Boston, Massachusetts
Thursday 15th June 2023
Speakers & Panellists
Victoria Albert - INFUSEmedia
Keynote Speaker
Victoria is responsible for building and overseeing all INFUSEmedia's marketing initiatives. Heavy focus on growth and sales/marketing alignment. She is a strategist and thought leader as well as a brand evangelist. She passionately merges traditional and digital marketing into a solid, proven plan that creates maximum visibility and sales. Also an expert at identifying and developing solutions that fit client needs, building long and short-term business plans, inclusive of strategies, staffing, budgets, metrics.
Rachel Tuller - Cloudera
Keynote Speaker
Rachel Tuller is a global Alliance and Channel leader with decades of proven success in Alliance Management, Partner Sales, Channel Marketing and Channel Programs. Her commercial experience includes start-ups, scale-ups and enterprise organizations in the IT hardware, software, cloud, and virtualization industry. She brings to Cloudera her expertise building and running high-performing partner teams around the world, executing channel go-to-market models. She excels at designing, developing, and delivering channel enablement, demand generation, and certification programs for all partner types including value-added resellers, distribution, GSI, ISV, alliances, and cloud partners. Prior to Cloudera, Rachel ran global channel marketing for Veeam, led technology alliance business development for Citrix and ran her own consultancy firm assisting top global IT brands to evolve and modernize their sales enablement and channel businesses. She is actively involved with several key industry associations including CHIEF, CompTIA, Alliance of Channel Women, CRN Women of the Channel, Women in Cloud, and Channel Focus Club 50.
Dave Silke - Centripetal
Keynote Speaker
Dave Silke has 30 years of global marketing and partner experience. Dave is currently the Chief Marketing Officer and EMEA MD for Centripetal, a cutting edge Cybersecurity company. In this role, Silke is responsible for establishing and executing the global marketing and partner programs in addition to driving the European expansion.
From 2020 to 2022, Dave was the Chief Marketing Officer for Mitel, accountable for leading the global marketing and partner activities for one of the globes iconic communications brands. Previous to this role, Dave served as a global and regional marketing executive for Mitel, Juniper Networks, Brocade, and Nortel.
Dave is a native of Galway, Ireland, where he continues to live, and passionately believes in the balance between the art and science of marketing.
Gwenn Lazar - Skillsoft
Panellist
Gwenn Lazar is a global ecosystem executive, partnership evangelist and industry veteran with more than twenty years of experience. As VP Partner Ecosystem and Global Alliances for Skillsoft (a global leader in corporate digital learning) Gwenn leads a thriving ecosystem of alliance, reselling, and consulting partners. Gwenn discovered her love of the channel while working for a Skillsoft reseller; there she gained an appreciation for what partners truly need to succeed.
Gwenn was invited to join the channel team at Skillsoft where her career in partnerships blossomed- learning by trial and error as she grew the partner business and seeking out industry experts for guidance along the way. She is happy to pay it forward speaking at The Channel Meetup!
Most recently Gwenn was the Channel Chief for a fintech B2B SaaS company, building the partner program from the ground up, tripling the size of the partner team as well as revenue in less than two years.
Gwenn holds a BS in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from Cornell University. She resides in Delmar, NY with her three children and puppy Nutter Butter.
Erik Frantzen - Nurture Marketing
Panellist
Erik Frantzen has been involved in the technology channel since obtaining his undergraduate degree in 1987. He is a proud graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and received his MBA from Northeastern University of Boston.
Erik’s first job was as a consultant for mid-market financial and ERP solutions, including Great Plains and Sage. He spent a major part of his career at Alpine Computer Systems/AimNet Solutions, a Microsoft Gold Partner and one of the first Managed Services Providers.
- Former VP, CRN 500 Reseller, Alpine Computer Systems
- Microsoft Partner Advisory Council for 2 terms
- Associate Editor of The Channel Marketing Journal
- 10+ years of sessions at Microsoft Inspire
- Cisco Velocity 4-city partner tour speaker
- International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners – US Board Member Emeritus
Kilynn Sommer - Extreme Networks
Panellist
Kilynn Sommer is a long-time Channel leader with proven track record of driving growth, organizational effectiveness, and measurable results across multiple industries including healthcare, hospitality, and non-profit organizations. Sommer has had a strong focus in managing teams through transformational business changes including enabling partners in their transition from UC to UCaaS to managing multi-million-dollar marketing expansion programs that moved hospitals chains to expansive physician and allied healthcare networks.
Sommer has led Field Marketing, Business Development, Channel Marketing and Communications teams prior to joining Extreme Networks two years ago to lead their Global Partner Programs and Channel Marketing team.
Sophy Gray - The Marketing Bee
Panellist
Sophy is an energetic and empathetic marketeer, who is both creative and visionary in her approach. The Marketing Bee, founded by Sophy, has a unique model of resourcing IT Marketing and Channel projects with freelance experts, who are part of a tight knit “Marketing Bee Community” who deliver with agility and flexibility.
Having worked in Tech Marketing for >25 years, Sophy has seen the inside of vendors, distributors, resellers, and agencies and so brings a blend of skills that understand the needs of each and can match the skills of The Marketing Bee’s with the demands of the project. In today’s tough climate, combined with skills shortages, Sophy is well positioned to provide a professional and efficient Marketing Service.
Thank you to our Sponsors
The Channel Meet Up is hosted by The Marketing Bee
