The job of a channel chief is to build and manage relationships with partners to generate sales that contribute to their company’s goals. They curate those relationships through channel programs designed to reward partners based on their investments and performance. Channel chiefs frequently look to improve their programs, but often within or additive to their existing program structures. Rarely does a channel chief get the opportunity to build a whole new channel program from the ground up in an organization that has a channel. That’s the opportunity Sandra Glaser Cheek had at Ciena. She and her team spent the last year building a new, innovative channel program in parallel to their existing program. Building the channel program took much planning, coordination and investment. Cheek joins Pod2112 to talk about her new program, the Ciena Partner Network, and what it took to build a channel that’s different from the standard model.