveiled an innovative approach to adapting a traditional direct sales model to one in which the channel plays a more dominant role at CA. Bill's strategy introduced CA solutions to markets not previously served through the channel, creating a mutually beneficial opportunity for our partners as well as CA.

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JIM CORGEL

General Manager, ISV and Developer Relations

IBM

Corgel needs to continue to build IBM channel momentum in the global market.

Most innovative initiative: In 2007 we truly helped our partners reach farther than ever before. Helping partners to expand their business to new parts of the globe required some innovative thinking on our part. Our whole team worked together to create ways and opportunities for partners to tap into the resources- including sales, marketing, and technical experts we have in place in 170 countries to help them expand their business beyond their local, geographic markets.

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