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Click HERE to access the XChange University: IT Security workshop overview, agenda and speakers

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Click HERE to access the XChange University: IT Security workshop overview, agenda and speakers

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Pick up your conference badge and personalized schedule at registration, then stop back any time you have questions that you need answered or feedback that you would like to share. The XChange Events staff is there to help you!

Learn the tips and tricks of making the most of your time at XChange with information from staff and advice from previous attendees.

Robert DeMarzo

SVP, Event Content and Strategy
The Channel Company

Tracy Fischer

Event Audience Recruitment Director
The Channel Company

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Robert DeMarzo

Robert DeMarzo

SVP, Event Content and Strategy, The Channel Company

Robert C. DeMarzo is a channel veteran who helps solution providers and IT professionals analyze and solve the most complex issues facing their organizations. Bob manages the content needs and strategy for our Channel and IT Executive events, working closely with event sponsors and speakers to make sure their message and content inspire attendees. He spent more than two decades as a business technology journalist and publisher for the CRN and VARBusiness websites and magazines before turning his attention to the content needs and strategy for The Channel Company’s events business.

 RDeMarzo

 RobertDeMarzo

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Tracy Fischer

Tracy Fischer

Event Audience Recruitment Director, The Channel Company

Learn the tips and tricks of making the most of your time at XChange with information from staff and advice from previous attendees.

Bill Jones

SVP and General Manager, Events
The Channel Company

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Bill Jones

Bill Jones

SVP and General Manager, Events , The Channel Company

Bill Jones continually drives bottom-line performance for our events business. He leads a team of operations, customer service, venue planning and event systems that support The Channel Company’s renowned brands. Drawing from his extensive knowledge of the event and conference industry, Bill is responsible for new business development tools, profitable execution and custom engagements for the group. His event expertise spans launching and managing programs, including on-demand conferences, virtual events, live events, conferences, road shows and partner events.

As a charter member of the channel, Chris Pyle has seen it all. As the CEO of Champion Solutions Group, Pyle oversees a solution provider that has its roots in the channel's very early days and has navigated wave after wave of industry change. Champion and Pyle have come out on top as a result of an evolution in business models and thought leadership. Along the way, Champion has cemented its role as a valued partner to its customers representing some of today's most influential tech suppliers and services. Pyle will share his thoughts on how he has survived and thrived during some of the most turbulent times and his thoughts for what lies ahead for solution providers, vendors and everyone who calls the channel home.

Chris Pyle

CEO
Champion Solutions Group

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Chris Pyle

Chris Pyle

CEO, Champion Solutions Group

Christopher Pyle, President & CEO for Champion Solutions Group, began his career with Champion as a sales representative in 1986. Over the years, Chris has become the driving force behind the organization’s development of key strategic alliances and solution portfolio. It’s his vision and innovativeness that catapulted Champion up the ranks to become a $100+ million organization and one of the most respected solution providers in the industry.

Chris Pyle leads the company’s go-to market and execution strategies for its integrated offerings in the cloud, security, and digital infrastructure—with a focus on improving the customer experience and driving transformative business outcomes.  Mr. Pyle also aligns key partner initiatives with company strategy, and oversees corporate marketing and messaging to gain mindshare with customers and partners.

Every winning team has an MVP and every MVP has teammates. The great teammates become the pulse of high-performing organizations, accepting and committing to whatever role is needed to spark winning results.  Through remarkable insight from the greatest teammates of our time, author and motivational speaker Don Yaeger will share how individuals who are not the most valuable members on the team can still be invaluable. Yaeger will share insight and stories from his latest book on the discipline and humility it takes to become the ultimate team player. He will examine how an MLB catcher went from a perennial back up to the ultimate team player eventually playing in the World Series for two separate teams. Yaeger will examine the traits of great team players, how to become one and how to manage team players to benefit the entire organization.

Don Yaeger

Inspirational Speaker
Don Yaeger

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Don Yaeger

Don Yaeger

Inspirational Speaker , Don Yaeger

Don Yaeger is a nationally acclaimed inspirational speaker, longtime Associate Editor of Sports Illustrated and author of 24 books, eight of which have become New York Times Best-sellers. As an author, Yaeger has written books with, among others, Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton, UCLA basketball Coach John Wooden, baseball legends John Smoltz and Tug McGraw and football stars Warrick Dunn and Michael Oher. He teamed with Fox News anchor Brian Kilmeade to pen the 2013 best-seller “George Washington’s Secret Six,” a look at the citizen spy ring that helped win the Revolutionary War.

This presentation will illuminate the emerging IoT ecosystem of compute between devices, the edge, and the regional hyperscale data centers.  It will provide a vision for solution providers on how to leverage customers' massive amounts of data and transform that data into actionable intelligence.  This intelligence will let customers solve their business challenges.  APC by Schneider Electric will explain how the company's solutions will enable the IT partner community to become more relevant to their client base through specific capabilities and tools. These solutions will help solution providers take full advantage of this ongoing industry transformation.

Thomas Humphrey

National Segment Director
APC by Schneider Electric

Russell Senesac

Director, Strategy Execution
APC by Schneider Electric

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Thomas Humphrey

Thomas Humphrey

National Segment Director, APC by Schneider Electric

Thomas Humphrey has been with APC by Schneider Electric for 17 years working in a variety of influential roles across the business. His APC career began in Atlanta, Ga., as a pre-sales systems engineer, working closely with the enterprise sales teams and channel partners. Over the years, has worked in various technical and sales capacities with both end-user and channel focused teams.  Currently, Humphrey is the national segment director for Edge IT, with commercial responsibility for APC’s strategy in distributed IT and edge computing. Humphrey is a graduate of University of Rhode Island in civil/environmental engineering, a board member of a 501c-3 non-profit animal sanctuary and has served as a member of the Tiverton Economic Development Council.

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Russell Senesac

Russell Senesac

Director, Strategy Execution , APC by Schneider Electric

With over 20 years experience in the IT market, Russell  Senesac has held several positions within APC by Schneider Electric.  His current role is focused on North American market, helping APC by Schneider Electric solve business challenges for customers and solution providers.  He is actively involved with market research, emerging trends and technology advancements.  Senesac works closely with his company’s R&D teams to ensure new offers are aligned with solving customer challenges seen in the marketplace today.  Prior to his current role, he has held positions in sales, marketing, product management, and business development.

Books Sponsored By:

This session is designed to bring together executives from leading managed service providers who want to connect with peers to gain a better understanding of today’s challenges and opportunities. This is a peer-to-peer session where sharing ideas around best practices, go-to-market strategies, issues and opportunities will be discussed. Designed by two veteran MSPs, this peer exchange has focused on the big issues facing MSPs such as business model evolution, strategic partnerships, marketing and sales compensation. The moderators will divide the room into work groups to discuss several topics in detail. Peer perspectives have emerged as one of the most important sources of information today for solution providers and customers. This session will allow attendees to compare notes in an open, friendly environment. The goal is to create an atmosphere where sharing of ideas is welcome and no idea or question is seen as unwelcome. Space is limited.

Stel Valavanis

CEO
onShore Security

Jason Wright

Managing Director
All Covered

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Stel Valavanis

Stel Valavanis

CEO, onShore Security

Stelios Valavanis is the founder and president of onShore Security. He currently serves on the boards of the ACLU of Illinois and We the People Media, and advisory committees for several other organizations. He has appeared as a guest lecturer and panelist for local colleges, non-profits, and various industry events. Stel graduated from the University of Chicago in 1988 with a Bachelor’s degree in Physics. Prior to founding onShore, Stel held a number of technical positions at the University of Chicago.

Stel’s love for things technical has spanned most of his life. By age 15, he was writing dBase code for a market research company, producing an analysis tool for sale to other marketing firms. He formed his first business in 1981, producing and distributing Apple II software packages. Stel also has been involved and remains active in many artistic projects, including audio CD recordings, video compilations, and interactive installations.

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Jason Wright

Jason Wright

Managing Director, All Covered

Internet of things or what has become known as IoT is the latest buzz in the IT industry. It is being viewed as the next big thing. But is it? For years, solution providers have heard that this trend or that trend will completely change the landscape so they have become a jaded bunch when it comes to investing precious time and resources without a thorough understanding of the value proposition. So it is with IoT. This solution provider panel, featuring executives who are building practices around IoT, will discuss the risks and rewards. Peers will present their views on the challenges and opportunities in such markets as public sector including the military, SMB and manufacturing where demand and interest in IoT is strong. Of course, the big issue that will be addressed is security because every customer needs to know the risk of IoT deployments that could make their network and business vulnerable to attacks. But wait, this group is not assembling to just discuss IoT solutions and products but what customers need to know about process change and how partners must embrace a process-focused sales engagement to succeed.

David Carter

Director - Technical Solutions
Encore Technology Group

John Holman

CEO
Pax Advisory

Has Patel

President and Principal Consultant
Infologic, Inc.

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David Carter

David Carter

Director - Technical Solutions, Encore Technology Group

David Carter has been working in the IT Industry for more than 20 years holding positions from designing software, to constructing data centers, building teams and managing digital transformations. He’s worked within Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, R&D, manufacturing and in the government and education sectors. In his current role, Carter is responsible for the success of Encore’s Enboard security and identity platform.

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John Holman

John Holman

CEO, Pax Advisory

John Holman, is the CEO of Pax Advisory, an IT solutions company focusing on government data center, infrastructure, analytics, assessing criminalized power structures, and compliance. Pax Advisory is a service-disabled-veteran-owned small business with a proven track record with DOD, NATO and civilian agency customers. Prior to founding Pax Advisory, Holman worked for Lockheed Martin, JP Morgan, and Deutsche Bank. Holman served in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and 2nd Infantry Division. Holman has earned several degrees including a JD from Golden Gate University. He is an attorney and PMP certified.

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Has Patel

Has Patel

President and Principal Consultant, Infologic, Inc.

Mr. Has Patel is President and Principal Consultant of Infologic, Inc. Before founding Infologic, he also worked for AT&T Bell Laboratories, Glaxo Smith-Kline Pharmaceuticals, Philips Electronics and BP Chemicals. Industry expertise include Aerospace & Defense, Pharmaceuticals, Energy and Software.

Patel holds BS in Mechanical Engineering, and MS in Production Engineering. His research interests include Research & Innovation Management and Manufacturing & Innovation. He has published papers on Research & Innovation Management at Aerospace & Defense and Corporate R&D Management conferences. He also regularly publishes a blog on the Art & Science of Innovation Management.

He is also an industry adviser and Expert-in-Residence (EiR) at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) Applied Innovation center, and a member of the University of Southern California (USC)-led Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, Southern California (AMP SoCal) which supports the Aerospace & Defense industry.

Don Yaeger will share insight and stories from his latest book on the discipline and humility it takes to become the ultimate team player. Yaeger will examine the traits of great team players, how to become one and how to inspire team players to benefit the entire organization. He will take a deeper dive into how leaders can help build a culture that recognizes and acknowledges those whose work as a great teammate make championships possible.

Don Yaeger

Inspirational Speaker
Don Yaeger

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Don Yaeger

Don Yaeger

Inspirational Speaker , Don Yaeger

Don Yaeger is a nationally acclaimed inspirational speaker, longtime Associate Editor of Sports Illustrated and author of 24 books, eight of which have become New York Times Best-sellers. As an author, Yaeger has written books with, among others, Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton, UCLA basketball Coach John Wooden, baseball legends John Smoltz and Tug McGraw and football stars Warrick Dunn and Michael Oher. He teamed with Fox News anchor Brian Kilmeade to pen the 2013 best-seller “George Washington’s Secret Six,” a look at the citizen spy ring that helped win the Revolutionary War.

The number one reason for failure in sales is an empty pipeline. And, the number one reason for an empty pipeline is a failure to consistently prospect. However, prospecting is uncomfortable and people just don’t like doing it. But, prospecting is essential if you want to succeed. We teach professionals to differentiate through adaptation, to stand out through better relationships, and to accelerate with Fanatical Prospecting. In this session, we will explore the mindset of the Fanatical prospector, the use of the golden hours, prospecting pyramid, and handling Re-Flex Responses, Brushoffs, and Objections. Attendees will walk away with tangible and actionable techniques to immediately become better at prospecting and building more robust pipelines. Our sessions are designed to inspire and motivate, spurring attendees to action that produces significant change.

Keith Lubner

Founder
Channel Consulting Corp (C3)

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Keith Lubner

Keith Lubner

Founder, Channel Consulting Corp (C3)

Keith Lubner acts as an advisor and mentor to several of today’s leading channel organizations on strategies, tactics, and programs to accelerate growth. Keith has founded three companies and is considered a world-renown expert on enablement, channel sales, channel marketing issues, and channel leadership.  His training programs and workshops have been delivered across the globe to several start-up and multi-national organizations. He is currently Managing Partner of Channel Consulting Corp and Co-founder with Jeb Blount (author of Fanatical Prospecting) of the recently launched Channel EQ, an organization focused on providing transformational training and enablement tools, workshops, and programs.

 @klubner

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-lubner-b655571

In the digital era, technology is advancing at an exponential rate and changing how people work and live. Dell EMC embodies this vision in its technology solutions and relies on real-world experiences that have helped thousands of businesses redefine themselves for the digital era, accelerate and deliver best-in-class customer experiences. Dell EMC possesses the industry’s  broadest product portfolio of innovative solutions and the industry’s most desirable partner program. That combination enables Dell EMC to deliver a simple, predictable and profitable experience for its partners.  Dell EMC enables extraordinary opportunities for growth and profitability.

David Miketinac

Vice President, NA Distribution
Dell EMC

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David Miketinac

David Miketinac

Vice President, NA Distribution, Dell EMC

David Miketinac is responsible for leading the sales organization servicing Dell EMC’s high-growth distribution market in the U.S. and Canada. An industry veteran with 23 years tenure at Dell EMC, Miketinac most recently led the regional U.S.-Canada channel and has held senior management positions in the company’s consumer, preferred commercial accounts, distribution and state/local government divisions. He has also held positions in operations, global strategy and led Canada’s commercial segment. Miketinac graduated from Texas State University and served four years as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army.

Market researcher IDC recently reported a slight increase in the PC market for the first time in five years. The gains could be partly attributed to newly introduced form factors and pressure from customers to update aging systems. To continually meet the needs of IT customers, Lenovo offers unique form factors that address the changing dynamics of the technology market. Join Lenovo's keynote to find out more about the company's latest product portfolio including its latest Tiny Workstation. Solution providers will also hear more about Lenovo’s latest tiering and incentive programs. Find out how Lenovo’s product portfolio and channel programs can help partners break the status quo, sell differently and win with their customers.

Stephen Miller

Lenovo Ambassador
Lenovo

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Stephen Miller

Stephen Miller

Lenovo Ambassador, Lenovo

Stephen Miller is a PC and phone geek that spends his time speaking with Lenovo business partners and customers across all markets and of all sizes. His goal is to help bring Lenovo products to market. Miller believes his job is to not only tell the world about Lenovo but to listen to customers and business partners about what they need from their devices now and in the future.

Join us for hosted cocktails and reception food stations as we kick off this successfull event!

Sponsored By:

(By Invitation Only)

You’ve never seen a hotel room like this before! Vendors create their own fully customized display and demonstrate their newest solutions and products more personally.

Pick up your conference badge and personalized schedule at registration, then stop back any time you have questions that you need answered or feedback that you would like to share. The XChange Events staff is there to help you!

This session is designed to bring together executives from leading managed service providers who want to connect with peers to gain a better understanding of today’s challenges and opportunities. This is a peer-to-peer session where sharing ideas around best practices, go-to-market strategies, issues and opportunities will be discussed. Moderated by veteran MSP builder and strategic adviser Gary Pica of  this peer exchange will focus on the big issues facing MSPs: hiring and retaining top talent; drivers of profitability; packaging and pricing; building a more valuable offering ; dealing with commoditization and measuring and reducing reactive service noise. The moderator will divide the room into work groups to discuss these topics in detail. Peer perspectives have emerged as one of the most important sources of information today for solution providers and customers. This session will allow attendees to compare notes in an open, friendly environment. The goal is to create an atmosphere where sharing of ideas is welcome and no idea or question is seen as unwelcome. Space is limited. 

Gary Pica

President & Founder
TruMethods

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Gary Pica

Gary Pica

President & Founder, TruMethods

Gary Pica is a pioneer in the managed services field. His company, Dynamic Digital Services, was “early to market” in the MSP arena. It quickly became one of the fastest growing MSPs in the country, with over 7,000 endpoints under management, generating over $500,000 of monthly reoccurring revenue. Gary’s company was acquired by mindSHIFT Technologies in 2005 and he has since launched TruMethods, a coaching and mentoring firm aimed at helping IT solution providers reach their full potential as MSP’s. TruMethods provides a proven, repeatable process to transform your business by demonstrating the right approach to leadership, solution packaging, sales process and results tracking via online tool and webinars. Today over 500 IT providers around the world utilize the TruMethods business transformation process.

 @garypica

It’s a full agenda!  Solution providers start the day off with breakfast and coffee to get energized and take advantage of peer networking time.

(Solution Provider Red Badges Only)

Forrester's Bobby Cameron is the undisputed market leader when it comes to analyzing the  buying behavior and purchasing patterns of  IT customers. His insight helps solution providers and IT services organizations understand  how to better serve their customers and help them innovate. The secret is not responding to the needs of customer but knowing what can advance their business before they even think of it.  Cameron will share some of his latest research findings including his thoughts on how to customers are developing an innovation culture and what solution provides must to do  provide unparalleled value.

Bobby Cameron

Vice President, Principal Analyst
Forrester

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Bobby Cameron

Bobby Cameron

Vice President, Principal Analyst , Forrester

Bobby Cameron is a leading expert on best practices for IT, including business technology; transformation from IT to business technology; driving business innovation; the business value of IT; technology strategy; application development; and IT operations. His specialty is transformative technology use that drives business success in the emerging world of business technology (BT), like IT value creation, technology-based business innovation, and digital business networks.

While Cameron focuses his research on delivering IT excellence on the road to BT, he continues his close work with members of The CIO Group in the Forrester Leadership Boards, which he conceived and piloted in 2002. In this role, he writes CIO-targeted research, answers individual members' business and technology inquiries, and facilitates CIO Group member exchange meetings where CIOs discuss member-selected topics.

Prior to taking on this role, Cameron's research focused on technology leadership — the impact of technology and services on organizations, budgets, and roles. Before joining Forrester, Cameron spent five years as director of product management at Dun and Bradstreet Software (DBS), with responsibility for that company's client/server directions, decision support products, and tools and technologies. Prior to that Cameron was with Dataquest, the San Jose, Calif., market research firm. He also spent  he spent nine years at Chase Manhattan's electronic banking business in Lexington, Mass., connecting 8,000 treasurers with 100 bank back offices worldwide. While at Chase, Bobby was MIS director and director of product management.

Intermedia's comprehensive 360-degree approach to success is enabling partners to drive greater profitability in a market where margin pressure is everywhere. In this keynote session, Intermedia’s Chief Revenue Officer, Eric Martorano, and VP of Cloud Voice Solutions, Mark Sher, will share how partners can identify new market opportunities and drive greater customer value by leveraging Intermedia’s voice solutions. These solutions can all be sold under the solution provider's brand and backed by Intermedia.

Eric Martorano

Chief Revenue Officer
Intermedia

Mark Sher

VP, Cloud Voice Solutions
Intermedia

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Eric Martorano

Eric Martorano

Chief Revenue Officer, Intermedia

Martorano is responsible for Intermedia's global sales and strategic partnerships.

With over 20 years of experience in the industry, Martorano has deep expertise in working closely and strategically with a range of customers and partners, and a passion for customer and partner success.

Prior to Intermedia, Martorano spent over eight years at Microsoft, most recently as General Manager of U.S. Channel Sales where he had over $17 billion of revenue responsibility. Before Microsoft, Martorano led a number of key initiatives and strategies at other notable companies such as Sage Software and Ingram Micro. He started his career working for a Value Added Reseller (VAR) located in Southern California.

Martorano has been recognized as a top industry performer, including being named to CRN’s "50 Most Influential Channel Chiefs", "Top 100 Executives" and "Channel Maverick" lists, among others. Martorano holds an MBA from Pepperdine University and a bachelor's degree from California State University, Northridge.

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Mark Sher

Mark Sher

VP, Cloud Voice Solutions, Intermedia

Mark Sher, Intermedia’s Vice President of Product and Marketing for Cloud Voice, is a 23-year telecom veteran. Mark leads Intermedia’s product marketing and product management for all cloud voice services for both indirect and direct channels. Prior to Intermedia, Mark held the position of vice president of marketing and product management for AccessLine Communications, a leader and innovator in the Hosted PBX and SIP Trunking space and an early telecom SaaS pioneer. With AccessLine, Mark directed the initiatives to develop and bring to market both Hosted PBX and SIP Trunking. Mark’s entire career has focused on delivering telecom services to businesses of all size with a focus on creating easy to purchase, easy use and easy support services. Mark has a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Washington State University.

Increasingly, how your program leverages partner engagement best practices with technology is the difference between thru partner revenue decline and growth. Join Webinfinity's James Hodgkinson to explore how the age of subscription business models, SaaS and personalized, one-on-one web experiences is dramatically raising the bar on what it takes to attract and engage your partners and keep their loyalty.

James will explore what the latest channel research tells us about how to:

• Fully Enable each stage of the partner journey
• Reduce churn – of both partners and their end customers
• Maximize ROI on your channel system investments
• Get your internal team off of administrative tasks and onto higher value, more strategic efforts
• Provide a partner experience that is rewarding, simple, and contagious

James Hodgkinson

Leader & Chief Evangelist
Webinfinity

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James Hodgkinson

James Hodgkinson

Leader & Chief Evangelist , Webinfinity

Hodgkinson takes overall responsibility for the strategic direction and performance of Webinfinity. Since founding the business in 1998 Hodgkinson has led Webinfinity in its passion to use the power of the Internet to change the way businesses engage with their employees, partners and customers. After years of working with Fortune 100 companies around the world, Hodgkinson led the vision to build an online platform that would consumerize the enterprise content experience. And so, the Webinfinity platform was born--going live in the summer of 2014.

 

Solution providers are assigned into peer groups of 12-15 based on business focus and technology interests.  Vendors select and meet with the boardrooms for 25 minutes, presenting new products, programs, and opportunities – in an environment conducive to spirited conversation and constructive feedback.

Solution Providers that incorporate Talari’s SD-WAN technology into their edge network portfolios can gain the control and oversight enterprise customers demand to trust running business-critical applications in the hybrid-cloud. With Talari SD-WAN technology, organizations with distributed data centers and networks can treat the cloud like any other WAN link, which means seamless access to SaaS apps and cloud apps running in AWS and Azure via Talari’s secure and reliable connection.

John Dickey

Co-Founder, President
Talari Networks

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John Dickey

John Dickey

Co-Founder, President, Talari Networks

Before co-founding Talari as the company’s original CTO, John Dickey was senior director of software engineering at Applied Microcircuits where he led the architecture, design and development of a broad array of switching and routing protocol software implementations for embedded systems. Dickey joined AMCC upon its acquisition of MMC Networks, the pioneering maker of network-optimized processors. Prior to MMC, Dickey held a variety of engineering and management positions at IBM and was distinguished as an advisory engineer.  

 

For many MSPs, it’s something we don’t like to talk about. It’s been clinically proven that the size of your CAC can directly affect your performance in business. Join Pax8 to understand your Customer Acquisition Cost, and how it can impact your company’s valuation. Plus learn how top performing MSPs are reducing the cost of customer acquisition for cloud service recurring revenue.

Ryan Walsh

Chief Channel Officer
Pax8

Nick Heddy

SVP of Sales & Marketing
Pax8

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Ryan Walsh

Ryan Walsh

Chief Channel Officer, Pax8

Ryan Walsh oversees the build-out of the Pax8 product portfolio and drives the market requirements and development of the Pax8 Command Console. Walsh served as vice president of product management for MX Logic, a cloud-based email and web security company that was acquired by McAfee in 2009. Following the acquisition, Walsh directed the product teams responsible for McAfee's portfolio of cloud-based email and web solutions for the content and cloud security division. He later led the product unification and hybrid cloud development effort for the company's web security product lines.  
 
Walsh has dedicated his career to enabling business improvements with internet or IT-based solutions and startups. He started his career building a re-engineering practice at Deloitte & Touche in the consulting division. Walsh holds a BA in Business Economics from Colorado College and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. 

 

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Nick Heddy

Nick Heddy

SVP of Sales & Marketing, Pax8

Nick Heddy oversees the Pax8 sales and marketing teams, and processes.

He is an experienced IT and telecommunications sales executive who combines expert strategic planning, business planning, technology, and leadership skills with a track record of delivering strong financial results and profitable growth within highly-competitive markets. In addition,Heddy has a long track record of developing sales team members into sales leaders and leveraging the talents of the team to achieve success.

Most recently, Heddy served as director of sales for Cbeyond, a national Cloud and Communications provider, where he played an integral role in the implementation of Cbeyond's highly successful sales model. He directed the daily activities in the Denver market, leading sales representatives, sales management, and support staff.

Heddy holds a BA in Entrepreneuring from Central Michigan University and an MBA from the University of Colorado Business School.

 

You deserve the best.

Your phones, your tablets, your laptops, your lights and even your cameras deserve the best connectivity.  Today’s connectivity is, in fact, all about you.  We’ve been developing our solution portfolio with you in mind, to help you keep up with the tidal wave of devices joining your network every year.  Ruckus is coming to share our vision for connecting everywhere we live, work and play. 

Your satisfaction is the foundation of our success.  After all, it’s all about you!

Shawn Lucas

Director, Product Solutions Architecture
Ruckus Networks, an Arris Company

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Shawn Lucas

Shawn Lucas

Director, Product Solutions Architecture, Ruckus Networks, an Arris Company

A lifelong technology evangelist with 21 years in IT channels.  A fierce customer advocate with a lifetime of stories from the road to educate and entertain.  A self-professed poet of all things wireless with a deep appreciation of good bourbon.

Midrange multifunction printers have traditionally been the domain of toner-based systems. For the first time, MFP products are now launching with HP PageWide ink-based technology. On one level, the development is mundane as users just want speed, performance and uptime. But on another level, the HP PageWide development is the most significant breakthrough in this space in a generation. Technology drives performance, and technology drives costs. Learn how solution providers who are MFP focused can benefit and profit from HP’s PageWide technology.

Rob Sethre

Manager, Americas A3 PageWide Products
HP Inc

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Rob Sethre

Rob Sethre

Manager, Americas A3 PageWide Products, HP Inc

(Solution Provider Red Badges Only)

Sponsored By:

Solution providers today offer a wide range of managed services but often cannot determine which services in the mix are profitable or loss leaders. Yet one of the biggest challenges facing leaders of solution provider organizations is whether they can even measure the true profitability of their managed services—the core of many business models. Selling more of the wrong services is a recipe for disaster especially as managed services evolve.  To understand the profitability of the managed services offered, solution providers need to know the costs of those services offered and ensure that  financial statements accurately reflect those costs. The problem is that many business leaders face challenges in obtaining accurate data in a timely fashion when it comes to engineer time entry to third-party cost details. So what to do? In this session, solution provider leaders will learn how to structure their financials and build efficient process flows to successfully manage their managed service agreements.

Michelle Bournstein

Business Consultant
Custom Financial Solutions

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Michelle Bournstein

Michelle Bournstein

Business Consultant, Custom Financial Solutions

As a business consultant specializing in the technology industry, Michelle Bournstein  focuses on providing expert advice to clients on systems processes, configurations, efficiencies and best practices. Bournstein believes it is critical to add value to the investment in any system by delivering in-depth support, training, documentation and tangible deliverables that ensure success. She  joined CFS in 2002 as a client support specialist to meet the business needs of the company’s SouthWare client base. As a consultant, she now specializes in supporting clients in QuickBooks, ConnectWise, Autotask, Quosal, QuoteWerks and SouthWare. With her experience as a systems specialist, programmer and project manager for a New Orleans-based solution provider as well as 15 years of consulting with CFS, she provides a thorough understanding of the technology industry and a strong commitment to the success of customers.

At fast-growing, small IT firms, the hours are long and tensions often run high. That's life inside today's services—based consulting firms. Leaders of these organizations must understand that their business’ most valuable asset can feel happy, sad, cheerful, grumpy, appreciated, unwelcome, loyal and fickle all before lunch time. In this session, leaders of solution providers and managed services firms will learn how to use a mix of company values, employee appreciation events, and good old-fashioned relationship 101 to retain and attract talent or an immediate and positive impact on the customer and bottom line. Join Chad Adams as he discusses how his company has thought outside the norms of every-day corporate structure and used a mix of open book accounting through the "Great Game of Business" method and alternative management styles known as Holacracy to keep employee’s engaged in the business. He will discuss some of the challenges learned, victories gained and current struggles that a business of any size can take away.

Chad Adams

Vice President of Business Development
Intrust

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Chad Adams

Chad Adams

Vice President of Business Development, Intrust

If you watch Chad Adams during a morning huddle at the Intrust office, you won’t be surprised to learn that he officiates college football games in his off time. Adams is the man on the field who brings structure and sanity. Adams knows how to bring everyone together as a team, and he takes that role seriously. Having worked his way up through multiple positions at Intrust, Adams has legitimate empathy for his coworkers and the challenges they face. When Adams sees someone from the Intrust team successfully do their job, he makes the sign for the crowd to go wild. Maybe it’s not a whole stadium of fans, but Adams makes sure his team gets love and appreciation now and then to keep the team spirit alive. No rookie to the IT field himself, Adams came to Intrust with 10 years of experience as an IT manager, some of that time spent calling the plays for a multi-million dollar construction company.

Pre-registration Required

For leaders of solution providers organizations looking to attract and add talent they must decide when to start interviewing candidates and when to stop. The answers to these questions could be worth at least $1 million over the next 10 years to their organizations. Interviewing and identifying the right candidate for an opening in sales, marketing, support or management is not about gut feel.  Solution provider leaders need a system to expose the posers--those people acting out their "hire-me script" to convince a prospective employer to give them a job.  No solution provider would ever configure a server based on gut feel nor would they implement a network haphazardly. So, they need to approach hiring and recruiting with the same exactitude and process.  Attend this session to learn new ways to systematically interview job candidates so future hires turn into true superstars not mistakes.

David Russell

CEO
MANAGEtoWIN

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David Russell

David Russell

CEO, MANAGEtoWIN

David Russell is CEO and senior consultant of MANAGEtoWIN and author of “Dave’s Charm School” of soft skills training.  He’s been called the “Leadership Guy” for IT entrepreneurs and has spent the better part of his career working with entrepreneurs to help them hire, manage, develop, and retain superstar employees.  Russell’s mission is no bad bosses.  His Leadership Essentials and Certified Leader services are unique, one-on-one transformational learning experiences.  His fifth book, The Company Culture Challenge,” is a step-by-step leadership guide.  You can read Russell’s latest thoughts on the MANAGEtoWIN blog, LinkedIn and Twitter.

To succeed in today's IT market, solution providers must build an effective sales organization that understands how to maintain customer satisfaction, drive recurring revenue and increase leads. The new sales process of today must adapt to this period of rapid change and transformation. The challenges facing senior leaders and their sales teams are difficult but tackling them is necessary for success. Starting with identifying an objective, solution providers can create a successful sales organization that will help their business grow.  Key topics covered in this session will include:  developing a good marketing plan, retaining good sales talent, firing, putting the right systems in place and developing effective commission plans.

Kyle Jackson

Business Development Manager
ConnectWise

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Kyle Jackson

Kyle Jackson

Business Development Manager, ConnectWise

Kyle Jackson is a major account sales manager for ConnectWise, a community-driven software company dedicated to the success of technology solution providers.  Since joining ConnectWise in 2011, Kyle has held several roles in the company and is now responsible for identifying and communicating deep knowledge of the technology industry and services, market dynamics, and partner needs.

IT solution providers typically grow their businesses slowly with referrals, but as they get bigger and have more money for marketing they start searching for marketing that can augment referrals. Often MSPs strike out as they try one direct marketing service after another unsuccessfully.  While the factors that cause these failures are many, our focus will be on explaining how implementing a state-of-the-art SEO campaign will cause MSPs’ phones to ring off the hook with easy to close sales lead. This session will outline state-of-the-art marketing strategies including the benefits of thought-leadership content, aggressive on-page SEO optimization, Google reviews and guest blogging. 

David Walter

Marketing Director
MSP SEO Factory

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David Walter

David Walter

Marketing Director, MSP SEO Factory

David Walter is the Marketing Director at MSP SEO Factory, a company providing IT marketing to businesses in the United States. Their expertise is creating managed services marketing ideas and turning them into original, optimized blog posts. Their process involves in-depth brainstorming, thorough editing, and effective promotion of fresh and unique articles for their MSP Business clients.

He has 16 years experience in marketing for the IT industry, as well as experience in direct MSP marketing, internet marketing, article writing. David speaks at trade shows, webinars and is a sales trainer for major IT companies. He is also a published author; his latest book is 'Stratospheric Marketing Secrets'.

Advances in Wi-Fi technologies are opening doors to networking sales in the lucrative SMB segment.  Opportunities abound as business owners continue to shift the way they conduct business and interact with their customers, suppliers and their entire ecosystem. Solution providers can grow their client base and revenue by focusing on customers who are using smart phones and tablets for business purposes and embracing technologies like mobile, cloud and collaboration applications. In this session, solution providers will hear how partnering with Aruba Networks, an HPE company, can help them ride this trend to greater networking sales.

Doug Hyde

SMB Segment Manager- US
HPE Aruba

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Doug Hyde

Doug Hyde

SMB Segment Manager- US, HPE Aruba

Doug Hyde, champions HPE Aruba networking for small and medium-sized businesses in the U.S. In his role as segment manager, he works with customers, partners, and distributors to understand their needs and facilitate their business growth. He previously led the small business networking product team of HP Networking and joined HP/HPE from 3Com where enjoyed roles in product management and marketing. Doug is based in Boston

No one can deny that the  MSP market is maturing. Now that IT solution and service providers have access to the same tools and technology the challenge for managed service providers is to differentiate themselves and continue to provide a compelling value proposition. When prospects have trouble seeing a difference between providers, price becomes a deciding factor which pressures profits and sales growth. What if an MSP could command higher prices and eliminate price as an objection? Doing so could place an organization among the top MSPs who are commanding monthly fees that are 20 to 40 percent higher than the average solution provider. During this session, MSP industry veteran Gary Pica will show solution providers focused on managed services how to create a true competitive advantage.  Attendees will learn the following to dramatically increase sales and profitability: 

•  The concept of creating a value-based MSP 
• How to command higher monthly fees 
• How to implement a value-based selling approach 
• How to start moving up the MSP value stack!

Gary Pica

President & Founder
TruMethods

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Gary Pica

Gary Pica

President & Founder, TruMethods

Gary Pica is a pioneer in the managed services field. His company, Dynamic Digital Services, was “early to market” in the MSP arena. It quickly became one of the fastest growing MSPs in the country, with over 7,000 endpoints under management, generating over $500,000 of monthly reoccurring revenue. Gary’s company was acquired by mindSHIFT Technologies in 2005 and he has since launched TruMethods, a coaching and mentoring firm aimed at helping IT solution providers reach their full potential as MSP’s. TruMethods provides a proven, repeatable process to transform your business by demonstrating the right approach to leadership, solution packaging, sales process and results tracking via online tool and webinars. Today over 500 IT providers around the world utilize the TruMethods business transformation process.

 @garypica

Working with the industry’s largest vendors and tech suppliers can often be a complex and head-scratching experience. But if solution providers are able to master relationships with giants like Microsoft, they could see big gains to their business and customer base. What they need to do is to develop a formula for success. So, leaders of solution providers must ask themselves what they need to do differently in partnering with tech giants in today's age of digital transformation. After all, given the rapid pace of M&A in the IT industry, working efficiently with the big vendors is a necessity.  In this session Vince Menzione, longtime channel and industry sales leader, will deconstruct the success strategies of partnering with today’s big players to uncover partners that got it right, what pitfalls to avoid and what led to the best partnerships. Key takeaways include:

• Transformation is happening fast - advanced partners have found new models and are evolving quickly
• Partner often struggle and fight the change from traditional models like - gross margin on transactions.
• Commitment and changing the business model is hard.

Vince Menzione

Independent Consultant & Founder
Cloud Wave Partners

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Vince Menzione

Vince Menzione

Independent Consultant & Founder, Cloud Wave Partners

As a senior sales, partner and business executive, Vince Menzione brings an extensive and consistent history of success and expertise driving revenue growth, building high performance organizations, and exceeding organizational objectives to Cloud Wave Partners. 

Vince is an award winning leader who has delivered and advanced three successful transformations. The first was with a 20 year old start up, where he developed the value proposition and grew the organization exponentially. Next was a business turnaround where he successfully launched a new segment, developed a new channel and procurement vehicles and forged a key partnership that resulted in a successful divestiture. Vince most recently spent nine years leading a $4.6B channel business as Microsoft's General Manager for US Public Sector sales where he led many initiatives, including the successful launch of Microsoft's cloud offering, resulting in its successful transformation to a cloud services company.

Vince has a passion for disruptive technology and the greater good and has positioned Cloud Wave Partners to enable organizations to realize the art of the possible through proven sales, innovation and partner connection strategies. He is also hosts a podcast, "Ultimate Guide to Partnering".

Pre-registration Required

Old school leaders believe their employees and team members are lucky to have a job with their company. These individuals also have trouble sincerely complimenting people and have the gift of correction. Such leaders are striking out when it comes to motivating workers and are missing out on base hits or even hitting home runs with their employees.  However, becoming a better leader is a choice that has to be taken seriously.  Rather than play whack-a-mole leadership, similar to the arcade game, IT pros must learn a discipline developed by David Russell called, "Good Cop, Bad Cop Leadership." It is simple, systematic, and easy to test.  Save time and eliminate drama.  Attend this session to learn how to be a better leader in just 30 minutes.

David Russell

CEO
MANAGEtoWIN

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David Russell

David Russell

CEO, MANAGEtoWIN

David Russell is CEO and senior consultant of MANAGEtoWIN and author of “Dave’s Charm School” of soft skills training.  He’s been called the “Leadership Guy” for IT entrepreneurs and has spent the better part of his career working with entrepreneurs to help them hire, manage, develop, and retain superstar employees.  Russell’s mission is no bad bosses.  His Leadership Essentials and Certified Leader services are unique, one-on-one transformational learning experiences.  His fifth book, The Company Culture Challenge,” is a step-by-step leadership guide.  You can read Russell’s latest thoughts on the MANAGEtoWIN blog, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Having the right security woven throughout your customer’s network can make the difference between running a smooth, safe network or a security breach that makes national news. The Fortinet Security Fabric solution gives partners that ability to provide control, integration and easy management of security across their customer’s entire organization, all through a single pane of glass. Attendees will learn why a fabric approach is superior to platforms, allowing an organization to maximize current investments while creating a security network that dynamically expands and adapts as more workloads and data are added. At the same time, the Fabric protects data, users, and applications as they move back and forth between the IoT, endpoints, and cloud environments so your customers can focus on growth, not risk.

Joe Sykora

VP Channel Sales, North America
Fortinet

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Joe Sykora

Joe Sykora

VP Channel Sales, North America, Fortinet

Joe Sykora is the Vice President of Americas Channels and Enhanced Technologies for Fortinet, Inc. (FTNT), and is responsible for overseeing a channel organization of over 7,400 Americas partners as well as Fortinet's channel sales strategy. Joe and his team work closely with Fortinet’s partners and their mid-enterprise customers to protect themselves from the ever-evolving threat landscape. Joe has over 30 years in IT security, in both the manufacturing sector and as a solution provider, helping customers focus on business priorities while keeping their networks secure.

Nearly half of the solution providers in the channel ecosystem identify IoT as a meaningful or huge opportunity for the coming 18 to 24 months. However, 70 percent indicate they do not yet see high customer demand for IoT solutions today.  In this session, IPED will explore the characteristics of partners who are able to sell IoT solutions today. The IoT research study will help attendees understand the partners who are able to gain access to decision makers and those who can support a proof of concept and ultimately rollout and support IoT-based solutions.  The research also identifies the additional characteristics needed by IoT partners who are industry-focused or what to sell into a specific vertical market. This session will share the findings of The Channel Company’s IoT Advisory Board 2017 research study to answer these questions.

Rauline Ochs

IPED Consultant
The Channel Company

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Rauline Ochs

Rauline Ochs

IPED Consultant, The Channel Company

Rauline is responsible for IPED channel and alliances industry research, client consulting and training curricula across IT, carrier service provider and operational technology vendors doing cloud and IoT business in the indirect channel. A software industry veteran, Rauline was Oracle's senior vice president, North American alliances and channels where she led the transition from primarily direct sales to a segmented indirect sales model. Prior to Oracle, Rauline served as senior VP of worldwide alliances for BEA Systems. She began her career with fifteen years at the IBM Corporation, selling hardware, software and services ultimately rising to vice president, channel sales & marketing for the Americas Software Group. A native Californian, Rauline holds a B.A. in economics from the University of California, Irvine and an MBA from the University of Southern California.

Customers are evolving their business models and IT environments rapidly to respond to new challenges and opportunities. Are solution providers evolving at a pace that will help them respond to customer needs, sharpen their competitive edge and allow them to thrive in today’s marketplace? In this session, attendees will learn how partnering with HPE will drive solution provider evolution and strengthen their organization's leadership position. HPE’s Terry Richardson will discuss how leadership is easier for IT integrators when selling market-leading solutions from HPE in hyperconvergence, IT security and hybrid cloud among others. HPE understands the goals and challenges facing today's solution providers and offers a roadmap for success that delivers revolutionary results and rewards. 

Terry Richardson

NA Channels and Alliances
Hewlett Packard Enterprise

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Terry Richardson

Terry Richardson

NA Channels and Alliances, Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Terry Richardson is vice president of NA Channels and Alliances for Hewlett Packard Enterprise. He is a 31-year industry veteran and has been with HPE since January 2010. In this role, he is responsible for accelerating indirect contribution and driving the overall channel strategy to improve partner performance, satisfaction, and engagement across all business units. Prior to his current assignment, he was the vice president of US Channel sales where he was also responsible for distributors. Richardson has served previously in other leadership positions at HPE in channel sales and within the storage and server business units in general management roles. Prior to joining HPE, he held executive management positions at EMC Corp., Data General and Sepaton Inc. He began his career in sales at Burroughs (now Unisys). His experience is broad, and he has consistently delivered results in a variety of direct, channel and OEM sales leadership roles. Richardson graduated from Boston College’s Carroll School of Management with a BS in computer science and marketing.

(By Invitation Only)

You’ve never seen a hotel room like this before! Vendors create their own fully customized display and demonstrate their newest solutions and products more personally.

(By Invitation Only)

Pick up your conference badge and personalized schedule at registration, then stop back any time you have questions that you need answered or feedback that you would like to share. The XChange Events staff is there to help you!

It’s a full agenda!  Solution providers start the day off with breakfast and coffee to get energized and take advantage of peer networking time.

(Solution Provider Red Badges Only)

This session is designed to bring together executives from leading managed service providers who want to connect with peers to gain a better understanding of today’s challenges and opportunities. This is a peer-to-peer session where sharing ideas around best practices, go-to-market strategies, issues and opportunities will be discussed. Moderated by veteran MSP builder and strategic adviser Gary Pica of  this peer exchange will focus on the big issues facing MSPs: hiring and retaining top talent; drivers of profitability; packaging and pricing; building a more valuable offering ; dealing with commoditization and measuring and reducing reactive service noise. The moderator will divide the room into work groups to discuss these topics in detail. Peer perspectives have emerged as one of the most important sources of information today for solution providers and customers. This session will allow attendees to compare notes in an open, friendly environment. The goal is to create an atmosphere where sharing of ideas is welcome and no idea or question is seen as unwelcome. Space is limited.

Gary Pica

President & Founder
TruMethods

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Gary Pica

Gary Pica

President & Founder, TruMethods

Gary Pica is a pioneer in the managed services field. His company, Dynamic Digital Services, was “early to market” in the MSP arena. It quickly became one of the fastest growing MSPs in the country, with over 7,000 endpoints under management, generating over $500,000 of monthly reoccurring revenue. Gary’s company was acquired by mindSHIFT Technologies in 2005 and he has since launched TruMethods, a coaching and mentoring firm aimed at helping IT solution providers reach their full potential as MSP’s. TruMethods provides a proven, repeatable process to transform your business by demonstrating the right approach to leadership, solution packaging, sales process and results tracking via online tool and webinars. Today over 500 IT providers around the world utilize the TruMethods business transformation process.

 @garypica

Solution providers are always looking for the next big thing when it comes to tech solutions they can offer their customers. But placing bets isn’t so easy especially when it comes to the risk-reward ratio. Being too far out in front of a trend could spell disaster but missing out on one could result in a lost opportunity and boost to margins. Any new tech solution requires an investment in skills, sales, marketing, customer support and vendor acquisition. This panel discussion will feature partners who are the first movers adopting technologies ahead of the mainstream market and had positive results or learned valuable lessons. This panel will discuss the benefits of adopting such tech solutions as IoT; DevOps; containers; hyperconvergence; public cloud; next-gen security and mobile. Today’s reality is that solution providers must adapt or they could be swept away.

Robert Faletra

Partner, Executive Chairman
The Channel Company

John Head

Chief Evangelist & Business Development
PSC Group, LLC

Michael Knight

President & CTO
Encore Technology Group

Michael Lomonaco

Director Marketing & Communications
OST

John Shaw

CEO
Digital Nebula

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Robert Faletra

Robert Faletra

Partner, Executive Chairman , The Channel Company

Robert Faletra is one of the top authorities in the IT channel and technology marketplace and often referred to as The Voice of (and for) the Channel. Bob brings a unique understanding of the technology marketplace, informed by 30 years of experience in all aspects of the channel. A dedicated advisor to technology suppliers (from start-ups to enterprises), Bob helps them conceptualize and build strategic channel initiatives and often meets with CEOs to discuss channel strategy. Bob has deep relationships in the solution provider community and also sits on the advisory board of several high tech start-ups, helping them formulate their go-to-market strategy.

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John Head

John Head

Chief Evangelist & Business Development, PSC Group, LLC

John D. Head, chief evangelist at PSC Group, is a 20-year veteran of collaboration-application development. Head is a frequent speaker at technology events and works with companies to apply application modernization and mobilization to their business processes and applications. PSC Group, a professional services and information technology consulting firm, created the Application Modernization Center to apply a methodology to invested platforms and applications and bring mobile, cloud, social and analytics to business processes. He is a six time IBM Collaboration Solutions & Social Business Champion and an IBM Cloud Champion. Head is also active in the community outside of his work. He was on the executive board and the community outreach director for Chicago’s non-profit Lumity organization which helps the city and local businesses come together to provide STEM education. Head was also a member of the advisory board of the Leadership Circle of the Executives Club of Chicago. Currently he is a board member and secretary of the executive committee of the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago, embracing the mission to empower women and eliminating racism by providing support to all women along various stages of their journeys.

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Michael Knight

Michael Knight

President & CTO, Encore Technology Group

Michael Knight is the CTO at Encore Technology Group and responsible for company go-to-market strategies, technology and sales strategies, vendor relationships, technology partnerships, research and development, cloud building, enterprise architecture and consulting. Knight has been previously employed as the CTO and senior vice president at Computer Software Innovations, Inc. He has worked as the CTO of SDI Networks and as the CIO of American Control Systems, Inc., with over two decades of IT experience.

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Michael Lomonaco

Michael Lomonaco

Director Marketing & Communications, OST

Michael Lomonaco is the director of marketing and communications for OST. He joined the $160 million leading solution provider in 2011.  Michael honed his marketing and communications skills while attending Michigan State University. His career has included positions in local, state and federal political and policy work, corporate and nonprofit consulting, and customer relations, public relations, and marketing in the manufacturing sector.  These days, Michael leads the Marketing and Communications team at OST. In this role he is responsible for leading OST’s brand strategy, marketing programs, market insights, and public relations. He has a passion for creating wild outcomes and experiences through his abilities to connect and strategize across the organization, and with customers, partners, and colleagues.

Michael also has a deep connection to service and can be found working with any number of the boards of directors he serves In 2013, 2015, and 2016  Michael was selected as one of Grand Rapids’ “Top 40 Under Forty” business and community leaders.

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John Shaw

John Shaw

CEO, Digital Nebula

John Shaw is the CEO of Digital Nebula, combining his enterprise cloud experience with the power of artificial intelligence. Shaw has founded several companies during his career mostly recently Nimbo, a cloud computing professional services company acquired by Equinix in 2016.

Shaw has worked closely with cloud providers and possess a practical understanding of cloud computing and the cost benefits to enterprises. He has worked with some of the largest global companies on application migration to the cloud using Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services. Along with his business acumen, he is an experienced coder and a published author, so he can always roll up his sleeves when needed. Shaw served as a member of the Azure Business Technology Advisory Team for Microsoft which provides deep insight in the direction of the company’s cloud offerings. Shaw serves as mentor for Techstars, sits on the boar of Cycle Computing and on the advisory board for chowbotics. He graduated from Liverpool John Moores University with a bachelor’s degree in computer studies.

In his spare time, he enjoys travelling and collecting visas. He is a U.S. and EU citizen, permanent resident of Australia, New Zealand and a India business visa holder.

Join Frank Rauch, VMWare's VP Americas Partner Organization, and special guests for a keynote presentation focused on solution provider opportunities within modernizing data centers, empowering the digital workspace, transforming security and integrating public clouds.  During his keynote, Rauch will highlight the power of partnerships by inviting special guests from Dell EMC, Palo Alto Networks and Samsung to discuss how they are working to together with VMware to amplify channel opportunities.

Frank Rauch

Vice President, Americas Partner Organization
VMware

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Frank Rauch

Frank Rauch

Vice President, Americas Partner Organization, VMware

Frank Rauch is Vice President of VMware’s Americas Partner Organization. In this role, he is responsible for indirect routes to market for the Americas which include, Solution Providers, Corporate Resellers, Public Sector Partners, OEMs (Cisco, Dell, EMC, HP, IBM, Lenovo, Net App, VCE), System Integrators / System Outsourcers, and Distributors.

Prior to VMware Frank was HP’s Americas Vice President and General Manager of Enterprise Channels. He also held VP roles in strategy and direct sales with HP. Frank started his career with IBM in sales and executive staff roles.

He and his teams have been recognized with over 40 channel awards. Frank has been personally recognized with 5 Channel Chief awards and has been ranked in the top 25 Channel Executives.

Frank is a graduate of Drexel University with degrees in Marketing and Computer Systems Management. He lives in the Philadelphia area and is active with youth ice hockey and on several non-profit boards.

 @FrankRauchVMW

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankrauch

Solution providers are assigned into peer groups of 12-15 based on business focus and technology interests.  Vendors select and meet with the boardrooms for 25 minutes, presenting new products, programs, and opportunities – in an environment conducive to spirited conversation and constructive feedback.

CompTIA’s Executive Certificates in CAM 101 and 201 offer those in channel management roles the opportunity to further develop the skills and knowledge needed to lead initiatives and investments that drive  indirect  sales  revenue.  Learn more about CompTIA’s latest and most popular channel education designed to give  participants  the  mindset,  concepts,  knowledge and skills to grow into an evolved channel manager.

Brought to you by:

Tom Zimnoski

Vice President, Member Relations
CompTIA

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Tom Zimnoski

Tom Zimnoski

Vice President, Member Relations , CompTIA

Tom Zimnoski has more than 20 years of sales and account management experience in the IT channel.  Zimnoski serves as CompTIA's vice president of membership where he oversees membership programs for vendors, distributors, solution providers and channel associates on an international level.  

Find out why now is a very exciting time to be a partner of Extreme Networks. Over the past year, Extreme Networks has been a disruptive force, shaking up the networking landscape of the industry with its intentions to acquire the Avaya networking business and the Brocade data center networking business. In March, Extreme Networks won a bid to acquire the Avaya networking business. This fall it will close on its bid for Brocade's switching, routing and analytics assets.  Extreme continues to offer an industry leading, profitable and now expanded global portfolio program that will continue to enhance the focus it has on simplifying the way it does business with partners.  The new program will include a focus on driving growth with partners, more visibility and automation along with numerous incentives to support net new customer acquisition.  Join this session to learn more about the channel opportunities with Extreme.

Gordon Mackintosh

Senior Director, Worldwide Partner Organization
Extreme Networks

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Gordon Mackintosh

Gordon Mackintosh

Senior Director, Worldwide Partner Organization, Extreme Networks

Gordon Mackintosh, senior director, worldwide partner programs and sales business development joined Extreme Networks in January 2016.  Mackintosh assumes responsibility for the ongoing development of Extreme Networks’ partner program and supports Extreme’s leadership team in developing sales and partner initiatives in line with strategic objectives. Mackintosh joined Extreme from Cisco, where he held a variety of sales and channel leadership roles. He completed a post-graduate diploma in information technology and an honors degree in international marketing. In his early days at Cisco,  Mackintosh was responsible for managing the Catalyst switching product line across Europe, Middle East and Africa. This led to a successful two-year assignment in the U.S., which saw  Mackintosh work at Cisco’s global headquarters focused on the go-to-market for Catalyst switching line across Cisco’s worldwide channels division. On his return to the U.K.,  Mackintosh was appointed head of SMB marketing, with a focus on developing a new innovative SMB go-to-market strategy before taking on the challenging role of head of sales for SMB and distribution.   Mackintosh then returned to San Jose with his family 5 years ago to lead the partner-led Velocity sales team and played a lead role in developing Cisco’s new partner-led strategy. Recently, as part of the Cloud and Managed Services Organization,  he developed an innovative low-cost virtual sales and marketing engine driving sales in software and hybrid cloud solutions.

There is a dramatic shift taking place in the enterprise Wi-Fi industry that leaves channel partners with challenges and opportunities. As more organizations become wireless-first, they look to trusted channel partners for design, deployment and support services. But in a growing and highly competitive market, more channel partners are finding their margins squeezed, operational overhead increasing and vendor support decreasing. Join this session with leading cloud networking vendor Aerohive Networks, which works 100 percent through the channel, and learn how to take advantage of the latest trends in the enterprise Wi-Fi sector. Key takeaways include: 

• How to increase service and recurring revenue with cloud networking  
• Easily deliver wireless as a service  
• Simplify operational costs and complexity 
• Differentiate in the market place with the next-generation of Wi-Fi architecture  
• Explore untapped markets delivering 17 percent quarterly growth

Michael O'Brien

VP of Global Channels
Aerohive Networks

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Michael O'Brien

Michael O'Brien

VP of Global Channels, Aerohive Networks

Michael O'Brien serves as vice president of global channels at Aerohive. Previously, he served as Dell's executive director global channels and alliances. O'Brien joined Dell in 2011 through its acquisition of Force 10, where he served as vice president of channels and alliances. A longtime industry executive, O'Brien gained notoriety for his work at  AMD and Sun Microsystems.

HPE Storage continues to help eliminate storage boundaries for customers with fast and reliable access to data, both on premise and off premise in the cloud, as well as ease of implementation.  Learn how the all-flash conversation has evolved to include federated data mobility, flash-integrated protection, and fully automated SAN provisioning.  Also see how our recent acquisition of Nimble storage and their fit into HPE storage flash portfolio now makes the business impact of Infosight Predictive Analytics part of the strategy.

Tony Booth

HPE Director, Nimble Storage, Channel GTM Strategy – North America
Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Greg Comtois

Category Manager, Data Center/Hybrid Cloud Americas Division
Hewlett Packard Enterprise

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Tony Booth

Tony Booth

HPE Director, Nimble Storage, Channel GTM Strategy – North America, Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Tony Booth serves as the North America Director of Go-to-Market Strategy for Nimble Storage, the leader in All Flash and Hybrid Flash storage solutions with its Predictive Flash Platform delivering absolute performance for your applications. In this role, Tony is responsible for channel readiness and execution of the Nimble Storage business.

 

Tony has over 20 years of industry experience.  He originally joined HPE through the Nimble acquisition in May 2017 and has held numerous Sales and Technical roles in the IT industry at Nimble, Cisco, E&J Gallo Winery and the US Air Force. 

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Greg Comtois

Greg Comtois

Category Manager, Data Center/Hybrid Cloud Americas Division, Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Greg Comtois serves as Category Manager for Data Center and Hybrid Cloud Solutions of the Americas Storage Division at HPE, a multimillion dollar business delivering the New Style of IT through Converged Storage. In this role, Greg is responsible for field execution of the technical and business aspects of HPE’s Storage Sales strategies.

Greg has over 20 years of industry experience.  He originally joined HPE in 2014 as a Channel Partner Business Manager and has held numerous Sales and Technical positions across the Storage and Networking industry at HP, Dell, Enterasys and Blue Note Networks.

(Solution Provider Red Badges Only)

Yesterday’s marketing and sales tactics are dead.  Solution providers need to understand today's  new realities such as the average B2B buying decision being influenced by more than 5 people.  The links  at a customer's IT department and lines of business are evolving and, as a result, so are the purchasing decisions. Solution provider leaders have a business to run and don’t have time to learn the ins and outs of today’s digital marketing tools and tactics. So, how do today's channel leaders ensure their marketing strategy can adapt to these new realities?  Join an award-winning, marketing-savvy solution provider for a candid session on how to rethink an approach to marketing and client engagement.  In this interactive session, attendees will hear practical advice to help them build tomorrow’s marketing practice today.

Michael Lomonaco

Director Marketing & Communications
OST

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Michael Lomonaco

Michael Lomonaco

Director Marketing & Communications, OST

Michael Lomonaco is the director of marketing and communications for OST. He joined the $160 million leading solution provider in 2011.  Michael honed his marketing and communications skills while attending Michigan State University. His career has included positions in local, state and federal political and policy work, corporate and nonprofit consulting, and customer relations, public relations, and marketing in the manufacturing sector.  These days, Michael leads the Marketing and Communications team at OST. In this role he is responsible for leading OST’s brand strategy, marketing programs, market insights, and public relations. He has a passion for creating wild outcomes and experiences through his abilities to connect and strategize across the organization, and with customers, partners, and colleagues.

Michael also has a deep connection to service and can be found working with any number of the boards of directors he serves In 2013, 2015, and 2016  Michael was selected as one of Grand Rapids’ “Top 40 Under Forty” business and community leaders.

The term AI has been thrown about for the last few years.  The shift has gone from mobile-first to AI-first.  This session is geared toward solution providers who want to learn where to start when planning their adoption of artificial intelligence services. Hear from a solution provider veteran who made the early transition to cloud services and is now embracing AI as the core of his business model. This session is designed to take the audience through real-world use cases and discuss strategies to identify business processes that could benefit from the implementation of AI. A key takeaway is how to support AI processes without having to hire and pay a team of expensive data scientists. 

John Shaw

CEO
Digital Nebula

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John Shaw

John Shaw

CEO, Digital Nebula

John Shaw is the CEO of Digital Nebula, combining his enterprise cloud experience with the power of artificial intelligence. Shaw has founded several companies during his career mostly recently Nimbo, a cloud computing professional services company acquired by Equinix in 2016.

Shaw has worked closely with cloud providers and possess a practical understanding of cloud computing and the cost benefits to enterprises. He has worked with some of the largest global companies on application migration to the cloud using Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services. Along with his business acumen, he is an experienced coder and a published author, so he can always roll up his sleeves when needed. Shaw served as a member of the Azure Business Technology Advisory Team for Microsoft which provides deep insight in the direction of the company’s cloud offerings. Shaw serves as mentor for Techstars, sits on the boar of Cycle Computing and on the advisory board for chowbotics. He graduated from Liverpool John Moores University with a bachelor’s degree in computer studies.

In his spare time, he enjoys travelling and collecting visas. He is a U.S. and EU citizen, permanent resident of Australia, New Zealand and a India business visa holder.

To improve the sales process, solution providers must understand what it is like being on the other side of the table. After years on the sales side, Amy Slater made the change to the customer side and what she experienced is enlightening to everyone in the channel. Slater will share her experience of being sold to and provide insight on the lessons learned. An important factor to understand is how the initial sales engagement impacts the customer experience. This session will feature tips for salespeople to leverage social selling to better engage with customers rather than alienate them. Ultimately, richer engagement will lead to higher sales rep productivity and sustainable customer loyalty.   

Key takeaways include: 

• Effective ways to use social selling tools to engage with C-level buyers. 
• The good, bad, and ugly ways sellers interact with buyers and what sellers can do to bridge the human divide that often ensues.
• Steps you can take to improve the buyer-seller relationship and create long-lasting, loyal customers.

Amy Slater

Founder & CEO
Amy Slater Consulting

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Amy Slater

Amy Slater

Founder & CEO, Amy Slater Consulting

Amy has 25+ years of leadership and global sales experience, with a focus on customer value and expertise in business. Her mission is to improve corporate culture with a passion for empowering people toward extraordinary results. In addition to sales strategy and operations, Amy provides transformational, executive coaching services to create an integrated life fueled by positivity and authenticity.

Most recently, Amy served as SVP of Sales Operations for TiVo after being a sales leader across the enterprise technology sector. Prior to TiVo, Amy held Leadership positions at AT&T, Cisco, and Salesforce.com.  

Amy spoke at the 2014 Forrester Research conference, the 2016 and 2017 Apttus Conference, and LinkedIn’s 2016 Sales Connect Conference. In October 2016, Amy was awarded a spot on Hot Topics list of the Top 100 Sales Operations and Enablement leaders.

Solution providers are assigned into peer groups of 12-15 based on business focus and technology interests.  Vendors select and meet with the boardrooms for 25 minutes, presenting new products, programs, and opportunities – in an environment conducive to spirited conversation and constructive feedback.

Channel programs depend on multiple point solutions to manage everyday functions, such as partner relationships, channel marketing, or even lead distribution. However, the lack of integration between these applications impedes partner adoption and program progress. Discover why and what types of integrations matter most not just between applications but across organizations and the processes they depend on to recruit, enable and generate demand with partners.

Laz Gonzalez

Chief Strategy Officer
Zift Solutions

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Laz Gonzalez

Laz Gonzalez

Chief Strategy Officer, Zift Solutions

Laz Gonzalez, chief strategy officer at Zift Solutions, has served as strategic adviser to leading B2B channel programs worldwide. Before joining Zift as chief strategy officer, Gonzalez was group director of channel sales and marketing strategies at Sirius Decisions. He has extensive experience implementing solution-driven sales programs with OEMs, strategic alliances, distributors and resellers during two decades as a channel practitioner.

Hosted By:

Hosted By:

Join us for a very special evening of awards celebrating today’s top-performing vendors, channel leaders and the 2017 IT Hall of Fame inductee. The evening kicks off with the XChange 2017 XCellence awards, honoring the event’s top-performers and continues with CRN’s Annual Report Card awards, recognizing the year’s best-performing vendors in innovation, partnership and support. The awards ceremony ends with a special tribute to this year’s IT Hall of Fame honoree Frank Vitagliano. Founded in 1997 by CRN and administered by CompTIA since 2010, the IT Hall of Fame honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions or provided exceptional service to the IT channel, as well as those responsible for outstanding technology innovations or business transformations.

Hosted By:

Hosted By:

This session is designed to bring together executives from leading managed service providers who want to connect with peers to gain a better understanding of today’s challenges and opportunities. This is a peer-to-peer session where sharing ideas around best practices, go-to-market strategies, issues and opportunities will be discussed. Designed by two veteran MSPs, this peer exchange has focused on the big issues facing MSPs such as business model evolution, strategic partnerships, marketing and sales compensation. The moderators will divide the room into work groups to discuss several topics in detail. Peer perspectives have emerged as one of the most important sources of information today for solution providers and customers. This session will allow attendees to compare notes in an open, friendly environment. The goal is to create an atmosphere where sharing of ideas is welcome and no idea or question is seen as unwelcome. Space is limited.

Stel Valavanis

CEO
onShore Security

Jason Wright

Managing Director
All Covered

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Stel Valavanis

Stel Valavanis

CEO, onShore Security

Stelios Valavanis is the founder and president of onShore Security. He currently serves on the boards of the ACLU of Illinois and We the People Media, and advisory committees for several other organizations. He has appeared as a guest lecturer and panelist for local colleges, non-profits, and various industry events. Stel graduated from the University of Chicago in 1988 with a Bachelor’s degree in Physics. Prior to founding onShore, Stel held a number of technical positions at the University of Chicago.

Stel’s love for things technical has spanned most of his life. By age 15, he was writing dBase code for a market research company, producing an analysis tool for sale to other marketing firms. He formed his first business in 1981, producing and distributing Apple II software packages. Stel also has been involved and remains active in many artistic projects, including audio CD recordings, video compilations, and interactive installations.

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Jason Wright

Jason Wright

Managing Director, All Covered