2023 CHANNEL CHIEFS

Wendy Taccetta

Channel Chief Taccetta served as the executive sponsor of a new channel program focused on doorto-door agents that have helped drive 5G Business Internet sales. The program has leveraged C-Band network investments that have increased 5G availability in 99 markets.

Ryan Strayer Sr. Director, Sales, Channel Chief ViewSonic continued to maintain clean channel pricing under Strayer’s direction and worked to keep wellbalanced inventory that allowed it to fulfill orders and not overstock the channel.

Clark Brown VP, North America Channels

Wasabi’s channel team has increased significantly in size and expanded globally under Brown. Wasabi has signed its first global distribution partner and established its first global business development team.

WatchGuard

Sean Price SVP, Worldwide Sales Price led the execution of integrating the company’s Panda acquisition into its two-tier distribution model. He was instrumental in developing and rolling out regionaland country-specific plans to support accessibility and adoption of all products now available.

Verkada

Caleb Augustin

Head of Channel Sales

Augustin created and fostered growth in Verkada’s channel employees and partner relationships. Under his leadership, Verkada has doubled its channel employee head count, creating three new roles to provide a better partner experience.

Marc Malafronte Director, Channel

Malafronte launched a new partner program, revamped the partner portal and doubled the channel sales team, restructuring it regionally to better assist partners. He also opened VIPRE ’s entire portfolio to partners.

Marty Falaro EVP, COO

Falaro added enablement resources, presales teams and vertical sales specialists. The go-to-market strategy is evolving to include additional channel investment in people, programs and MDF to ensure consistent growth.

WatchGuard

Mark Romano

Sr. Director, Channel Engagement, Performance Romano adjusted business models, allowing partners to preserve financial power while providing better terms to customers. He extended co-op fund use, providing a longerterm outbound marketing solution.

Vertiv

Peter Klanian SVP, North America Sales

Klanian ensured that Vertiv has kept a consistent channel philosophy, and it is showing strong business results. Vertiv’s channel growth has outpaced the market over the past two years and market-share gains are evidence that the strategy is working.

Virtana

Bob Kilbride Worldwide VP, Channel Sales, Alliances

Kilbride changed the channel organization from being regionally focused to being partner focused. Virtana now has assigned partner managers for each partner as it moves from a transactional to relational approach.

Wasabi Technologies

Mark Vella VP, Global Business Development

Vella spearheaded the launch of Wasabi’s official OEM program while helping expand the overall channel program on a global scale. He hired a global team to facilitate OEM business and educated them on its long-term value.

WatchGuard

Joseph Tavano

Channel Marketing Specialist

Tavano consolidated partner communications with a partner-first strategy in mind. He also developed a worldwide enablement content strategy and launched a new marketing enablement and automation platform.

Viakoo

Frank Rubio VP, Channels, Alliances

Rubio increased channel revenue from 45 percent to 68 percent of overall sales. He also implemented a refined go-to-market strategy related to the channel and created a “Campaign in a Box” program for premier partners.

VMware

Ricky Cooper VP, Head of Worldwide Partner, Commercial Organization

Cooper was key to the launch of the next evolution of VMware’s partner program, Partner Connect. VMware now has a singular partner program that includes multiple business models and routes to market.

WatchGuard

Sean Banahan Director, U.S. Channel Sales Banahan has overseen the evolution of WatchGuard’s inside sales team into a true channel sales team over the past four years. WatchGuard’s U.S. channel sales team supports a set of assigned resellers.

WatchGuard

Hillary Taylor-Hartle Manager, Partner Development

In her first year as a manager for the partner development team, Taylor-Hartle has on-boarded a new MSP franchise, helped improve reporting for partner recruitment activities and developed special promotions targeting new partner segments.

Chris Wachel

Regional VP, Sales, U.S., Canada

Wachel coordinated the efforts between channel account managers, sales engineers and others toward the goal of achieving sales quotas. He also led strategic planning sessions to achieve sales and cross-selling targets.

WSO2

Greg Stuecklin VP, GM, North America Sales

With Nutanix, WSO2 has penetrated a large portion of educational institutions as well as health-care and other industries where it previously had limited reach. With Stuecklin’s direction, success will lie in higher-margin wins for partners.

Brian Costello VP, Global Channel, Public Sector Sales

Costello has driven partner participation to increase from 35 percent to 46 percent. He also accelerated partner adoption and playbooks internally to better service partners and increase market share.

Charlie Tomeo CRO

Tomeo has just joined Rewst, where he will lead the development, strategy and execution of sales. He leverages an innovative approach to the channel through a network of partners and MSPs with a keen focus on being easy to do business with.