‘Widening The Highway’

Verizon’s channel is under new leadership. The telecommunications giant in December crowned Wendy Taccetta as its new global channel chief and revealed a new channel structure for the recently formed Verizon Business Group. As part of the launch of the restructured business organization, Verizon centralized its enablement and operations teams into one organization led by Taccetta, a telecom and channel veteran with more than two decades of experience with the Basking Ridge, N.J.-based carrier.

Taccetta has been busy. As of April, she’s also gained the title of Verizon’s senior vice president for nationwide small business and channel chief, which has her thinking both about partners, as well as end customers, and what solutions they’ll require in a truly digital world. While connectivity is Verizon’s bread and butter -- and still a critical offering for the channel -- Taccetta and her team also have security and collaboration top of mind as companies big and small work to emerge from the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic and build back their businesses even stronger.

When she’s not deep in the weeds of tech, she’s also a passionate employee advocate and a member and supporter of Verizon’s employee resource groups, including Women’s Association of Verizon Employees (WAVE) and the Black Resource Association of Verizon Employees (BRAVE).

Taccetta sat down with CRN to share her vision for the Verizon channel, how the carrier is working to overcome its legacy as a hard-to-work-with large carrier, the small business opportunity, and the tech areas that partners should be placing their bets this year, including 5G and security.

Here are excerpts from the conversation.