Channel 'Legend' Cheryl Cook Retiring from Dell Technologies

Channel veteran Cheryl Cook is retiring in May after nearly 13 years at Dell Technologies.

She has served as senior vice president of global partner marketing at Dell Technologies since January 2020. Before that, she was senior vice president of global partner marketing at Dell EMC.

“After an incredible journey and discussions with my sons, Garrett and Logan, I shared internally this morning that I will retire at the end of May after nearly 40 years in the industry,” Cook wrote on LinkedIn. “I am incredibly proud of our partner team and the work we have accomplished together. I am confident they will continue to drive partner success.”

Cook said she’s enthusiastic about the future of “our industry, the game-changing emerging technologies being brought to market, and most importantly, our partner ecosystem, which will continue to play a significant role in bringing these innovations to life for our customers.”

Not Leaving Dell Technologies Yet

“I am not going away just yet,” Cook said. “I will be here for the next couple of months, through Dell Technologies World, and I look forward to seeing all of you there.”

Before joining Dell, Cook held sales leadership roles with Nuance Communications, Sun Microsystems and NCR Corp.

When Dell launched its 2023 partner program, Cook had this to say:

“We frankly feel that whether we’re in robust economic times or more uncertain, challenging times, partners have ample opportunity to win and grow with Dell. We’re focused on the long term and the many opportunities like multicloud, where we’re investing in, and we see huge potential for our partners around 5G and telecom and the overall edge opportunity that we’re continuing to support.”

Responding to her LinkedIn post, numerous leaders in the channel congratulated Cook on her retirement.

“We will certainly miss you Cheryl - you have been a true example of positive leadership, and a huge contributor to Dell's channel success,” said Alastair Edwards, chief analyst at Canalys.

Techaisle lead analyst Anurag Agrawal said Cook is a “legend, a trailblazer.”

“Cheryl, you have had many significant roles in the industry and left each place better than when you joined,” said Frank Vitagliano, CEO of the Global Technology Distribution Channel (GTDC). “Your legacy has been established and you should be very proud of your accomplishments. I enjoyed my time working for you at Dell and wish you the best in the future.”