Sophos announced six members of its channel and marketing teams have been named to The Channel Company's prestigious 2015 CRN® Women of the Channel. The annual list recognizes outstanding female executives across vendor channel organizations, distributors, solution providers and other women prominently involved in the IT channel ecosystem for their past successes, and their far-reaching impact on the technology industry.
Kendra Krause, vice president, global channels; Justine Lewis, vice president, worldwide field and channel marketing; Erin Malone, vice president, North America channel sales; Caralyn Stern, director of marketing, Americas; Regina Vignone, director of channel sales, East; and Melissa Lyons, senior specialist, channel marketing; were selected by the editors of CRN because of their accomplishments and the influence they wield over the technology channel.
CRN has also included Kendra Krause and Justine Lewis on its Power 100 list, which recognizes executives who are helping to shape the channel's future. Additionally, Caralyn Stern is included on the Channel Up-And-Comers list, a special recognition of rising-star female executives at companies across the channel.
"These executives have made a lasting mark on the industry, expanding the breadth of influence in the technology channel," said Robert Faletra, CEO, The Channel Company. "We congratulate the Women of the Channel, and celebrate their innovative contributions and commitment to the IT channel community."
Each of the CRN honorees played key roles in the rollout of new channel programs and initiative throughout 2014:
Kendra Krause leads the global channel sales team, which in 2014 accomplished several milestones, including exceeding its annual quota and launching a new simplified Partner Program in North America. The goals for 2015 are no less ambitious, including expanding the Partner Program worldwide to ensure sure partners around the globe have a uniform experience, increasing the number of active partners, and launching a new MSP program.
Justine Lewis leads the global field and channel marketing teams globally, which is heavily channel-focused. The team invests the majority of its time and marketing with channel partners to help create more business, opportunity and impact. As a result, in 2014, Sophos expanded its channel partnerships in the Americas, EMEA and APJ regions, and was able to deliver its Partner Conferences across three continents in one month with a record number of partners participating.
Erin Malone leads the North America channel sales team and plans to continue the momentum from 2014 and drive channel excellence throughout the organization. Sophos will launch a new partner portal, training program and tools in 2015, enabling partners to sell across the entire product portfolio with a goal of making Sophos the simplest to do business with.
Caralyn Stern in 2014 successfully realigned the Sophos marketing team to better reflect the company's 100 percent commitment to its channel, highlighted by helping to define and roll out a new 5 star award-winning partner program. The effort paid off: Sophos' partners were critical to the company securing a clean sweep of the Network Security Appliance and Client Security Software categories – a first in the 30 year history of the CRN ARC awards.
Regina Vignone spent much of 2014 working on key initiatives with Cloud Infrastructure partnerships that were very strategic for the organization. She also oversaw and grew the channel sales account team for the East region, which is entirely dedicated to help partners plan, support and drive their businesses. In 2015, Regina's focus will remain on helping channel partners grow and capitalize on new business opportunities.
Melissa Lyons developed several awareness, recruitment and enablement programs throughout the year, including the incredibly successful Partner Conference. When Melissa joined Sophos four years ago, 150 partners attended. In 2014, that number more than doubled to over 300, and over 450 attended the 2105 event last April. In 2015, one of Melissa's chief responsibilities will be to continue working to further improve how the company communicates with its partners to ensure that they have the tools they need to be successful with Sophos.
"Our relationships with all of our channel partners are absolutely critical to our overall growth and success, so having six of our executives included on this prestigious list is an incredible and well-deserved honor for each of them," said Mike Valentine, senior vice president of worldwide sales for Sophos. "It's also an honor that the entire company can share with them – all of our hard work and the time we devote to make doing business with Sophos simple and beneficial for our partners, is paying off."
