Congratulations to Extreme’s 2023 CRN Women of the Channel

Extreme firmly believes that diversity among leadership fosters innovation and a rich culture. This has led to a 30% increase in women in our workplace and a 37% increase in women in senior executive roles over the past five years – largely due to our diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts.  Today, I’mpleased to share that 12members of our channel team have been recognized in CRN’s 2023 Women of the Channel List! Congratulations to each of you: Ashley Egner, Robyn Grasso, Julia Hammer, Lorna Pierno,Kate Price, Brenda Richardson, Kilynn Sommer, Nancy Taha, Jennifer Tran, Karis Underhill, Natalia Vianden and SarahJane Walshe. Each of these women have made a significant impact on Extreme's channel community.

"Extreme’s goal for our channel business next year is to focus on driving better outcomes for our channel and customers alike. This is important because the success of our customers depends on how we support and arm our channel, with the right tools, support, and resources to drive positive customer experiences. One can’t happen without the other; it is a cohesive motion that must happen concurrently within our business.” - Kilynn Sommer, VP, Global Partner Programs and Channel Marketing*

*Kilynn is also recognized in the CRN Women of the Channel Power 100 List!

“Our channel partners must make it a priority to focus on a cloud-driven business model. The market is turning toward more demand for cloud and other subscription-based solutions, and it will be key for any partner, but especially those formerly focused on hardware, to focus on SaaS.” -Kate Price, Director of Global Channel Operations

“My superpower is my ability to rally the people around me – from director-level leadership to teammates to inter-organizational partners. It’s helped me cultivate a reputation as someone who can effectively mobilize multiple partners and internal teams to all pull in the same direction towards a shared goal.” - Jennifer Tran, Senior Partner Account Manager

“Our key to success for our channel partners is going to be training, leveraging the tools available in our channel marketing programs, and building relationships with our sales teams. Relationships are everything. If we can build those, get partners trained on Extreme and put forth great, repeatable marketing programs, we can win together in 2023.” - Ashley Egner, Channel Marketing Manager

“What we have learned is that the edge of the network has moved out and is now more infinitely distributed. Today, enterprises must bring the user experience to customers and their end-users whenever, and wherever they are. This has created an opportunity for channel partners to offer more service-based solutions and deliver unique outcomes to our mutual customers.” - Lorna Pierno, Director, Global Channel Marketing and Communications

“Extreme’s success will come from the execution of the ABCs – our ability to Align, Build, and Create new business. This means aligning our sellers with our partners’ sellers, building our partners’ abilities to communicate our value proposition, and creating new business in under-developed and new market segments.”- Robyn Grasso, Senior Channel Account Manager, Team Lead

“Our new strategic engagement programs will facilitatevisibility and clear communication to Extreme’s executive team to understand the challenges of Extreme’s top global partners. They will encourage trust and collaboration between Extreme teams and partners, responsiveness to partners’ challenges, and accountability from all stakeholders.” - Natalia Vianden, Director, Strategic Partner Engagements

“Our key to success will be through the development of our channel partners. We have dubbed this year, ‘The Year of the Channel’ because through great partnerships we find growth and success. Extreme is keeping partners top of mind as we develop new programs and training models. I’mvery excited to see what this year has in store for our partner community!”- Karis Underhill, Channel Account Executive

“My superpower is curiosity. Years ago, someone told me, ‘In order to learn, you have to be confident in not knowing’. My curiosity builds my knowledge and in turn my confidence, which has led me to amazing opportunities and growth, personally and professionally. While I’m not always sure of where I’m going next, I trust myself to find out. The sky’s the limit!”- SarahJane Walshe, Senior Channel Marketing Manager, SaaS

“My superpower is seeing the big picture and connecting departments and people. I use this to help organize projects and determine who needs to take responsibility for a task, whether it's me or someone outside my team.”- Julia Hammer, Manager, Pan-EMEA/APAC Distribution

“My goals for our channel business are to continue and improve the provision of operational excellence to our distribution partners and internal stakeholders, and contribute to and lead important automation projects while expanding our knowledge base.”- Nancy Taha, Senior Manager, Global Distribution Operations

“My superpower is summarizing complex topics into actionable data points. This allowed me to excel in technical roles as well as sales and operations. I can clearly see the care-abouts for personas involved in key initiatives and communicate at an individual contributor, team, and executive level.”- Brenda Richardson, VP, Sales Operations for Channels

The CRN 2023 Women of the Channel honorees bring creativity, strategic thinking, and leadership to a variety of roles and responsibilities, while applying unique talents toward driving success for their partners and customers. With this recognition, CRN honors these women for their unwavering dedication and commitment to furthering channel excellence. The 2023 Women of the Channel list will be featured in the June issue of CRN Magazine, with online coverage starting May 8 at CRN WOTC List.