Dee Dee Acquista to Lead Gigamon Partners Through Next Phase of Growth

New Gigamon global channel leader Dee Dee Acquista plans to ensure the company’s initiatives benefit partners.

Last week, we told you how Gigamon announced its hiring of Acquista as vice president of worldwide channel and alliances. Acquista brings 25 years of experience in channel strategy. She and her team will build on the company’s channel-first strategy to propel the Gigamon Catalyst partner program.

Gigamon’s Dee Dee Acquista

Before joining Gigamon, Acquista was Mandiant‘s vice president of channel sales. Before that, she was senior vice president of global channels at BeyondTrust. She’s also held top channel leadership roles with SentinelOne, Proofpoint and Forcepoint.

In a Q&A, Acquista talks about her plans in this new leadership role.

Minimal Changes Expected

Channel Futures: What’s your take on Gigamon’s current channel strategy and partner program? Will you be making changes?

Dee Dee Acquista: The Gigamon team has a strong foundation for the company’s channel strategy and program. We are a channel-first organization. And the Gigamon Catalyst partner program rewards have dedicated partners who assist us in new logo identification. We also have incredible talent on our team, including global channel programs and operations director Eli Jacobson. And I am thrilled to be working alongside him. As far as changes, I expect those to be minimal. But all [will be] made in an effort to ensure the company’s initiatives to propel the program and its deep observability pipeline are rewarding, both for Gigamon and our valued partner community.

CF: What’s at the top of your to-do list?

DA: Leading our team through the next phase of growth with partner focus and coverage, both inside and outside of the organization. Specifically, I will work to ensure that we are bolstering purpose-driven partnerships, offering the right set of incentives, and having the right coverage and external partner engagement for everyone who has a Gigamon business card.

Solving Gigamon Partners’ Most-Pressing Needs

CF: What are Gigamon partners’ most-pressing needs and how will you address those?

DA: As I continue to settle into my new role, I will focus on instilling clarity for partners on the Gigamon team’s priorities, as a leader in deep observability, and shed light on where the company is headed in the years to come. We are not new to the partners. We’ve been around for almost 20 years. But we are not the same Gigamon that we once were. According to the 650 Group, the deep observability market is forecasted to reach $2 billion by 2026. And in the first half of 2022, Gigamon owned 68% of the market share. A goal of ours is to ensure our partners are equipped to deliver and educate our core audiences on how the deep observability pipeline moves past traditional network infrastructure, allowing them to both realize the true transformational promise of the cloud while meeting business needs in today’s economic environment.

CA: How will your previous experience with Mandiant, BeyondTrust and more come into play in this new role?

DA: Although I will draw many lessons from my previous roles, I will lean heavily on the skills I learned during my time at Proofpoint. There, I held a strong leadership role in sales, with a deep value in the role of the channel. I will also draw from my experiences at SentinelOne and Websense, where we have a large, well-established channel like we do here at Gigamon.