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When we at Channel Insider decided to create the Bull’s Eye Awards, we wanted to do something more than just recognize the usual suspects. No disrespect intended, but vendors and channel executives have awards and accolades heaped upon them all the time. Of course, we would recognize them and their efforts, but we wanted to go a step farther, which is why we conferred awards to channel account managers’ whose efforts and dedication to partners often go unnoticed.

The Channel Account Manager of the Year Awards is one of my favorite categories. While channel executives such as this year’s winners – IBM’s Rich Hume and EMC’s Gregg Ambulos– stand in the spotlight on a daily basis, CAM’s are the professionals in the field who are carrying out the policies set by their corporate masters and supporting the partners that make and implement the technology deals.

>> CHECK OUT this year’s Channel Executives of the Year Award winners

We recognized the efforts of three CAMs who were nominated by partners for their dedication and support of their partners. They are:
 
CHAMPION: Melinda Long, NetApp
CONTENDER: Alice Hongthong, Symantec
CHALLENGER: Frank Gurnee and Brian Freistat, ARRC Technologies

Each of these winners is well deserving of recognition, but all of the channel account managers nominated have the gratitude and admiration of the solution provider partners that they service and support. Here’s some of the excepts from the other nominees.

Andrea Stegert, PGP Corp.
Andrea embodies the true spirit of this award given her dedication, commitment and service to not only PGP Corporation’s channel program, but to her relationships in the channel community. She is tenacious in uncovering new sales opportunities and building strong relationships with key contacts in the channel that will prove beneficial for years to come.

Tim Lyons, SonicWall
Tim is a man who has worked very hard to build himself a reputation of being honest, ethical and he actually cares about his partners. He doesn’t look at his partners as a number or count us as a deal for a quarter. Instead, he builds the relationships necessary to ensure long-term success of his partners. He wins by making us win; a true manager and guide. He is amazing and deserves this more than any in years.

Ron Schooler, AMD
Ron has outstanding success in OEM and channel accounts within his territory and excels in delivering the entire AMD product portfolio to a wide range of accounts…Ron uses all the tools in his AMD product portfolio to act as a consultant to create complete solutions to assist channel partners in expanding their reach with AMD in their target markets. Ron has a wonderful work ethic and dives right into each challenge that comes his way with vigor and confidence. His customers respect and value his consultancy and partnership.

Bruno Pakey, McAfee
Bruno aligns closely with his field team and fully leverages the McAfee Security Alliance profitability and enablement programs, such as McAfee Deal Registration, Teaming Plans and McAfee Rewards, to help drive and reward value from go-to-market partners. These programs encourage partners to engage early in the sales cycle with McAfee field sales representative, resulting in higher value delivered to the customer and higher close ratio.    

Syya Yasotornrat, Hewlett-Packard
Syya is one of the most dedicated and energetic vendor reps that we’ve ever worked with. She is constantly communicating with us, helping us identify new opportunities, working with us in developing and closing sales, and providing support for navigating the HP partner program and getting the support we need to be successful. She is truly a benefit to our business.

These are just a sampling of the nominees we considered. There are literally hundreds – if not thousands – of other channel account managers and field managers that toil tirelessly on behalf of their partners each and every day. All of these channel professionals deserve recognition for their ongoing efforts to make solution providers profitable and successful. They are our industry’s unsung heroes.

Lawrence M. Walsh is vice president and group publisher of Channel Insider. Click here to read his blog, Secure Channel, for the latest insights on security technology and policy trends affecting solution providers. 

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