Channel Edge

Scott Mangelson has a cool view of the world from his home in the Napa Valley. He’s an award-winning winemaker, which makes him an instant candidate for being a friend of our host, Steven Kellam, but he’s also a National Sales Director for Microsoft who does a ton of business in the channel. This comes after many years spent on the vendor side, selling technology solutions as a Microsoft partner.

Joe Sykora is back for another episode and, in recent news, he’s truly become someone you want to watch in the channel space. In fact, Channel Marketing Journal recently named Joe on its list of the Top Channel Change Agents of 2018. If you don’t remember Joe from back on Ep. 13, Managing Channel Sales for Success, here’s a quick primer: Joe is the VP of Global Sales and Channels at Bitdefender, and he also happens to be the guy who has recently been tasked with amalgamating Bitdefender’s inside sales team with their vast global channel partner network. In a company that has long leaned heavily on channel sales for revenue generation, this sounds like a big job from where we sit.

Janet Schijns is the CEO of the JS Group following years of channel work at companies such as Office Depot, Verizon, and Motorola. Considered an expert in mobility, IOT, services and solutions routes to market, Janet joins the podcast with a hot take on digital transformation and how we need to stop compartmentalizing and understand - EVERYTHING is digital...

Larry Walsh is one of the most recognizable figures in the IT channel and security communities, and is considered one of the more forward-thinking leaders in the industry. A seasoned journalist, analyst, author, and industry commentator, Walsh is also the founder of Channelnomics, which is a leading provider of IT channel news and analysis. A specialist in the development and execution of channel programs, disruptive sales models, and growth strategies for companies of all sizes, from start-ups to Fortune 500 organizations, Walsh has worked with a roster of diverse technology players, including Ingram Micro, Intel Security, SAP, and Verizon.

Angela Leech is the Senior Director of Research at Sirius Decisions, and has over two decades working in and on channel partner and global partner programs. Before joining SiriusDecisions, Angela worked at Adobe, where she managed the EMEA partner program and the channel marketing plan that was designed to support more than 36,000 partners for the region. She is well-versed in both the challenges and opportunities that the ever-shifting digital landscape is presenting to brands. Her expansive perspective has shown her some great practices in channel marketing, but in this episode Angela and Steven focus on the top ten mistakes people should avoid in their partner programs along with some practical, tactical advice to help folks do better.

Paul Yantus is Vice President of Marketing at 360insights, a serial entrepreneur and pioneer in channel marketing software with over 20 years of technology and channel experience. Paul’s first startup launched an early version of Through-Channel Marketing Automation over 25 years ago. Paul has built channels from the ground up and led large global businesses with mature channels of over 10,000 partners. 

Alyssa Fitzpatrick is the GM of Worldwide Partner Sales at Microsoft, computer scientist and racecar driver with over 25 years in the software, technology and channel sales spaces.  Overseeing business with over 50,000 global channel partners with an iconic organization such as Microsoft gives Alyssa a unique perspective into how engage and enable channel partners of all sizes and at various levels of maturity in their digital transformations.

A major player and key contributor in the channel world - Meaghan Sullivan is the Head of General Business and Global Partner Marketing at SAP. In this episode, Meaghan discusses various issues ranging from gender inequality around the world, what it means to be a female business leader within the channel technology space, being a role model to her children and mentor to younger women beginning their careers in channel marketing.

Jon Lorenzini is the founder and CEO of a startup called Crabbr whose background includes several years at each of Google and Facebook where he worked in marketing science for CPG companies. In this episode, we go hard mainly on the topic of trends and great practices for data-driven marketing and he’s got a ton to share with all of you who are out there working hard to use data and data insights to refine how you do marketing.

"It's about taking everything you know and turning it upside down. The old stuff is just not working" Sal Patalano, Lenovo Software's Chief Revenue Officer is back to challenge the way we look at planning the elements of our channel strategy.