The 100 People You Don’t Know But Should 2019

CRN’s “100 People You Don’t Know But Should” spotlights some of the channel’s best and brightest people who may not be as visible as some channel chiefs or CEOs but are just as important to the partner community.

Unsung Heroes

When it comes to building a state-of-the-art channel go-to-market strategy, technology vendors need consistently to commit to providing the resources and support those partners will need in order to be successful. That often involves a small army of people.

From those who manage channel programs to those who provide marketing support to those who offer training and technical know-how, channel-friendly vendors assemble strong channel management teams to ensure partners are positioned to win. While some channel executives are familiar faces, not all of them are. In fact, many work tirelessly behind the scenes to support their partners without ever being recognized by the channel at large.

CRN’s “100 People You Don’t Know But Should” spotlights some of the channel’s best and brightest people who may not be as visible as some channel chiefs or CEOs but are just as important to the partner community. Consider them the channel’s unsung heroes.

(By company name)

A-C | D-F | G-I | J-L | M-O | P-R | S-U | V-Z

April Miller

Sr. Director, Channel Operations, Development

8x8

Miller is known for her ability to operationalize 8x8’s channel vision in a way that translates into success for both customers and partners, and she runs a channel operations team that’s lauded internally for its relentless pursuit of excellence.

Nicolas Ponce

Head of Operations, Security

Addigy

Ponce’s’ responsibilities span many of the programs that support Addigy’s partner community. Whether he’s making sure that the company’s SaaS solution is up, available and secure or evolving on-boarding and support programs, he is an integral part of partner success.

Judith Aponte-Randall

North American Distribution Manager

Aerohive

Acclaimed as a “master communicator,” Aponte-Randall manages Aerohive’s relationships with its distribution partners, with the prime directive of making sure the products solution providers need are available and ready to go. She prides herself on staving off delays due to product shortages.

Kyle Lichtenberg

Global Head, AWS Growth Partners

Amazon Web Services

Lichtenberg is in charge of Amazon Web Services’ growth partner initiative, leading a team that enables and nurtures tens of thousands of partners who are early in their AWS journey. He’s helping turn the cloud giant’s newest solution providers into the next wave of Advanced and Premier Consulting partners.

Darren Grasby

Chief Sales Officer

AMD

Grasby has spent the bulk of the past 12 years in crucial channel and sales roles for AMD’s EMEA business, but in March he stepped onto the global stage when he took over the chipmaker’s top sales job. Key will be a full-bore sales blitz behind the company’s new second-generation EPYC processors.

Darryl Richardson

Chief Product Evangelist

Aparavi

Heralded by Aparavi as a subject matter expert in the areas of data management, governance and archiving, Richardson joined the multi-cloud data management upstart in July and will have a hand in everything from amping up the company’s technical innovation to marketing to presales engineering and customer support.

Dawn Rundell

Director, Ecommerce Channel Sales

APC by Schneider Electric

As customers complete more of their buying journey online, Rundell is leading a team that’s creating compelling, engaging content for APC by Schneider Electric partners to syndicate and helping them get maximum results through traffic driving and lead conversion initiatives.

Justin Saxton

Director, Sales Engineering

AppRiver

Saxton wins praise for the rare combination of sales and technical skills that have enabled him to not only lead AppRiver’s sales engineering team but build the processes that scale to support AppRiver’s 60,000 customers, all while contributing to the company’s 93 percent customer retention rate.

Jennifer Psaltis

Director, Dell Technologies

Arrow Electronics

With 20 years’ worth of sales, marketing and channel skills in her back pocket, Psaltis is driving channel enablement to grow the partner ecosystem for the portion of Arrow’s distribution business that focuses on Dell Technologies solutions.

John Moran

Director, North America Distribution

Aruba, an HPE Company

Moran’s hard work, creativity, and commitment to partners’ success have played a key role as Aruba rolled out a new SMB initiative—including a rich support structure —across all of its distributors, which have seen tremendous growth in that market as a result.

Sara Straley

Area VP, Sales, Marketing

AT&T

Partner enablement is Straley’s middle name. She was instrumental in the planning and implementation of the inaugural Fusion by AT&T Partners Solutions channel sales event at the end of 2018, where she strove to provide more tools, technology and products to partners across the group.

Jordan Redd

Director, Sales, North America, MSSP

AT&T Cybersecurity (formerly AlienVault)

Redd joined AlienVault two and a half years ago as a partner manager and recruited a record number of partners. He was promoted to lead the MSSP initiative for North America and has been driving new initiatives into the partner ecosystem.

Matt McCarthy

Director, MSP Partner Management

Barracuda MSP

McCarthy leads the charge in taking a consultative approach with Barracuda MSP’s partners to help them successfully uncover new opportunities in their managed services businesses, regularly presenting insight on industry trends and emerging solutions to the channel to drive sales growth.

Evey Thallmayer

Director, Sales, Business Development

Belkin

A 22-year industry veteran with experience across sales, marketing and business planning, Thallmayer oversees North American distribution, the DMR channel and strategic partnerships for Belkin and its Linksys and WEMO brands, leading the teams that develop new business and drive profitable sales.

Andrada Georgescu

Worldwide Partner Program Development Manager

Bitdefender

Georgescu wins kudos for putting all her energy and skills into building the Bitdefender Partner Program as a living organism that evolves in line with market needs and offers solution providers added value and tangible reasons to work with the security vendor.

John Peppler

VP, Worldwide Channels

Bitglass

Peppler joined Bitglass in May and has since been laserfocused on helping the cloud access security broker deepen its channel presence. He says the company’s global expansion “represents the next wave of opportunity for the channel to engage in margin-rich, annually recurring business.”

Jordan Randall

Director, Channel Sales, North America

Blancco

Randall’s follow-through, creative initiatives and sincere desire to make channel partners shine have all contributed to Blancco’s success in North America. Colleagues say he takes time to listen to the data security company’s partners and learn about their needs, creating an environment for success.

Bill Rhodes

Director, Channel Sales

Buffalo Americas

Rhodes directs a team that oversees a network of 4,000 authorized reseller partners for Buffalo’s North American business, driving all facets of the networking and storage company’s indirect channel sales program. He also prides himself recruiting and mentoring top talent.

Tara Murphy

Director, Strategic Channel Alliances

Carbon Black

Murphy is known around cybersecurity company Carbon Black as a woman who is passionate about leveraging the power of partners and making sure that they are fully recognized by what they bring to the table. She always has the channel’s back.

Jennifer Taylor

Sr. Manager, Federal Field, Channel Marketing

Centrify

A go-getter who joined privileged access management company Centrify nearly two years ago, Taylor wins praise as a multitasker able to juggle field and channel marketing activities. She’s credited with having a tremendous impact on the sales pipeline in the government and East commercial markets.

Meghan Wilkinson

Vice President of Applications Engineering – Enterprise Sales Enablement

CenturyLink

Wilkinson works tirelessly to enhance the partner experience and ease of doing business, driving improvements in both the operations and marketing areas of the CenturyLink Channel Partner Program over the past year. That all translates to more profit for partners.

Abigail Maines

Head of Channel Sales, Americas

Check Point Software Technologies

Described as “the perfect combination of intellect, execution, pragmatic outlook and leadership,” Maines joined Check Point in August. She is helping to develop a new channel program while driving advanced technology adoption and breaking into new Americas accounts.

Lukas Brzak

Sr. Manager, Value Incentive Program

Cisco Systems

Praised by colleagues as highly collaborative, Brzak manages Cisco’s wildly popular Value Incentive Program, its incentive offering for increasing partner margins. Brzak leads the team that plans, implements and oversees every aspect of the program.

Donna Buffet

Sr. Director, Worldwide Partner Enablement

Citrix Systems

Under Buffet’s leadership, Citrix’s global partner enablement team standardized, built consistent metrics and KPIs, and partnered with internal sales enablement and technical teams to work with almost 6,000 partners globally while helping 500 earn their cloud certifications.

Michael Zedosky

Sr. Director, National Partner Programs

Comcast Business

Zedosky, a three-time Comcast Business Sales Director of the Year, is respected by colleagues for his integrity and positive, high-energy style. He’s someone they can rely on to not only hit goals and build strong relationships, but to take risks and implement new strategies.

Karen Falcone

VP, Worldwide Cloud, Service Providers

Commvault

A former executive at Sungard Availability Services and Dimension Data, Falcone knows a thing or two about cloud services. In her new role at Commvault, which she took on in February, she’s focused on finding new opportunities for the storage vendor and its partners to drive cloud revenue.

Scott Scrogin

Innovation Director, IT Nation

ConnectWise

Scrogin has won praise from colleagues for his “amazing work behind the scenes to enable program success.” He has been a key player in assisting with the development of focus groups during IT Nation Connect, and is responsible for much of the success ConnectWise has had with that undertaking.

Colleen Schmidt

VP, Partner Success

CoreDial

As the head of the cloud communication services company’s Partner Success program, Schmidt and her team work directly with channel partners from on-boarding to supporting them through their first sales, to helping them develop business once they’re a longer-term partner.

Anthony Farinha

Sr. Director, Strategic Alliances, Technology Partnerships

Couchbase

One of Farinha’s key accomplishments includes building Couchbase’s Red Hat partnership to the point where Couchbase is now a managed partner, winning Red Hat’s “Land and Expand” 2018 ISV Partner of the Year award. He also worked with Infosys to launch a new Couchbase offering.

Lisa Majdi

Executive Director, Marketing

Cox Communications

An early believer in the important role partners would play for Cox Business, Majdi was key to securing marketing and other resources to help launch and grow Cox’s indirect channel business. She was promoted to her current role in August.

Peter Hurley

Director, ProAV Business Unit

D&H Distributing

Hurley sees a big opportunity for the channel to incorporate digital signage, video walls, projectors, collaboration and unified communications into their solutions. As part of a new initiative, he helped drive 111 percent sales growth in D&H’s AV/commercial display business in fiscal 2019.

Christine Gassman

Director, Global Channel Engagement

Datto

With thousands of MSPs among its channel ranks, it can be challenging for Datto to engage those partners. Enter Gassman with her keen ability to plan live events that bring the Datto partner community together to network, share suggestions and provide feedback on how to keep getting better.

Shawn Trotter

VP, North America Commercial Channel

Dell Technologies

Labeled by colleagues as a “partner hero,” Trotter is credited for inspiring the Dell channel group to do their best work every day by investing in her team’s development, leadership and selling skills. They in turn use those improved skills to create a better experience for thousands of partners across North America.

Darren Bibby

VP, Partner Programs, Strategy

Docusign

As a former IDC channel analyst, Bibby knows his way around a partner program. He’s putting that knowledge to good use in his current role leading Docusign’s channel programs team, driving program development and process improvements for the electronic signature company.

Jamie Case

Manager, Americas Channel Sales

Dropbox

Case started at Dropbox as a partner account manager in 2017. Two years later he has already been promoted twice. In his current role, he’s focused on growing channel sales as the company works to position itself as a content and collaboration platform for business accounts.

Stephanie Durden

Partner Lifecycle Marketing Manager

Eaton

Durden is a tireless evangelist who’s always waving the channel flag, educating solution providers on the ins and outs of Eaton’s portfolio and partner program and making sure no stone is left unturned when it comes to uncovering opportunities for growth and success.

Kristina Hodge

Sr. Partner Marketing Manager, North America

Eset

Hodge lives by the motto, “Partner success equals vendor success.” That’s why she’s always looking for new ways to educate and enable Eset’s partners, particularly when it comes to providing educational content and materials to help the IT security vendor’s partners enhance their marketing efforts.

Patrick Huth

VP, Alliances, North America

Exclusive Networks

Huth joined Exclusive Networks two years ago with one primary goal in mind: to help the company disrupt the North American security and cloud distribution market. He’s in charge of growing vendor and partner alliances across the continent to bring the most innovative offerings to partners.

Natalia Vianden

Director, Global Channel Programs

Extreme Networks

Vianden brought her operational and leadership skills to bear when she played a main role in integrating multiple channel programs into a unified Extreme partner program. She also led the development of the vendor’s Partner Solution EXcelerator and Global Partner Reach Network.

Rob Whiteley

VP, Marketing, Nginx

F5 Networks

After joining F5 Networks through its acquisition of DevOps-focused load balancing company Nginx earlier this year, Whiteley is now looking at ways to leverage the strengths the sides bring to each other while putting the influx of F5 resources to good use.

Len Gilsenberg

Sr. Director, Commercial, Partner Systems Engineering Teams

FireEye

Known as someone who is always taking the initiative to improve the security company’s channel presence, Gilsenberg is lauded by colleagues as a valued team player and a reliable coach, one who manages his team strategically and is willing to adjust when business calls for it.

Courtney Armstrong

Sr. Manager, USA, Canada Channel Operations/Deals Desk

Fortinet

With nearly five years at security company Fortinet’s deals desk under his belt, Armstrong wins praise for always bringing an objective view to the channel conflict resolution process, ensuring that there is a fair and consistent outcome for the vendor’s partners.

Kristen Kliphouse

President, North America, Google Cloud

Google

As of June, Kliphouse is the new face of Google Cloud in North America, charged with carrying the banner as the company moves to stake a claim in the enterprise market. With less than 50 percent of enterprise workloads in the cloud today, she sees a lot of room for growth.

Paul Ryan

Executive Director, Partner Experience, Partner Services

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Ryan is the man responsible for setting partner business requirements for HPE’s tools and focuses on improving the end-to-end experience for solution providers. He is credited for driving a lot of change, particularly in his efforts to integrate HPE’s partner community in the wake of recent acquisitions.

Greg Popham II

VP, Global Channel Sales

Highfive

After a stellar eight years at HPE, Popham jumped in January to videoconferencing upstart Highfive, where he’s now focused on delivering a channel-first go-to-market strategy that promises rich partner margins and full channel compensation on renewals, expansion and upsell opportunities.

Jay McGloin

VP, Americas Sales, Partners, Commercial, Strategic Solutions

Hitachi Vantara

With digital transformation on the brain, McGloin leads the business development charge, running a team that taps into Hitachi Vantara’s channel partners to deliver health-care, Internet of Things and analytics solutions with the goal of helping customers monetize their data.

Gary Simms

Head of Americas Channel Programs, Enablement

HP Inc.

In the year since he took over leadership of HP’s partner program and development team, Simms is credited with driving innovative changes that emphasize areas of strategic growth yet maintain the consistency and predictability that solution providers crave.

Christopher Oliver

VP, Strategy, Transformation, Partner Ecosystem

IBM

As the strategy leader for IBM’s $13 billion partner ecosystem organization, Oliver is tasked with developing and executing unique ways of accelerating revenue and value created through the channel. And as a former solution provider executive, he’s more than familiar with what that takes to achieve.

Dan Tomaszewski

Channel Manager, Central, West

ID Agent, a Kaseya Company

After 16 years as the president of an MSP, Tomaszewski took that passion for the managed services space to cybersecurity startup ID Agent, where he helps partners master the company’s dark web monitoring tool and use that knowledge to grow sales.

Casey Cheyne

VP, Cloud Partnerships

IGEL

Cheyne joined IGEL in July to take on a newly created role that focuses on driving strategic alliances and cloud service provider expansion. He also works with IGEL’s cloud ecosystem partners to create opportunity for channel partners.

Eric Hembree

Director, Internet of Things

Ingram Micro

When it comes to the IoT market, Hembree is knee-deep in the hoopla. Known as a “to the point” executive who fully understands both the benefits and the chaos IoT brings, he is a strong advocate of a policy-based approach to IoT security to help keep users safe.

Tiffany Sargent

Chief IoT Architect, Sr. Principal Engineer, U.S. Channel Scale, Partners

Intel

Sargent wins kudos for her work to create a scale plan for partners that integrates IoT, Machine to Machine, complex systems and distributed analytics into their business objectives. She’s known for creating transformative strategies that partners can deliver on, creating a win-win situation for both partners and Intel.

Curt Mark

VP, Channel Sales

Intermedia

Mark is known around the halls of Intermedia for his channel-first commitment, evident in his focus on collecting partner feedback and bringing it to the team to make sure it gets incorporated into the company’s channel efforts. He’s also keen on communicating with partners to provide updates.

Christian Goffi

Head of Channels and Distribution, Americas

Juniper Networks

In August, Goffi became Juniper’s new Americas channel chief, heading up partner sales, federal sales and distribution. In his new role he’s expected to leverage his keen knowledge of analytics to help drive partner profitability and business success.

Matthew Courchesne

Head of SMB, Channel, U.S.

Kaspersky Lab

Since taking over as Kaspersky’s U.S. channel chief earlier this year, Courchesne has overseen the rollout of a new global channel program that provides partners with recognition and back-end rebates for specializing in certain technologies. The program offers six specializations that aim to unlock additional margin for partners.

Joe Pinnix

U.S. Director, National Solutions Provider Partners

Lenovo

A battle-hardened leader with 26 years of sales experience behind him, Pinnix is also a mentor and coach for many of Lenovo’s sales directors and sales executives. He was one of a trio of people who played a leading role in last year’s sales team transformation efforts to better align and optimize investments.

Cassandra Johnson

Sr. Manager, North American Business Development

Lexmark

Described by colleagues as a “go-getter that is the glue of our organization,” the 15-year channel sales veteran takes pride in working hard to cultivate Lexmark’s partner community and has responsibility for program and promotion development and oversight.

Steven Kahn

Director, Channel Sales

LogicMonitor

Since taking on the lead channel sales role in January, Kahn has been running in overdrive to help LogicMonitor partners win big in the IT monitoring space, drawing on his previous four years in various sales roles across the company.

Jennifer Weis

Director, Partner Development

Microsoft

Weis created a partner-to-partner initiative connecting some of Microsoft’s ISVs with key channel partners, driving go-to-market and co-selling activities across these partners. The initiative has led to more joint wins and helped build the overall strength of the company’s partner ecosystem.

Kelly Brady

Director, Worldwide Partner Enablement, Adoption

NetApp

Brady is still garnering applause for her development of NetApp’s Rules of Engagement program over two years ago and has since put herself right in the middle of any internal or external conflicts to ensure that partners get a fair shake and to make any changes on that might be needed to keep things running smoothly.

MeiLee Langley

Director, Channel Marketing

Nextiva

Langley has big plans for Nextiva this year after joining the company in January, rolling out an aggressive channel marketing road map with the aim of increasing the scalability of the VoIP vendor’s partner recruitment engine and through-partner demand generation machine.

Derek Gabbard

VP, Partner, Service Activation

Opaq

Gabbard is the rock star who created the Opaq services playbook that partners use to accelerate solution-building, empowering them to transform from a Capex to Opex business model. He also drives sales enablement to get to revenue faster with each partner.

Zoe Hruby

Director, Strategy, North America Alliances, Channels

Oracle

A member of Oracle’s Leadership Development Program, Hruby works to drive and land strategy and initiatives. She leads Oracle’s North American Partner Cloud Advisory Board and has a hand in global strategy alignment and execution through her work with the Alliances and Channels team.

Ryan Burton

VP, Product Strategy

Pax8

When cloud distributor Pax8 considers what new vendors it wants to work with, the responsibility of researching and vetting that potential partner falls to Burton. To do that effectively, he’s constantly listening to partners to understand their needs and testing offerings to ensure they fit the bill.

Ohad Mandelbaum

VP, Global Sales

Perimeter 81

Mandelbaum is banking on an influx of channel business through a new partnership with Ingram Micro. The software-defined Securityas-a-Service vendor is now featured in the distributor’s Cloud Marketplace, making it easier for solution providers to purchase, provision, manage and invoice its solutions.

James Green

National Mobility Channel Manager

PlanetOne

Green is lauded as a savvy sales and marketing professional who is working alongside PlanetOne’s partners to realize untapped value in IoT and enterprise mobility. Described as being obsessed with customer experience, he is also focused on helping partners close deals with maximum margins.

Mike Fong

Founder, CEO

Privoro

As nation-state actors become an increasing security threat to not only the U.S. government but American businesses as well, Fong is leading the channel charge around Privoro’s SafeCase, an intelligent smartphone case developed to protect government and enterprise customers from espionage.

Victoria Brumbaugh

Director, Global Partner Strategy, Operations

Qlik

Brumbaugh is helping channel partners get smart about delivering data management and analytics solutions that bring customers squarely into the digital era, particularly as the company seeks to build deep strategic relationships with a smaller number of strategic solution providers.

Meg Brennan

Sr. Director, Global Channel Operations

Riverbed Technology

With 20 years of experience that includes the design, execution and analysis of sales and channel programs, Brennan is considered an integral part of Riverbed’s channel transformation efforts, particularly the digital elements of the vendor’s Rise Partner Program.

Angel Grant

Director, Identity, Fraud, Risk Intelligence

RSA Security

While leading RSA’s go-to-market strategy, planning and execution for several of the company’s identity management and anti-fraud product portfolios, Grant is the face of RSA to a number of key organizations, committees and task forces related to finance, banking and payment card security.

Mario Estavillo

Director, Worldwide Channel Programs, Promotions

Ruckus Networks

When the channel team at Ruckus needs insight into the financial justification or business value behind new partner initiatives, they turn to Estavillo. He is credited for constantly evaluating the results and ensuring that the vendor’s leadership teams, field and partners have the visibility.

Jason Perocho

Sr. Director, Product Marketing

Salesforce

A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Perocho is laser-focused on researching and evangelizing how businesses can use data to better engage customers and partners across their digital properties. One area he’s been talking up lately is the business improvements customers see from adding AI to Salesforce Sales Cloud.

Brent Patrick

Sr. Marketing Manager

Scale Computing

After jumping into the channel marketing role at Scale Computing two years ago, Patrick ramped up quickly to bring his expertise in digital, social and field marketing to bear. Colleagues say the marketing initiatives he developed made a noticeable positive impact on the vendor’s channel right away.

Kyle DeWitt

Director, Technical Services

ScanSource

Whether it’s communicating better or developing a new tool for solution providers, colleagues say DeWitt is always on the lookout for what else ScanSource can do to be a better partner. His team has rolled out a number of new improvements that have made the distributor easier to do business with.

Chanda Dani

Sr. Director, Product Marketing

ServiceNow

Dani leads product and technical marketing for ServiceNow’s IT Operations Management business unit, including its high-growth Software-as-aService offerings. Currently her attention is drawn to how AI can use big data and machine learning to optimize IT operations.

Tammy Allen

Sr. Channel Sales Specialist

SolarWinds MSP

Allen wins praise for always putting partner needs first and working to ensure they have exactly what they need to succeed. To wit, she was heavily involved with the launch and training for SolarWinds MSP’s MSP Institute, which uses real-world experience to educate partners on managed services best practices.

David Bankemper

VP, North America Channel Sales

SonicWall

A tech industry veteran with channel experience at Juniper, Lenovo, IBM and, most recently, Poly, Bankemper as of May is leading North American channel sales for SonicWall, where he’s putting his “hunter mentality,” his focus on teamwork and his entrepreneurial attitude to good use for partners.

Barry Weller

Sr. Manager, Global Channel Programs

Sophos

Weller handles the care and feeding of Sophos’ partner support programs, ensuring that the channel gets the professional services and support it needs. He wins kudos for building programs that allow all partners to receive the levels of support they need to win business.

Mitch Lopez

Director, Channel Marketing

Spectrum

Lopez owns the strategy and execution of multiple indirect sales channel marketing programs focused on engagement and growth of the Spectrum Partner and Carrier channels. He also develops marketing strategies, campaigns and sales materials, all through a channel-focused lens.

Ryan Yahrmatter

Head of Channel Sales

Sprint

A self-described enthusiastic telecom executive whose ethos is “refuse to lose,” Yahrmatter prides himself on being a hands-on, motivational leader who draws on his 20 years of sales experience at Sprint to build a strong culture and deliver results, spurring channel partners to new sales heights.

Laura Oberle

SVP, Sales, Southern U.S.

Star2Star Communications

Oberle’s goals for this year are to continue improving Star2Star’s channel partnerships and encourage more engagement between its sales team and solution providers. She’s doing that by connecting with partners and helping them stay informed of training opportunities and product launches.

Jennifer McCready

Global Channel Chief

Steelcase

McCready is opening doors to new revenue opportunities for solution providers with the creation and execution of a global channel strategy for Steelcase, whose portfolio includes a bevy of technology mounting, acoustics, and power/cable management products that help customers build collaborative office spaces.

Zach Yarnes

VP, Sales Operations

StorageCraft Technology

The channel team at StorageCraft sings Yarnes’ praises for being well-connected to partners and heavily invested in their success. He’s said to provide support and guidance while taking a hands-on approach in developing the back-end processes that are critical to channel program success.

Zach Mandeville

Sr. Director, Global Channel Programs

Symantec

The mastermind behind Symantec’s Secure One partner program and the architect of the revised program, Mandeville is lauded for approaching the partner program with a balance of practical simplicity and easy ways for partners to contribute and be rewarded.

Emily Chen

VP, Product Management

Synnex

In her role managing a diverse portfolio of HP Inc. print products and supplies for distributor Synnex, Chen says there is no magic potion when it comes to success. It simply is achieved “by putting our efforts into working with our vendors and resellers consistently.”

Maghen Hannigan

Director, Converged, Integrated Solutions

Tech Data

Hannigan’s team is responsible for the integration and services capabilities that are opening the door to new business opportunities for Tech Data. Under her leadership and due to her team’s expertise, the distributor has won numerous complex deals as well as earned additional business with its vendors.

Sean Hagerty

Sr. Director, Channel Sales For North America

Thycotic Software

Described as a stalwart with an impeccable reputation, Hagerty is said to have a passion for what he does that shows in his efforts to mentor Thycotic’s channel sales team. Colleagues say he is consistently engaged with the sales team and communicates the value of leveraging the channel.

Sean O’Connell

National Account Manager

Tripp Lite

An award-winning national account manager, O’Connell has repeatedly garnered recognition from his Tripp Lite peers as a standout for his strong desire to support partners—even when things don’t go exactly as planned— and make sure that they are successful.

John Stewart

Director, Partner Sales

Veeam Software

A people person with 25 years of sales and channel sales experience, Stewart describes building top-performing sales teams as “one of the great joys in my life and career.” He’s now tapping into that passion at Veeam, helping the 100 percent channel company drive channel growth.

Amy Mummert

Sr. Manager, Channel Sales, Public Sector

Veritas

Veritas tapped Mummert two years ago to expand and reinvigorate its federal and public sector channel sales business with measurable revenue and partner satisfaction impact. She’s done just that, driving expansion by segment, vertical and end-user customer base.

Bridgitt Rhodes

Sr. Manager, Americas Channel

Verizon

Rhodes’ colleagues commend her “unwavering commitment to our channel partners,” pointing to her pledge to meet with every partner to learn its business and understand its pain points. She has created a straightforward strategy to grow business that led to double-digit year-over-year growth.

Ricardo Duque

VP, Channel Strategy, Americas

Vertiv

Duque is helping Vertiv partners capitalize on new revenue opportunities around the rise of 5G, energy consumption and the edge with a number of channel program enhancements, including improved tools, new rebates and additional programs, all with the aim of capturing significant growth.

Rich Steeves

Sr. Director, Worldwide Partner Programs

VMware

Working handin-hand with VMware’s global channel chief, Steeves is the chief architect of VMware Partner Connect, the transformative channel program coming early next year that is already winning praise for its simplicity and for putting increased emphasis on the certified competencies partners earn.

Mario DeRiggi

SVP, National Channel Sales, Business Development

Vonage

DeRiggi is on a mission to boost channel sales within Vonage Business, spearheading a major push to develop and grow a robust partner program that brings the VoIP provider deeper channel partnerships that help it bring products to market faster.

Laurie Mitchell

Sr. Director, Partner Marketing

Wasabi Technologies

Mitchell is playing a critical role in helping Wasabi capitalize on the growing channel momentum stemming from the launch earlier this year of a new partner program and enablement portal, plus a new partnership with cloud distributor Pax8.

Adam Otis

Manager, Product Management

WatchGuard Technologies

With responsibility for collecting and cleaning partner data that is always changing, colleagues call Otis “the glue between the business and operations.” His direct engagement with the WatchGuard channel is credited for allowing the company to make quick decisions and ensure positive partner experiences.

Mike Fitzmaurice

Chief Evangelist, VP, North America

Webcon

Tapping into 25 years of experience, Fitzmaurice is building Webcon’s partner program in the U.S. and Canada, pulling in engineering resources, marketing dollars, training professional development, leads and sales to help the channel find success with the vendor’s application development platform.

Teri Teague

Manager, Channel Marketing

Webroot, a Carbonite company

Playing a key role in a number of channel areas for Webroot including building and implementing marketing programs and running the security vendor’s MSP advisory council, Teague brings an organized, detailed approach to her work while striving to foster teamwork and collaboration with colleagues.

Mat Gruen

Sr. Director of Channel Sales

WekaIO

Over the course of his first year at WekaIO, Gruen has developed and implemented a channel-centric sales model that’s driving record-setting growth for the parallel file system storage company. He is credited with identifying and developing strategic channel partnerships in every region.

Ryan Azus

Chief Revenue Officer

Zoom Video Communication

Azus joined Zoom in August, bringing with him nearly 20 years of communications industry experience as he takes on global responsibility for the videoconferencing vendor’s direct sales, channel, sales operations and enablement, customer success and sales engineering teams.