AT&T Channel Veteran Chris Jones to Leave the Company

Chris Jones, the architect of AT&T's channel program for technology service distributors and technology advisors, is departing the company.

Sources confirmed to Channel Futures that Jones, AVP of AT&T Partner Solutions for Alliance Channel and ACC Business, is leaving the carrier at the end of the year. AT&T wanted his role to be based in Dallas where AT&T has its headquarters, but he preferred to remain close to his family in Atlanta, sources told Channel Futures.

Jush Danielson, area vice president, technology and enablement center of excellence for AT&T Partner Solutions, and a 23-year veteran of the company, will take Jones' place in the AT&T Alliance Channel Program and ACC Business.

Chris Jones and the AT&T Channel

Jones is a well-known leader in the channel.

Channel Futures named him one of its two 2024 Channel Influencers of the Year, due to his role establishing AT&T's place in the technology advisor (agent) channel, starting in 2018.

“Chris has been a foundational leader for the channel. During his leadership, AT&T transformed its channel business and became an example of growth and evolution. It wasn't always perfect, and yet Chris managed through those times with his typical candor, vision, and determination. The channel owes him a debt of gratitude not just for what he helped build at AT&T, but for how he helped the channel as a whole grow in visibility and success. We will miss him, but now he'll find success in another channel someday,” Telarus chief operating officer Richard Murray told Channel Futures.

Related:AT&T's Chris Jones: 'Humbling' Partner Feedback Led to Alliance Channel, ACC Business Revamp

AT&T's Jush Danielson

Key in AT&T's shift to embrace agents was its embrace of non-exclusive partners, who sold products from other carriers.

“When you start getting into the indirect world where they are non-exclusive and didn't necessarily come up in their careers selling AT&T, they really don't care about AT&T,” Jones told Channel Futures earlier this year. “What they care about is, can you deliver a product that meets the customer's needs? Are you easy to work with? Can you pay timely and accurate compensation?”

His work establishing relationships with the national TSDs earned him trust in an era where cable companies and aggregators have posed new competition to the ILECs.

“Chris has been a big factor in AT&T’s focus on doubling down and investing in taking its channel program to the next level, inspiring a new level of confidence throughout the channel community and accelerating demand for its solutions,” Avant CEO Ian Kieninger said earlier this year.

"Chris Jones is one of the most admired leaders in the industry – he’s fair, partner-focused, and great at accelerating results – and because of that partners trust him to help them grow their business," JS Group CEO Janet Schijns told Channel Futures. "This is a major loss for AT&T and their channel, but I know he will be somewhere in a meaningful leadership role and be a game-changer for whoever brings him in."

Related:AT&T Realigns Alliance Channel, ACC Business