Power 100: The Most Powerful Women Of The Channel 2011 (Part 2)

Power Play

Culled from the ranks of CRN's annual Women of the Channel, the Power 100 spotlights 100 female executives who stand out as driving forces in their respective companies and in the industry as a whole, providing the insight and influence that lead to channel success.

Here's a look at Part 2. For more, see Part 1 of our list of the 100 Most Powerful Women of the Channel or the full Women of the Channel list.

Felise Katz

CEO, PKA Technologies
Years in position: 9
Years in channel: 13


Highlights: PKA exceeded its growth targets across all product and solution sets last year, says Katz. In addition, PKA become a Red Hat Advanced Partner, was HP Enterprise Authorized in the Mid-Atlantic, and was certified as a Woman-Owned Business by the State of New York and City of New York. Katz says the company continued to design, order, install and manage clients' IT infrastructure.

Goals: Katz will continue to grow PKA organically and through acquisition and will focus on new technical disciplines and territory expansion in 2011. Katz wants to provide leadership to her team by giving employees her best so they are inspired to succeed and accomplish their objectives.

Lila Kee

Chief Product Officer, Vice President, U.S. Business Development, GMO, GlobalSign
Years in position: 3
Years in channel: 7


Highlights: Kee led the product development strategy and implementation of GlobalSign's channel-ready client digital certificate offering, eanbling resellers and partners to offer trusted digital credentials to individuals and entities required from secure e-commerce transactions. Kee introduced three main product types, including PersonalSign, DocumentSign and CodeSigning, equipping resellers with an easy way to register, provision and manage digital IDs ordered on behalf of their customers.

Goals: Kee plans to offer resellers more options on how to leverage digital certificates to support the number of PKI-enabled applications ranging from secure network authentication to secure document exchange. She also aims to extend strong authentication solutions to secure mobile network device access to corporate networks and give resellers an automated method to provision and manage digital certificates on smartphones such as BlackBerry and iPhones.

Meaghan Kelly

VP, Channel Strategy, Solution Partners Organization, Americas, Hewlett-Packard
Years in position: 3
Years in channel: 12


Highlights: Kelley was recently promoted to this broader role at HP. Here highlights in her previous role include the March 1, 2011, launch of HP SMB Central, a new initiative that provides HP partners with a one-stop shop for direct access information on products and solutions across the entire HP portfolio, as the key accomplishment. Also, in September 2010 HP introduced the expansion of SMB Elite, designed to help SMB partners deliver a superior SMB customer experience. In June 2010, HP added six members to its SMB Advisory Council.

Goals: Kelly plans to continue driving partner growth and HP channel leadership.

Malissa King

Vice President, Sales, Drobo (Data Robotics)
Years in position: 2
Years in channel: 15


Highlights: Drobo had a year of growth, according to King, expanding its channel into Latin America and expanding its SMB channel. The company signed some critical partners and is seeing strong growth in business products, which is important because it launched its business in the prosumer space. The company's end users have brought it up into the business space and King says Drobo is now getting a lot of attention.

Goals: Drobo is new to the business product arena, and King says there is a lot of growth planned for this year in the SMB space. The challenge will be pushing its message to current partners and growing its share of wallet in the SMB arena, according to King. Drobo plans to do this by putting the right sales teams in the right places to focus on those customers.

Kendra Krause

Vice President, Channel Sales,Fortinet
Years in position: 3
Years in channel: 13


Highlights: Krause signed more than 400 new partners in the Americas to fill in coverage in specific territories and vertical markets; increased Americas channel revenue by 20% year over year; added new channel programs; and continued to focus on feedback from the Fortinet Partner Council, which is comprised of 15 key VAR members who provide valuable field input. Based on the council's feedback, Fortinet modeled its support and programs to meet partners' needs. Fortinet also launched the "Trade up and Trade in" program.

Goals: Today's go-to-market strategy is changing, according to Krause, and Fortinet will continue to have product offerings, solutions and channel programs for partners to sell in the new markets. Cloud offerings and managed solutions are continuing to drive the market and it is important to not only have solid security products but also channel programs to support our partners, she says.

Juilann Larimer

MSSI Vice President, Global Channel Strategy, Programs, Governance, Motorola Solutions
Years in position: 1
Years in channel: 15


Highlights: Larimer launched several new channel promotions, resulting in 29% year-over-year order growth and 22% year-over-year revenue growth in 2010. Motorola also designed a new technology solution to make it easier for partners to drive competitive trade-in sales and invested in new sales resources around end-user sales through partners.

Goals: The key focus for Larimer's team is the rollout of its next-generation partner program, PartnerEmpower.

Thai Lee

President, CEO, SHI International
Years in position: 22
Years in channel: 22


Highlights: A key accomplishment for Lee was growing SHI's revenue by 25% to finish at $3 billion for 2010. She also hired the talent and deployed the technology that became SHI's Cloud Solutions offering. In addition, SHI opened offices outside London and Paris and explored expansion into additional countries. Lee is continuing SHI's expansion into the midmarket and public sector spaces to complement its legacy Fortune 500 clients as well, and completed year three of SHI's five-year plan to upgrade internal tools and systems with zero disruption to the customers.

Goals: Lee plans to continue to diversify SHI's business with steady expansion into international markets and professional services offerings.

Jane Linder

Managing Director, NWN
Years in position: 3
Years in channel: 6


Highlights: This year marked a change, Linder says, as she began working in earnest on NWN's SNAP to School Meals solution. That means making sure school districts and states have the ability to enroll every deserving child in free meals at school and nutritional support at home. This project is a win-win-win-win, she says. First and foremost, hungry children eat. Secondly, school districts get needed state support for teaching vulnerable children. States get the ability to support their citizens. And NWN makes a fair profit.

Goals: Linder says she got "hooked" in Montgomery County, Md., and again in Baltimore City. Because NWN's team was there, more than 500 children got to eat. She wants to grow that number.

Selina Lo

CEO, Ruckus Wireless
Years in position: 7
Years in channel: 3


Highlights: Lo has a list of accomplishments: Since January 2010, Ruckus has doubled the size of its channel, adding 1,381 new channel and distribution partners in 45 countries. Ruckus has seen sales rise at a CAGR of 88% over the past five years. Driving this growth is strong demand in education, hospitality and health care for more stable, reliable wireless connectivity due to the flood of mobile devices in the enterprise, Lo says. In December 2010, Gartner said Ruckus had the largest growth of any enterprise WLAN supplier for the second straight quarter.

Goals: In 2011, Lo says the goal is to double the Ruckus Big Dog channel partners and take channel business past $100 million. Since early 2011 Ruckus has added 600-plus new VARs and now has more than 2,500 solution partners in its global network. Ruckus also wants to be known as the only pure-play wireless supplier, Lo says, and it is looking to extend its channel successes to the health care, retail and warehousing markets, where it is already seeing stronger demand.

Jean Lozano

Senior Director, U.S. Marketing, Trend Micro
Years in position: 5
Years in channel: 11


Highlights: Lozano points to the new Trend Micro On-Demand Marketing portal, which allows partners to customize, co-brand and execute campaigns as well as generate and track leads, as a key accomplishment. This is an effort to support existing partners in their marketing and selling efforts, she says.

Goals: Lozano is spearheading an effort to recruit partners and continue to support existing, loyal partners; create an ongoing alignment between her entire marketing organization; and continue to support her team's professional development.

Wendy Lucas

Area Vice President, Dimension Data Canada
Years in position: 4
Years in channel: 20


Highlights: Specific to Dimension Data's business in Canada, the company grew the employee base by 50%. Dimension Data also extended its efforts in its social responsibility program, increasing participation.

Goals: Lucas is focused on expanding the employee base by another 50% and continuing to gain market share. She also looks forward to involvement in more community events.

Nina Lutjens

Vice President, Sales, Fujitsu Computer Products of America
Years in position: 4
Years in channel: 25


Highlights: Fujitsu experienced 17% growth over the past five years, resulting in more than17% CAGR in channel sales. This is through a streamlined distribution and partner channel, dispelling the myth that to grow, one needs more distributors and resellers, Lutjens says, adding that what it's really about is the right partners. Lutjens also kicked off a multiyear service offering in 2010 that resulted in an increase in attach rate at POS. Fujitus has been able to demonstrate that service, post warranty, can be sold through a two-tier channel successfully, she says.

Goals: Lutjens has three main priorities: launch AIIM's new Capture Certification program to its partner base and be first to market with these efforts to em

Jillian Mansolf

Vice President, Global Sales, Marketing, Overland Storage
Years in position: 2
Years in channel: 15


Highlights: Since launching phase two of Overland's FastTrack Partner Program in January 2011, Mansolf has integrated deal registration with automated approvals and tracking into the partner portal and generated more than 1,000 leads for partners. The adoption rate of the FastTrack Partner Program has significantly exceeded expectations, she says. Overland has increased its active partner users of the secure portal ten-fold and significantly increased branded sales in all regions of the world in the past year.

Goals: Partners today are more knowledgeable and have more choices than ever, according to Mansolf, yet the basic principle of business still applies: partners do business with companies that understand their needs and deliver on their promises. Mansolf's goal this year is to continue building partner-led, customer-centric resource and lead-generation programs that will enable partners to accelerate their sales cycles and increase profitability.

Julia McConaughy

Director, Channel Operations, Aruba Networks
Years in position: 4
Years in channel: 16


Highlights: McConaugy cites four key accomplishments: enhancing the PartnerEdge Program to reward partners that deliver greater value and offer growth initiatives for top-tier partners; organizing and hosting the inaugural Americas Partner Summit, attended by 200-plus channel partners; the PartnerEdge program being recognized with a CRN 5-Star award; and increasing Aruba's partner community by 20% and average revenue per partner by more than 30% in the past year.

Goals: McConaughy will continue to develop programs, training and tools that better enable partners and reward committed partners that provide value throughout the sales cycle. She will also expand offerings and tools to enable lead generation and collaboration with partners.

Sandy McKeon

Director, Channel Sales, i365, A Seagate Company
Years in position: 1
Years in channel: 11


Highlights: McKeon transformed the channel program by implementing an enforceable deal registration program, a regionalized SE/sales training circuit and the simplification of contracts to make it easier for partners to do business with i365. These efforts have resulted in a more active partner base with a goal of 75% of business through channel partners by year-end, according to McKeon.

Goals: McKeon aims to transition i365's channel business to a distribution model swhile imultaneously launching a government program and cloud-connected MSP initiative. Her team will focus on increasing the number of partner-led opportunities and doubling recruitment efforts to continue to the momentum created in 2010.

Denna Mensch

Vice President, TSD Marketing, Synnex
Years in position: 1
Years in channel: 17


Highlights: Mensch points to the introduction of Synnex's CloudSolv strategy for partners as a key accomplishment in addition to a mobile application development practice that lets partners leverage Synnex's skills in the mobility space. In the past three months of the year, Mensch took on branding of the Technology Solutions Division (TSD) as the marketing lead.

Goals: Mensch will focus on the development of Synnex TSD offerings through line-of-business expansion and solutions.

May Mitchell

VP, Global Channel, IronKey
Years in position: 2
Years in channel: 17


Highlights: IronKey had a record first-quarter 2011, Mitchell says, with 94% growth year over year. The company also launched enterprise value-add distribution partnerships to reach into the enterprise and increased sales growth from Elite National partners. Its Elite Partner Program in 2011 now includes deal registration that provides up to 15 margin points, renewal protection and a new solution targeted at banking service providers. Mitchell also was named a 2011 CRN Channel Chief.

Goals: Mitchell aims to increase sales growth through IronKey's channels; develop alternative routes to market with new types of partners such as banking service providers; expand partner presence in Latin America and Asia-Pacific; and develop key strategic alliance partnerships that could scale the business globally.

Dane Moorefield

Director, Global Partner Marketing, Siemens PLM Software
Years in position: 6
Years in channel: 15


Highlights: Moorefield developed and launched a global partner and channel manager marketing training program. She also designed a mobile strategy for partners, including social media outlets and smart device applications. She improved and streamlined global partner and channel manager communication as well.

Goals: Moorefield aims to more effectively utilize social media and ensure that all partner materials are available via smart device applications. She also will continue partner marketing training via channel manager/partner interactive workshops facilitated by Everything Channel.

Tamra Muir

Senior Director, Distribution, Alliances, Autodesk
Years in position: 3
Years in channel: 18


Highlights: Muir's big accomplishment this year was the launch of the Channel Development Team, which prioritizes development programs/projects, ensuring that they take advantage of Autodesk's best practices, incorporate feedback and enable scalability. The CDT also rolled out a pilot that enabled broad changes to the AutoCAD+ program, allowing customers to purchase through their preferred channel with total solution sourcing through one partner.

Goals: Muir is sponsoring an effort to provide a Worldwide Volume Channel Framework to enable other geographies to tap into the

Cheryl Neal

Vice President, Vendor Management, Technology Infrastructure Solutions Group, Avnet Technology Solutions
Years in position: 4
Years in channel: 25


Highlights: With her team, Neal developed and directed enablement and demand generation campaigns customized for each supplier's key initiatives. This drove storage, networking and security sales growth. The technical training programs resulted in more than 400 reseller partner reps becoming certified to sell supplier solutions. The demand generation programs also helped Avnet drive more end-user opportunities to reseller partners, says Neal.

Goals: Neal aims to optimize Avnet's ability to align and deliver to reseller partners the enablement, tools and demand generation programs they need. She also plans to strengthen Avnet's position as a solution distributor by leveraging its vertical focus expertise to help reseller partners benefit from high-growth market opportunities.

Annie Neubrech

Vice President, Experience & Programs, SAP Americas
Years in position: 1
Years in channel: 22


Highlights: Neubrech says she joined SAP's North American SME sales region to be part of a transformation initiative that would accelerate the growth of SAP's partner ecosystem. Her focus was to improve the customer and partner experience through simplification, predictability and transparency of the partner programs, policies and daily operational activities. In early 2010, Neubrech's team led the full redesign and launch of the new PartnerNet channel program and rollout of a PRM system.

Goals: Neubrech and her team's mission for is to provide partners and employees with a channel program experience that is perceived as being channel friendly and easy to engage. She plans to create programs that are designed for partner and employee benefit and backed by policies that provide smart governance; supported by processes that are easy and streamlined; and launched with comprehensive communication and training.

Sheila O'Neil

Vice President, Channel Sales, Panasonic Solutions Company
Years in position: 3
Years in channel: 20


Highlights: O'Neil lists the merging of four divisions of Panasonic, each running their channel business differently, to move to one channel partner program. The company also was able to grow the sales of partners and increase partner count overall. In addition, 100% of direct dealers moved to distribution, equating to 98% of total Panasonic Solutions Company business.

Goals: This year's plan is to continue to enhance the program structure, O'Neil says, including a new incentive program and increased automation of program elements. She also wants to improve the ease of doing business for partners.

Julie Parrish

Senior Vice President, Global Partner Sales, NetApp
Years in position: 2
Years in channel: 27


Highlights: Parrish lists 47% year-over-year growth in two-tier distribution business; 60% year-over-year growth in global systems integrator business; and the fact that more than 75% of NetApp business is now done through indirect partners as key high points. She also notes a host of CRN awards including CRN Channel Chief, Top 25 Sales Leader, Top 100 Women in the Channel and Storage Superstar. NetApp also swept every category in the U.S. 2011 Channel Champions competition.

Goals: Parrish says she would like to see more NetApp partners participating in the public cloud opportunity, adding that the company has a terrific program for those partners that don't have a core competency in cloud services. She'd like to see more of them working with hosting and service providers to participate in this market. This will be a key focus area in 2011.

Penny Philpott

Group Vice President, Worldwide Alliance & Channels, Oracle
Years in position: 1
Years in channel: 23


Highlights: Philpott developed a new team in Oracle called "Partner Services," a 200-man in-house team based in several worldwide locations. She also designed and rolled out OPN Specialized, calling it the most advanced evolution of the Oracle Partner Program in 10 years to meet the needs of customers, partners and Oracle executives.

Goals: Philpott's goals are to support the majority of partners to become specialized in their chosen focus, increase the number of active and revenue producing/influencing partners and boost partner satisfaction.

Jennifer Pointer

Manager, Channel Marketing Communications, Solution Partners Organization, Hewlett-Packard
Years in position: 3
Years in channel: 15


Highlights: Pointer leads HP's Executive Connections initiative, which she developed in 2008 as an executive partner engagement strategy designed to connect partners and their customers with HP's CEO and top executive leaders. As a result of her efforts, HP conducted 25 Executive Connections engagements in fiscal year 2010, reaching a total of 104 partners and 397customers.

Goals: Pointer hopes to continue building and expanding Executive Connections to help HP executives, partners and customers develop deeper relationships and drive business results. The program's three main goals will remain the same in fiscal year 2011: connect partners and their customers with HP's top executive leaders; collaborate through effective meeting formats; and create opportunities for business growth.

Nancy Reynolds

Senior Vice PresidentVP, Corporate Sales & Support, Americas, Kaspersky Lab
Years in position: 2
Years in channel: 20


Highlights: Kaspersky attained 7.5% of global market share, double since 2008; saw 38% year-over-year growth in corporate sales; and attained five quarters in a row of quarter-over-quarter growth. This is the 13th consecutive year of 100% channel growth globally. Reynolds was named a CRN Channel Chief for the second year in a row and Kaspersky was the Overall Winner on CRN's Annual Report Card for the third year in a row. For the fourth consecutive year, Kasperksy earned a 5-Star rating in CRN's 2011 Partner Program Guide.

Goals: Reynolds is always looking for new ways to aid partners' profitability. She will continue to improve conversations with channel partners by hiring the right people, presenting new renewal tools, and updating methods of education, she says. Kaspersky is delivering new products later this year for enterprise and midmarket customers, which means new business for partners. At its roots, Reynolds says, Kaspersky remains committed to its partners and will continue to be a 100% channel sales organization.

Kristin Rogers

Executive Vice President, PC Mall
Years in position: 11
Years in channel: 31


Highlights: PC Mall made large investments for long-term growth, including the launch of a new small-business networking portal, a new call center, an acquisition in the service world, a health-care division--all balanced while continuing to achieve growth and profitability, Rogers says. PC Mall was able to capitalize on the recovery in the market to have leading growth with top five manufacturers, as well as making solid progress in solution areas. The company also launched an initiative around five solution practices.

Goals: Rogers lays out the Goals: sustain PC Mall's success in balancing out its strong transactional business with more solution-oriented business, as well as growing its baseline of services, and grow the management team so that they can be the foundation for the next 10 years of growth.

Ilene Rosoff

CEO, The Launch Pad
Years in position: 19
Years in channel: 23


Highlights: Rosoff says the most exciting highlight was the rollout of The Launch Pad's national franchising efforts, which has been in the works for the past 20 months. The second was the redesign and refinement of the company's managed IT services delivery model, designed to reduce client technology spending. What evolved from this vision, she says, was the RevITup VirtualGreen Office series, which focused on sustainable profitability with technology.

Goals: 2011 and 2012 are focused on new franchisees and the development and refinement of the first managed IT services franchise, Rosoff says. Through the RevITup Business Care series, which is designed to provide technology-as-a-service, franchisees will be able to reach small and midsize businesses throughout the U.S, according to Rosoff. The concept is to provide technology like a utility, where the infrastructure just works and the focus is completely on driving solutions that drive revenue for clients.

Alison Ryan

Vice Presdient, Global Channel Sales, SGI
Years in position: 3
Years in channel: 6


Highlights: SGI's Channel Network Program enjoyed multiple successes this past year, starting with business growth of more than 30%, according to Ryan. This new business came from all geographies, including the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Japan. All product lines expanded, most significantly the storage solutions, she says, adding that SGI's partners are achieving exceptional profit from the company's differentiated products. Finally, SGI's Channel Network Program won CRN's 5-Star rating for a second consecutive year.

Goals: Ryan intends for SGI to become the premier manufacturer for its leading value-added-resellers--the fastest-growing supply partner and the most profitable partner. This past year, SGI recruited many premier VARs that are growing, acquiring and developing significant service organizations in federal and commercial markets.

Sandy Salty

Vice President, Business Development, Trace3
Years in position: 5
Years in channel: 6


Highlights: Salty points to Trace3's successful rebranding into an IT systems integrator with an emphasis on consulting, technology and outsourcing expertise as the overall key accomplishment. Also critical was going from $120 million to $200 million in revenue and doubling headcount, all while maintaining a unique and incredible culture, she says.

Goals: Trace3 will continue to expand its services portfolio in a way that differentiates it in the industry, according to Salty, specifically launching a training center with the goal of enabling and promoting clients, a new division she launched in 2010. She aims to increase the overall intelligence of clients' IT organizations and continue to help them solve their problems so that they can focus on strategy and growth.

Shannon Sbar

Vice President, Channels, North America, APC by Schneider Electric
Years in position: 1
Years in channel: 14


Highlights: Sbar is focused on ensuring it is easy for partners to conduct business with APC while driving improved partner revenue growth and profitability. With today's need for increased energy efficiency, Sbar and her team were dedicated to enabling partners with the opportunity to expand their portfolios to include APC's

Goals: Sbar will make sure her initiatives are closely tied to driving partner engagement, profitability and satisfaction. She also will continue to enable partners with the opportunity to expand their portfolios and leverage the APC and Schneider Electric solution offerings.

Christine Schaefer

Vice President, Marketing, DLT Solutions
Years in position: 10
Years in channel: 10


Highlights: With Schaefer driving her team, 2010 saw more than 3,000 marketing activities, resulting in more than 3.6 million customer touches and 75,000 proactive leads. DLT experienced more than 20% growth in sales revenue to $789 million, much faster than the government IT market.

Goals: Schaefer aims to increase lead and revenue generation by directing a customer-centric approach of "peer-to-peer" marketing. She will use social media to create connections with DLT's customers, aimed at developing original content that not only positions DLT's senior management and engineering personnel as thought leaders but also connects with customers on a peer-to-peer level. Schaefer's team will work closely with internal groups to integrate this approach to provide better guidance and education to the customer base.

Laurie Schultz

Senior Vice President, General Manager, ERP Solutions, Sage
Years in position: 2
Years in channel: 4


Highlights: Schultz delivered 38% margin increase and returned Sage ERP portfolio to more than 30% new customer growth. She consolidated autonomous ERP P&Ls and teams into one market-facing portfolio strategy and diversified ERP revenue into cloud-based connected services. Schultz also grew average revenue per customer by 5% via renewal rate improvements and strategic services cross-sell, and improved partner confidence more than 50% via regular communications and follow-through.

Goals: A key goal is to double Sage's connected/cloud services footprint via a combination of diversifying product, channel and pricing models, Schultz says. The company needs to build on momentum while recognize the changing market. The growing adoption of Web-enabled solutions and connected services compels it to look at how to diversify and extend its on-premise solutions into the cloud. In addition, Schultz says she must find new ways to monetize customers and reward channel partners.

Corrine Sklar

Vice President, Marketing, Bluewolf
Years in position: 5
Years in channel: 7


Highlights: Bluewolf is one of America's fastest growing companies, says Sklar, and recognized as one of New York's Best Places to Work-- highlighting its unique culture. Sklar helped grow revenue by 54% in a down economy.

Goals: Sklar plans to continue Bluewolf's trajectory of growth with offerings that support innovation with cloud solutions and use of social media for the enterprise. She aims to boost the company's enterprise footprint by helping organizations move into the 21st century through what it calls Agile Business Transformation.

Julie Ann Slocum Bennani

General Manager, Microsoft Partner Network, Worldwide Partner Group, Microsoft
Years in position: 4
Years in channel: 15


Highlights: Slocum Bennani landed the last major changes for the launch of the Microsoft Partner Network with net neutral to positive partner satisfaction impacts. As part of this, she launched and landed a unified subscription for partners around Microsoft's cloud offerings (Cloud Essentials). She continued to oversee global partner launch excellence for market introductions of Lync, Office 365, Intune and SBS 2011.

Goals: Slocum Bennani will focus on extending the partnership road map out from a 12-month horizon based on technology road maps and invest in helping traditional partners transition their business to embed cloud offerings as a core practice area. She is looking more deeply at the end-to-end experience Microsoft offers partners programmatically and innovating on that to help them connect more easily and effectively with the company. She also will continue to help transfer sales and marketing skills and offerings to partners to help them win.

Sue Smith

Senior Director, Partner Programs, Symantec
Years in position: 4
Years in channel: 20


Highlights: Designed and launched the Enhanced Symantec Partner Program; relaunched the opportunity registration program for the partner community; and created new partner rules of engagement, which set the baseline for how Symantec does business with its partners.

Goals: In the next year, Smith's focus is on ensuring our partners are successfully migrated to the Symantec Partner Program and that they are seeing business returns on their investment in Symantec. Symantec will continue to be very focused on SMB and has aggressive growth plans for its cloud (SaaS) business. The company will be working closely with partners to enable them to capitalize on cloud opportunities with Symantec solutions across all market segments, she says.

Lydia Smyers

Vice President, Worldwide Alliances & Channels Programs & Communications, Oracle
Years in position: 5
Years in channel: 8


Highlights: In 2010, Oracle launched Diamond level and Advanced Specialization in the OPN Specialized program, allowing partners to be recognized for their deep expertise, according to Smyers. The company also grew specialized partners by more than 500% and launched 20 new specializations with supporting enablement resources. Lastly, it transformed the OPN partner portal into a self-service resource through the use of Web 2.0 technologies and increased its traffic by 40%.

Goals: With responsibilities for Oracle's partner program, communications, and strategy, Smyers seeks to deliver valued resources that improve partner profitability and satisfaction. She will continue to gain feedback from partners through surveys and social media to tailor the program and add new features as required. In the coming year, Oracle plans to offer new tools and specializations.

Barbara Spicek

Vice President, Worldwide Channels, Brocade
Years in position: 2
Years in channel: 20


Highlights: Spicek continued her focus on enhancing Alliance Partner Network (APN) program elements that support Brocade's overall channel strategy, which sees building out partner skills and education as a core principle. This will include significant updates to the APN program to empower the channel to increase expertise in new technology areas, such as cloud and convergence technologies and the transition to a skill-based rather than revenue-based program model.

Goals: For next year, Spicek has these priorities: further enhancement of the APN program to include elements around the concept of "Flexible Segmentation" to allow partners the flexibility to choose their own path, such as establishing additional certifications; and active solicitation of partner feedback to give business partners what they need to be successful in times of transformation.

Jan Spring

Vice President, Channel Development, eFolder
Years in position: 4
Years in channel: 19


Highlights: eFolder was involved in 26 channel conferences and maintained 25% per quarter growth in partners, storage and revenue, Spring says. EFolder also introduced a new SaaS- HaaS offering. The company again was named one of the top 20 Cloud Storage vendors by CRN.

Goals: Spring's goal is to increase growth and give partners the very best channel vendor experience.

Sonia St. Charles

CEO, Davenport Group
Years in position: 9
Years in channel: 9


Highlights: St. Charles lists CRN's 2010 Top 100 Most Power Women of the Channel award, the Compellent Partner Advisory Council and being a member of Everything Channel's Value Added Channel Advisory Board as key highlights.

Goals: St. Charles says her goal is year-over-year strategic growth of 20% to increase customer footprint and revenue while maintaining Davenport's high standards of customer satisfaction. Balancing this rapid growth with a continued emphasis on strong customer relationships will continue to be her overarching objective for the next 18 months. Her driving focus is on the long-term relationship and not the transaction.

Brenda Stallings

President, Matrix Integration
Years in position: 32
Years in channel: 31


Highlights: Stallings points to three: the establishment of an Advisory Board to bring family and executive leadership together to strategize on growing the business; the completion of family and leadership assessments that revealed strengths that could be leveraged personally and professionally; and the training of staff facilitators so that Matrix employees can consistently be trained in leadership through people skills.

Goals: Stallings aims to complete training on Matrix's recent CRM implementation for both sales and service; fast-track the business in managed services to better serve those in need of these services; and hire a Chief Technologist to help educate businesses on where technology is going and where Matrix can help them get where they want to go.

Hayley Tabor

Vice President, Worldwide Sales, Xirrus
Years in position: 1
Years in channel: 20


Highlights: Tabor's highlights as she just joined Xirrus include developing a channel strategy, which transformed Xirrus from a direct sales organization to a blended direct and channel business; participating in the regional expansion in Asia-Pacific Japan to take traction to meet significant demands; and not only directing the channel strategy but also opening key geographies for Xirrus in EMEA.

Goals: Tabor's goal is to make Xirrus the fastest-growing wireless company in the world and she plans to scale Xirrus' business by continuing to build a profitable channel model that is not only rewarding to Xirrus but to partners. Ultimately, the goal is to establish Xirrus as the best company for partners to work with in the wireless networking market. The company's global strategy also includes entry into the Chinese market and expanding further in EMEA.

Andrea Thomas

Director, Channel Development, Enterprise Networks Division, Adtran
Years in position: 4
Years in channel: 12


Highlights: Over the past few years, Adtran partners have been asking for help in providing improved enablement. Thomas developed Absolutely Adtran, a deal registration bonus for all-Adtran opportunities valued at $100,000-plus, and drove the launch of Big Deal for Small Businesses to ensure Adtran addressed the "small" in SMB. In 2010, the programs contributed to greater recognition of the fact that the company could deliver a complete solution for unified communications.

Goals: Adtran is again answering requests from partners to improve their productivity, and Thomas has been a key advocate of partner enablement--spearheading an initiative that introduces resources that prepare partners to better compete in today's changing world. This year she will focus on developing management tools that allow Adtran to track the progress of its partners throughout their life cycle as an Adtran partner.

Luanne Tierney

Vice President, Worldwide Partner Marketing, Juniper
Years in position: 1
Years in channel: 15


Highlights: This longtime Cisco executive shocked the tech industry by moving to Juniper Networks in January 2011. Prior to the move, Tierney led strategic partner marketing initiatives for the 13,000 partners in Cisco's global partner community.

Goals: Juniper's products are creating innovation disruptions in the marketplace, says Tierney, and the company is going to help partners capitalize on that momentum by building a new vision for partner marketing and making substantial investments in co-marketing. These investments will be focused on three areas: helping partners differentiate themselves, helping partners drive demand, and becoming partners' trusted marketing advisor.

Laurie Usewicz

Vice President, Americas Channel Sales, Blue Coat Systems
Years in position: 1
Years in channel: 15


Highlights: Usewicz's accomplishments include the introduction of a WAN Designation Fast Start Program, which offers a subset of partner benefits including qualified leads, MDF, evaluation gear, evaluation and presales support. She also notes the launch of enablement tools that allow partners an efficient way to get ramped up on selling a Blue Coat Solution and the rollout of segmentation on Blue Coat certifications to better fit the partner's strength and focus. Certification areas include Security, Visibility, Acceleration.

Goals: Four key focus areas for Usewicz are to increase incremental contribution from the channel through partner enablement and managing through a defined scorecard process; build and expand its WAN optimization channel; drive the cloud to the existing partner base and recruit a new MSSP channel; and focus on the midmarket channel, allowing Authorized partners to deliver incremental revenue.

Angela Vicari

President, Phalanx Technology Group
Years in position: 6
Years in channel: 19


Highlights: Vicari says being able to grow Phalanx Technology Group's business and add new employees during difficult economic times was certainly the top accomplishment.

Goals: Vicari plans to continue to grow the business by developing and growing within Phalanx Technology Group's Fortune 500 client list.

Regina Vignone

Renewals Director, Astaro
Years in position: 4
Years in channel: 9


Highlights: In 2010 Vignone took over the renewal team at Astaro and helped the channel understand the value of and how to capitalize on renewal business. Leading the renewal team, she was able to improve Astaro's customer renewal rate to 75%, creating more revenue for partners in the Americas region. She did this by creating a new renewal notification and communication process for both partners and end users and a customer satisfaction plan for end users.

Goals: In 2011 Vignone hopes to increase the renewal rate and strengthen the renewals team's relationship with partners and their end users. She will continue to evolve the customer relationship program to increase customer satisfaction and thus the rate of renewal business.

Michele Weber

Vice President, North American Ecosystem, Channels Marketing, SAP Americas
Years in position: 4 months
Years in channel: 4 months


Highlights: With 10 years at SAP, Weber's top accomplishments in her new position include delivering a successful Channel Partner Summit to help partners drive business transformation; standardizing pipeline building workshops; and delivering volume online pay-per-responder programs aligned to industry benchmarks. In addition, Weber oversaw the third-quarter launch of volume telemarketing services, line-of-business and industry programs, and a Marketing Service Bureau to improve enablement and ROI analysis.

Goals: Weber will focus on building a high-ROI marketing engine with channel partners. She also plans to develop door-opener strategies for mobility, in-memory and cloud computing as well as boost partner recruitment programs to grow the OEM and SaaS partner base.

Mary Catherine Wilson

Director, North American Channel Marketing & Programs, Dell
Years in position: 3
Years in channel: 3


Highlights: Last year Dell's channel business saw year-over-year double-digit revenue growth, and the acquisition of Compellent added new solutions and programs to the storage line. Wilson made program changes based on partners' needs--offering strong field support and greater opportunities returns for developing skills around Dell solutions.

Goals: Wilson's focus is helping partners profit from their expertise. The program has evolved to three levels of partnership: Registered Partners; Preferred Partners, which have completed certification requirements in one or more areas and are recognized as the experts in Dell key offerings; and Premier Partners, which have demonstrated the highest level of commitment to Dell solutions.

Victoria Zona

Channel Sales Director, Raritan
Years in position: 12
Years in channel: 20


Highlights: Zona enhanced Raritan's partner program to better serve VARs as it transitions from a hardware vendor to one that sells both hardware and software solutions. She improved the education available to them and increased joint marketing. Zona also formalized and expanded Raritan's Network of ecosystem vendor partners, enabling her to set up a series of educational seminars to help VARs and end users understand the importance of energy efficiency in data centers.

Goals: Zona aims to boost Raritan's brand recognition in the power and DCIM space. She will create educational seminars VARs can attend to become more proficient in selling energy management solutions and refine the partner program to ensure it provides the proper sales tools, collaborative marketing, training and sales engagement. Zona also will expand Raritan's thought-leadership position by revamping its trade show and event strategy.

For more, see Part 1 of CRN's list of the 100 Most Powerful Women of the Channel.