25 CHANNEL SALES LEADERS 11
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Christian Alvarez
Scott Lannum
Sandy Hogan
Frank Rauch
SVP, Worldwide Channel Sales
VP, GM, Commercial Sales Organization
SVP, Worldwide Partner, Commercial Organization
Head of Worldwide Channel Sales
Nutanix
HP Inc.
VMware
Alvarez has already won the admiration of Nutanix’s partner community just one year into his global channel leadership role. He was crowned the winner of CRN’s prestigious Channel Madness Tournament of Chiefs in 2021, besting 31 of the industry’s most influential channel chiefs.
Lannum’s tenure as the Americas channel chief at HP Inc. has included the launch of the HP Amplify partner program, which features a revamped compensation structure as well as more focus on rewarding partners that can offer services and bring a strong digital presence.
Hogan kept her foot on the gas in 2020 after taking over as VMware’s global channel chief with a focus on getting partners equipped with Master Services Competencies. Her “partner-first” mantra is being built into all of VMware’s strategies.
Check Point Software Technologies
North America Channel Chiefs Lenovo
Rauch strengthened the ties between partners and the field sales organization to maximize channel profitability. He also brought in longtime VMware cloud sales leader Geoff Waters to oversee the field sales operation in North America and Latin America.
Cato and Biondi have been helping to craft the Lenovo 360 global partner program. Set to launch in early 2022, Lenovo 360 will unite the intelligent devices and data center infrastructure businesses in a more cohesive and profitable way for partners.
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Rob Cato and Steve Biondi
20
Chris Lamborn
Curtiz Gangi
Carolee Gearhart
Shannon Sbar
Craig Schlagbaum
Head of Global Partner Go To Market, Programs NetApp
Sales VP, U.S. Channels, Data Center Vertical
VP, Worldwide Channels
SVP, Indirect Sales
It’s one thing to say, like NetApp does, that everything is going to the cloud. It’s another thing to make sure that means opening up big opportunities for partners. Lamborn has done just that, and NetApp’s strong channel business is a testament to his vision.
Eaton’s longtime channel champion has overseen a number of recent partner program launches. Gangi continuously updates partner programs around improving sales processes, tying partner certifications to recurring revenue and focusing on new growth areas like edge computing.
Gearhart is instrumental in ensuring Google Cloud’s sales team has highly skilled partners for every workload, vertical and segment as it focuses on achieving a 100 percent go-to-market plan with the channel. She stresses the importance of partners embodying Google Cloud’s flexibility, agility, intelligence and innovation.
VP, Channels, North America Schneider Electric
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Eaton
Google Cloud
Comcast Business
Sbar has been focused on driving channel success at Schneider Electric’s Secure Power division for over 14 years. She has spearheaded recent improvements to the Opportunity Registration Program by increasing discounts and expanding the eligible product categories for partners.
Schlagbaum has more than two decades of experience in the telecom arena and even more as a trusted channel leader. He has been focusing Comcast’s ever-growing partner program by injecting more resources and investments into connectivity offerings as well as more strategic IT services.
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Jon Bove
Gordon Mackintosh
Kevin Rooney
Kimberly King
Wendy Taccetta
VP, Channel Sales
Global Channels, Virtual Sales
VP, Americas Channel Sales
VP, Global Strategic Partners, Alliances
SVP, Nationwide Small Business, Channel Chief
Juniper Networks
Veeam Software
Hitachi Vantara
Verizon Business Group
Mackintosh joined Juniper last year and since then has been making big bets on the channel—to the tune of investing over $100 million. He has added a brand-new program geared toward enterprise sales, as well as a program focused solely on MSPs.
The move to turn all things storage into a service is one heartily embraced by Rooney, who is touting the fact that more than half of Veeam’s revenue now comes via services and subscriptions. Rooney has shown how to make the channel the center of a push toward services.
How do you carve out a channel-focused IoT and analytics play from a channel traditionally focused on storage? You call in King, who has been busy melding the channels of three separate product lines into one and helping partners take advantage of the expanded opportunities they offer.
Twenty-year Verizon executive Taccetta was crowned channel chief of the Verizon Business Group in 2020, and she hasn’t taken a break yet. She has been busy creating better ways for partners to work with the carrier and helping partners see opportunities beyond connectivity.
Fortinet
Bove has driven Fortinet’s expansion from yearly licenses to consumptionbased pricing for six products to reduce capital expenditures for MSPs. He has also expanded the company’s specialization program from four to seven, adding new offerings around zero trust access, OT and security operations.
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AUGUST 2021
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