The VAR Guy's Top 50 Channel Influencers List, 2015: 11-20
Welcome to The VAR Guy's Top 50 Channel Influencers list. Here you'll find honorees 11-20.
April 6, 2015
Name: Tim Curran
Title/Company: CEO, Global Technology Distribution Council
Why He Made the List: Tim Curran is one of distribution’s leading proponents, driving increased recognition and policy development for the GTDC, a leading international trade association that represents more than $135 billion in annual sales. He has served as CEO of the GTDC since 2002. Previously, Curran was senior vice president of sales at Tech Data, where he led a team of more than 1,100 sales, technical support and customer service representatives. Curran is an international speaker at channel and technology events and served as a White House economic consultant on U.S. international economic policy pertaining to the high-technology market.
Social Handles:
Twitter: @GTDC_org
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/tim-curran/1/960/78b/en
Name: Brian Davis
Title/Company: Senior Vice President, Marketing, Tech Data
Why He Made the List: Under Davis’s leadership, Tech Data has expanded its cloud division, adding dedicated sales, reseller enablement, field marketing and operations resources—better aligning the business with the direction of the market and our company strategy—resulting in cloud partner base growth of more than 120 percent. Davis is committed to promoting and executing effective channel partner programs and strategies such as resellerCONNECT, which provides lead generation and marketing support for resellers. By adding resources to the program, resellerCONNECT has grown more than 106 percent over the past year—directly reflecting Brian’s support and the go-to-market strategy.
Social Handles:
Twitter: @Tech_Data
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/brian-davis/3/483/162/en
Name: Todd DeBell
Title/Company: Vice President of Channel Sales and Distribution, FireMon
Why He Made the List: If there was a “most popular” category in the Channel Influencers list, DeBell would easily take home the prize, racking up seven separate nominations. Why? DeBell has helped FireMon’s revenue grow by 80 percent year over year the last three years. Under his tutelage, Firemon’s channel base has grown to 150 partners from 20 in three years, with more than 600 percent growth. Today, 94 percent of FireMon’s global sales go through its channel. DeBell has spearheaded programs around partner incentives that have helped increase partner-led deals and transformed lead development for its channel partners.
Social Handles:
Twitter: @tdebell
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/tdebell/en
Name: Scott Dunsire
Title/Company: Vice President of Americas Indirect Sales, Hewlett-Packard
Why He Made the List: Dunsire led the channel business for HP Printing and Personal Systems (PPS) in various roles for nearly eight years, and under his leadership, the percentage of sales going through the channel for printing and PC business grew dramatically: Approximately 85 percent of PPS sales now go through the channel, which is the highest channel sales mark in the unit's history. In his new role, Dunsire is responsible for Enterprise Group Americas channel, distribution, OEM, inside sales and SMB segment strategy. He plans to spend the first 90 days of the job on the road meeting with partners to get feedback on what HP Enterprise Group can do better, and is prioritizing a sharper focus on sales execution and predictability. He is also leading the sales engagement push between HP and partner resources. His team has moved a number of direct accounts to the channel, leveraging partners’ skill sets.
Social Handles:
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/scott-dunsire/5/717/b01/en
Name: Mark Enzweiler
Title/Company: Senior Vice President, Global Channels & Alliances, Red Hat
Why He Made the List: Enzweiler has led Red Hat's channel and partner organization since 2006, earning a number of accolades along the way. This past year, Enzweiler and his team focused on the embedded software business, taking Red Hat's technology beyond the data center and moving it into other types of devices and areas such as machine-to-machine communications. They also have focused efforts around helping take renewal responsibility off Red Hat's partners' plates so they can focus more on their customers. Under Enzweiler's leadership, Red Hat has built and managed an annuity model that has garnered praise from its partners and has added a number of diverse partners including ISVs.
Social Handles:
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/mark-enzweiler/b/707/953/en
Name: Douglas Erickson
Title/Company: Vice President, Worldwide Channels, Pulse Secure
Why He Made the List: Erickson has been a leader in the channel community for more than 15 years, and has been recognized in the past for his channel accomplishments and contributions to the development of partner-led business. He also sits on the Vendor Advisory Council for CompTIA. Erickson has taken on the challenge of building a sales organization from the ground up at Pulse Secure, which was formed in October 2014, and his focus is on finding the right people with the right attitude and skills. The mission he has set for the sales and partner organization is centered on the motto, “No reserve, no retreat, no regrets.” Through his career, Erickson has dedicated himself to developing world-class programs, services and contributions to the technology industry as well as to his community.
Social Handles:
Twitter: @ericksondoug
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Doug/Erickson
Name: David Fowler
Title/Company: Vice President of Marketing, INetU
Why He Made the List: Fowler leads the INetU Partner Program and Strategic Alliance network, which accounted for 60 percent of new business in 2014. He champions the philosophy of putting the customer first in relationships with INetU partners, so INetU partners in turn apply this philosophy to their customers. Fowler works to ensure the INetU Partner Program isn’t just another cookie-cutter reseller program by seeking out unique and innovative application developers, system integrators, consultants and similar businesses interested in working together to build real and immediate sales momentum. He has helped INetU grow its revenue by 500 percent and double its average deal size per partner since 2013.
Social Handles:
Twitter: @inetu
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/inetu-managed-hosting
Name: Bob Gault
Title/Company: Vice President of Global Channels and Partners, Extreme Networks
Why He Made the List: Gault took over the VP of Channels role at Extreme in late 2014, putting his more than 28 years of channel experience to work for Extreme’s partner organization. During his career, Gault established himself as a recognized leader in building partner loyalty by equipping solution providers with the resources, strategy and commitment they require to grow. He spent 14 years helping lead Cisco’s channel, managed services and cloud efforts at the vice president level. Gault oversees Extreme Networks’ global partner efforts, which includes more than 2,000 global partners across 80 countries. He observes both business and technology changes—especially the impact of cloud-based service models and the phenomenon of mobility—and then responds rapidly on behalf of partners. His strategy is to foster innovation and a growth strategy that helps solution providers to capture emerging profit pools and new revenue streams stemming from emerging cloud business models.
Social Handles:
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/bob-gault/0/a17/4ba/en
Name: Harry Gould
Title/Company: Vice President, Worldwide Channels and Alliances, HP Software
Why He Made the List: Under his direction in fiscal year 2014, the HP Software channel revenue grew 13 percent year over year, and partner-sourced revenue grew to 30 percent to more than $300 million, up from 26 percent. Gould also grew the OEM/MSP business more than 30 percent year over year, in part due to the launch of innovative cloud and security MSP programs for the channel. HP Software partners experienced rapid growth in partner-led services, support, education and, in some cases, yielded 8X services to license revenue. Under his direction, partner business represents 73 percent of the HP Software business.
Social Handles:
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/harry-gould/3/1b2/147/en
Name: Nancy Hammervik
Title/Company: Senior Vice President, Industry Relations, CompTIA
Why She Made the List: Arguably there are fewer people as connected to the channel as Hammervik. In her two decades running the events business for CRN’s parent company and her four years at CompTIA, Hammervik has touched the lives of innumerable people in the channel. Throughout her career she has raised the bar for event excellence, leading a team of professionals to host more than 200 events around the world. At CompTIA, Hammervik manages the member programs, councils and communities focused on driving the IT industry forward. She is a strong advocate for women in the IT workforce and played an integral role in establishing CompTIA’s Advancing Women in IT Community and the execution of CompTIA’s Dream IT initiative, encouraging our youth, particularly young women, to consider careers in IT. In 2014, Nancy spearheaded the effort to change CompTIA’s membership model so more people, companies and influencers could benefit from the association’s research, resources and communities. CompTIA’s new “Open Access” program has been a hit since Day One, with more than 45,000 individual, registered users added and 2,000 corporate, premier members actively involved.
Social Handles:
Twitter: @nhammerv
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/nancyhammervik/en
Name: Nancy Hammervik
Title/Company: Senior Vice President, Industry Relations, CompTIA
Why She Made the List: Arguably there are fewer people as connected to the channel as Hammervik. In her two decades running the events business for CRN’s parent company and her four years at CompTIA, Hammervik has touched the lives of innumerable people in the channel. Throughout her career she has raised the bar for event excellence, leading a team of professionals to host more than 200 events around the world. At CompTIA, Hammervik manages the member programs, councils and communities focused on driving the IT industry forward. She is a strong advocate for women in the IT workforce and played an integral role in establishing CompTIA’s Advancing Women in IT Community and the execution of CompTIA’s Dream IT initiative, encouraging our youth, particularly young women, to consider careers in IT. In 2014, Nancy spearheaded the effort to change CompTIA’s membership model so more people, companies and influencers could benefit from the association’s research, resources and communities. CompTIA’s new “Open Access” program has been a hit since Day One, with more than 45,000 individual, registered users added and 2,000 corporate, premier members actively involved.
Social Handles:
Twitter: @nhammerv
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/nancyhammervik/en
Welcome to The VAR Guy's Top 50 Channel Influencers list. Here you'll find honorees 11-20.
About the Author(s)
You May Also Like