CDN Women of the IT Channel Ecosystem 2014
CDN’s fifth annual list of Women in the IT Channel Ecosystem selected top personalities from all sectors of the channel.
These senior women executives are shaping the economy of IT in Canada. This year CDN broke down its list into sections to properly represent each area of the channel. They are leaders, channel chiefs, distributors, trusted advisors and a special category called mavericks, which features executives in sales and marketing roles. There are 23 returning executives from 2013’s list.
There are just three non-Canadian born executives who made the cut. As for the Canadians, some hold worldwide roles, while others have a specific North American responsibility.
Our fifth and final category is: Channel Chiefs
Jodi Bonham
IT Channel Manager, Eaton Industries Canada
Jodi Bonham spearheaded the charge in the channel for a new way to sell power. Her company Eaton announced new management capabilities for data centres and collocation facilities that can measure energy consumption and control power at the outlet levels.
Bonham is also a board member of the Canadian Channel Chiefs Council.
Read more: IT and POS systems more vulnerable to “dirty power”
Sheila Bouman
Executive VP & Managing Director, Peer 1 Hosting
Sheila Bouman’s goal is to create the most human Web experience possible for the customer. The cloud hosting provider this year released Hyperscale, a new service that combines the high-end computing power of Peer 1’s Mission Critical Cloud with 100 per cent flash storage to reach that goal.
Read more: NSA spying scandal impacting hosting decisions: Peer 1
Nancy Briglio
Business Partner Director, IBM Canada
Nancy Briglio is responsibile for crafting the strategy for IBM Canada’s channel ecosystem. One of her areas of influence was the x86 servers and blade business units. Now that x86 business is with Lenovo, IBM Canada’s channel direction is evolving.
Read more: Cisco targets several competitors with new IBM partnership
Jennifer Coughlin-Judge
Channel Development Manager, NetApp Canada
Called one of the hardest working and dedicated executives in the Canadian channel community, Coughlin-Judge is the No. 2 ranking channel executive at NetApp behind Canadian channel chief Rick Brown. NetApp this year is trying to change the conversation with customers and channel partners with its OnTap solution for hybrid cloud storage.
Coughlin-Judge is also a board member of the Canadian Channel Chiefs Council.
Read more: NetApp partners with Microsoft on hybrid cloud offering
Karen Doerrie
Canadian Channel Manager, Nutanix Canada Inc.
Former Arrow ECS Canada executive Karen Doerrie joined one of the most talked about high tech vendors this year, Nutanix, in May. With its data centre-in-a-box solution, Nutanix has the channel buzzing about the hyper-converged space.
Read more: Dell PowerEdge servers to ship with Nutanix software
Tara Fine
Director, Global Commercial Channels, NA, Dell Canada
What a year Tara Fine has had. Dell Canada’s channel chief orchestrated two alliances with major distributors (Ingram & Tech Data) in this country, paving the way for Dell to enter the tier 2 distribution space.
Fine is also a board member of the Canadian Channel Chiefs Council.
Read more: Dell pushes high performance VDI as the next big thing
Mary Peterson
National Director Channels, SAP Canada
Mary Peterson in 2014 re-emerged as the face of SAP’s growing channel business in Canada. The business software vendor is trying to get its channel partners excited about cloud and managed services, and Peterson has the experience to outline the potential channel opportunity for solution providers.
Peterson is also a board member of the Canadian Channel Chiefs Council.
Read more: SAP Canada makes a change to its channel leadership
Sandra Hill
VP Channel Management and Distribution, Mitel
New to this year’s list is Sandra Hill of Mitel. Hill develops new strategies for the channel and distribution to maximize profitability for unified communications. Her goal for Mitel’s channel partners is to re-energize the community by providing more resources and creating new avenues for growth.
Read more: Mitel refreshes brand to reflect expanded offerings
Donna Wittmann
Canadian Channel Chief, VMware Canada
VMware Canada channel chief Donna Wittmann did not make the 2013 list because she just was named to her post.
Wittmann spent just over a year at Tennis Canada before joining VMware. In 2014, she introduced the new Elite channel program in Canada that plans to provide the channel with an opportunity to engage early with VSAN. “We are on the ground floor with VSAN and the same goes for NSX. These are early days and great opportunity for partners to be on the bleeding edge of the technology,” she said.
Mary Whittle
Worldwide channel development director, Avaya
One of the original members of the Women of the IT Channel Ecosystem list, Whittle continues to be a presence in the channel community in Canada.
Avaya this year changed its main Connect Channel Partner program to advance solution provider skills and expertise with Avaya Collaboration technologies.
Read more: Avaya makes changes to its channel program
