Channel Development Advisory Council

Kim Cesena

Global Director of Channel Marketing, DropBox

Kim is a channel veteran with channel roles in small business up to enterprise. In the 22+ years in channel, Kim developed go-to-market- strategies, enablement and acquisition plans leading to growth in the channel. Currently, Kim is the Global Director of Channel Marketing for Intermedia driving partner recruitment, communication and growth for the company.

Prior to Intermedia, Kim worked at HP, Cisco and a number of software companies of all sizes. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in economics and social sciences. She was an active member of the AIESEC organization and still finds time to mentor college students.

In her spare time, Kim spends time with family and friends, travel and loves soccer where she has coached, played and continues to be a student of the game.

Juan Fernandez

CEO, MSP Growth Coalition

Juan Fernandez is the Vice President of Managed IT Services for Imagenet Consulting. He has been working in and developing the IT industry for over 23 years. With an enterprise and small business focus, proficiencies on HIPPA, PCI compliance with focused on small business, Government, Education, healthcare and financial industries. Juan is one of select few to write the CompTIA A+, Network +, Security + Tests. Juan also sits on the CompTIA Subject Matter Expert Technical Advisory board members. Dedicated to improving service delivery through embracing effective and efficient use of technology, creating effective business models for delivering IT based services such as DaaS, SaaS, DRaaS, HaaS and promoting online development opportunities to increase individual self-service capabilities and leading strategic initiatives to effectively transform technology to be simple, flexible, adaptable and responsive to the customer needs.

He is the winner of the 2018 MSP Shark Tank for best security and services presentation in which set the stage for an all-inclusive Security and Device as a service model that set the framework for channel and MSP’s models. Juan has focused his entire career on educating customers and companies on his Making “IT” Simple approach.

Juan sits on the HP DaaS advisory committee for Device as a Service and has worked with many other channel companies to develop XaaS models.

Ray Orsini

CEO, OIT, LLC

Coming Soon! 

Tim Acker

VP, Global Channels & Alliances, NINJIO

As an accomplished technology executive and entrepreneur, Tim has more than 25 years of demonstrated success with specific expertise in cloud, mobility, IoT, digital media, software, fulfillment and e-commerce. As a leader and individual contributor in sales, channel and business development, product marketing, and information systems; he has helped companies dramatically grow revenue, develop new go-to-market models, create alliances, optimize processes, develop new products, and improve profitability.

David Beagle

Sr. Director of Channels, Ooma, Inc.

David is currently the head of channels at Ooma with the unique opportunity to develop a go to market program that can fit with any type of partner. Prior, he was a leader in building out a channel at Office Depot with a Managed Services offering. Recognized as a two times Channel Chief by CRN, he is an established leader in the Channel having led efforts to build, expand and grow opportunity engagements and revenue. With his 15+ years of experience in UCaaS/Hosted VoIP at companies like ShoreTel, Fonality and M5 Networks, he has helped partners identify and take advantage of revenue opportunities.

Kris Blackmon

Chief Channel Officer, JS Group

Kris Blackmon serves as Chief Channel Officer for channel consultancy JS Group. In this role, she develops and consults on channel strategy for vendors, carriers, distributors, partners, and startups looking to expand into the indirect sales channel. A partner advocate, veteran content creator, and channel community-builder, she believes in the power of storytelling as a way to make friends—and customers—of strangers. Prior to JS Group, Blackmon served as senior content director for Channel Partners and Channel Futures, where she was responsible for overseeing the strategic content direction for Informa Tech’s channel media, events, market intelligence, and communities.

Blackmon took over the long-running MSP 501 awards program in 2017, leading it to more than 40% growth in three years. She developed Channel Futures’ Market Intelligence and Channel Educational Series initiatives, and was responsible for programming two of the largest channel events in the world, Channel Partners Conference & Expo and Channel Partners Evolution. Over the last decade, Blackmon has created content strategies for SaaS providers, hardware vendors, software providers, technology angel investors, media outlets, and industry-leading events. Partners first—always!

Jonathan Blakey

VP of Technology, Technology Assurance Group

Jonathan Blakey is responsible for driving adoption of best practice technical operations and supporting adoption of successful relationships between TAG’s Membership and Strategic Partners. Jonathan provides consultation, analysis, business management advice and counseling to TAG Members to bring innovation to existing policies and procedures in order to contribute to the profitability of the company. Jonathan also identifies and solidifies strategic partnerships with suppliers to the industry to lead in the procurement of technology that will open new strategic opportunities, increase the profitability and give TAG Members a competitive advantage in their marketplace

Before joining TAG, Jonathan held the role of Chief Technology Officer of The 20 MSP Group. During his 15-year tenure with both The 20 and also Roland Technology Group, Dallas-based MSP and The 20s sister company, Jonathan served in a variety of key senior management positions, including Chief Information Officer. As CTO of The 20 MSP Group, he pioneered the technology and technical support strategy of the business. Jonathan successfully collaborated with several vendors’ software development teams to build their software in a direction to specifically meet The 20 business model requirements. He has trained, recruited, and developed a team that grew to over 40 technical staff to provide full levels of remote technical support via live call answering and email-based support with a rapid response SLA and customer satisfaction that was among the best in the Managed IT Services industry.

David Carlson

Vice President of Managed Services Sales & Product Management, Sirius Computer Solutions, A CDW Company

As VP of Sirius Managed Services, Carlson is responsible for leading the dedicated managed services sales team and working with the direct Sales’ teams to grow our business through existing and new clients. Carlson’s role also includes responsibility for the operations of Sirius Data Centers, Product Development and Management, Aggregation Services, and playing a key role in developing and executing the MSP channel strategy across the different partner types in the ecosystem with the objective of leveraging them to expand Sirius managed hosting, managed services and private/public cloud solution offerings.

Carlson has more than 20 years of experience working with clients and promoting emerging solutions for IT and managed hosting/cloud providers across the infrastructure, telecommunications, and security segments.

Prior to joining Sirius, Carlson worked in various leadership positions across sales, channels, marketing, and strategy at NaviSite (a Charter Communication company), Siemens Enterprise Communications, Avaya, VPNet Technologies, and ACT Networks. Over the past five years, he has been working closely with Enterprise clients looking to successfully transition to the “as-a-service” model and better align information technologies with business objectives and desired client outcomes.

Becky Connolly

Sr. Director, Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Becky has been leading WW Indirect GTM for HP DaaS spanning all partners from VARS to Global System Integrator's. Becky brings her many years of experience in the channel, to help drive those needs into the initiatives within DaaS at HP. Becky has been instrumental in mentoring early career team members as well as seasoned HP Team members to drive a fresh view of how HP should bring value to Partners in a solution oriented methodology. Becky brings passion, innovation and excellent cross organizational alignment within Personal Systems and HP DaaS. Becky is a model leader showing empathy to care for the personal needs of the organization at the same time driving focus on meaningful business results. Becky is a member of HP's SD WIN, Women Innovation Network.

Prior to HP Becky was the Director of Managed Print Services and Supplies at Technology Integration Group, Becky has a proven track record of exceeding quotas, client expectations, and organizational goals.

With an uncompromised approach to client satisfaction and a natural ability to build strong, trusting, and consultative partnerships, Becky finds continued success with solutions-based selling and passes her expertise on to her team through a visionary leadership style. Her passion for technology sales, deep understanding of team competencies, and emphasis on development and recognition, consistently drive positive employee engagement and over-quota sales.

Recognized by Hewlett-Packard as “Best-in-Class” for MPS and “Partner of the Year,” she continues to serve the Managed Print Industry in advisory council roles for HP, and Xerox. Becky was recognized as earning the Big Fish Award from Xerox for Managed Print Services, the first award of its kind. Becky also drove Hewlett Packard Supplies at TIG to the top tier of HP Supply vendors earning the HP Preferred Supplies Medallion in 2015. Becky has also performed on advisory councils for Belkin, and Eaton.s of the organization at the same time driving focus on meaningful business results.

Bob Coppedge

CEO, Simplex-IT

With over 40 years’ experience in IT, Bob has worn just about every hat there is. Developer, Network Engineer, IT Director, CIO (Chief Information Officer), Consultant and, since 2007 CEO of Simplex-IT. He created Simplex-IT, an IT Managed Services Provider (https://Simplex-IT.com) to be the “good guys” in the IT world, making IT work for businesses with or without internal IT departments. Simplifying the Complex. Simplex-IT. Bob has authored three books “A CEO’s Survival Guide to Information Technology”, “The MSP’s Survival Guide to Co-Managed IT services”, and his latest “I Don’t Want Your Job: Is Co-Managed IT services the Right fit for You?”. A sought-after speaker, Bob speaks at about 20 events annually frequently on Co-Managed IT services (or "CoMITs"), including IT Nation, MSP World, DattoCon, and more. You’ll immediately get a feel for Bob’s style of delivery. Bob is known for a no-nonsense but humorous style of delivery, getting right to the point of critical topics. He has an uncanny ability to take a complicated topic and break it down into simple components. The topic? He takes seriously. Himself? Not so much. Bob can translate the technical “geeky” side of IT to business folks and understands the needs of business.

Dennis Crupi

VP of Marketing, Ingram Micro

Dennis Crupi leads the marketing business for Ingram Micro U.S.

Under his leadership, Ingram Micro’s marketing team continues to innovate and execute business-building campaigns and events for today’s leading and emerging technology brands. Using creativity, data and differentiation, the U.S. marketing team works to deliver timely services, with real ROI, to help businesses grow in ways they haven't imagined.

Pulling from his more than two decades of channel experience, and 25 years with Ingram Micro, Crupi established and continues to grow Agency Ingram Micro (AIM), a full-service marketing agency operating inside of Ingram Micro. AIM has enabled countless IT companies across the U.S. to transform their brands, differentiate their value, and grow their business through omni-channel demand generation strategies. AIM also works for Ingram Micro, delivering compelling marketing campaigns and customer experiences across the country.

Greg Filardi

Director of Global Partner Programs, Red Hat

Experienced Sales Executive with a demonstrated history of working in the computer software and hardware industries. Strong sales, program management and business development executive skilled in Negotiation, Corporate Strategy, Business Planning, Sales, Management and, in addition, the Mexican Real Estate and Hospitality Industry.

Dan Foster

CRO, Telarus

Bio coming soon! 

J.B. Fowler

Chief Product Officer, Domotz, Inc.

J.B. Fowler is the Chief Product Officer for Domotz, Inc., a SaaS-based company that helps managed service providers, IT departments and integrators run their business more efficiently using Remote Network Monitoring and Management. J.B. has over 20 years of experience in the Audio/Video Networking industries, including a couple of years as VP of Business Development with Luxul, several years with Control4 as a Product Manager of their Controller and Audio/Video products and more than a decade with Texas Instruments, Managing their Video Communications and VoIP Telephony Product Lines. With a wife and two young boys, free time is rare. That said, living in Utah provides J.B. with the opportunity to pursue some outdoor hobbies, including Mountain Biking in the summer, Skiing in the winter and driving his motorcycle the rest of the year.

Tony Francisco

President & CEO, CloudPlus

A serial entrepreneur that is passionate about deconstructing business concepts and reconstructing them into profitable business models through technology, automation and scalability.

CloudPlus, my latest endeavor founded in 2003, is a reverse-engineered SaaS delivery model that has grown into a world-class cloud services platform and is being considered an industry-first: a true hosted services distribution platform.

Prior to this, I bring over 23 years of experience as a sales, marketing, and business development leader driving integrated solution sales, including key roles at GTE and Schlumberger and Oculan where I had spearheaded the company's expanding domestic and international sales and channel initiatives.

I’ve also spent several years working with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies regulating IT Security practices throughout the United States and am an active member of CompTIA where I sit on the Cloud Community Executive Council.
“Life has no remote. Get up and change it yourself.”

Todd Garrigues

Director of Partner Sales Programs, Intel

Bio coming soon! 

Daniel Pfeiffer

Vice President, OrionVM

Daniel leads Marketing and Partnerships at OrionVM driving the creative, communication, and strategic partner programs. He has been responsible for securing and managing key alliances with leading partners such as SYNNEX and AT&T, as well as directing product marketing, branding, and channel distribution for the company. Daniel’s extensive 20 year tech background spans the gaming, mobile, and cloud industries and includes heading marketing for Verizon Games, launching an award winning B2B mobile ad platform, and speaking at various conferences including HostingCon, IAB Mixx, Converge, Founders Space and AppNation. Daniel has a BA in Philosophy from San Francisco State University and holds 6 domestic/international patents.

Ted Schuman

Founder & CEO, PlanetOne

Ted Schuman founded PlanetOne in Scottsdale, AZ in 1992. Under his leadership, PlanetOne has grown into one of the most influential and respected go-to-market business partners in the IT industry.

Ted’s “work hard, play hard” philosophy combined with his team’s relentless focus on success and partner satisfaction has led PlanetOne to be recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in America by Inc. magazine from 2011 - 2018. For his advocacy and actions, Ted was named one of the industry’s Top 25 Disrupters and Top 100 Executives by CRN in 2017. In 2015 and 2017, PlanetOne ranked No. 1 in the Phoenix Business Journal’s annual “Best Places to Work” survey, and in 2016-2021 was recognized as one of Arizona’s largest privately-held companies as part of the Arizona Corporate Excellence (ACE) Awards program. In 2017 - 2019, PlanetOne was also named one of the “Nation’s 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For®” by the National Association for Business Resources. PlanetOne’s success is exemplified by the exponential growth of its partners’ recurring revenues and the ongoing series of high-profile accolades and achievement awards received from the industry’s top providers including ACC, AT&T, CenturyLink, Masergy, Mitel, Rackspace, RingCentral, 8x8 and T-Mobile. PlanetOne has also been featured on the hit online show Self-Made on Amazon Prime.

Ted Schuman is a Founding Member of The Alliance, a consortium of the industry’s top distribution partners and also sits on several advisory boards for many of the top global carriers. In 2018, he was appointed to the Maricopa County (Ariz.) Attorney’s Business Advisory Council by Maricopa County Attorney, Bill Montgomery. Mr. Schuman also sits on the Phoenix Business Journals Leadership Trust Council.

Mr. Schuman served honorably in the US Navy from 1982-1986, and in 2021, was named Honorary Commander to the 944th Logistics Readiness Squadron at Luke AFB which is a mentoring program with fighter pilots and civilians.

Dan Shapero

President, TeamLogic IT

Dan Shapero is the newly appointed president of TeamLogic IT, a franchise network of managed IT services businesses. He will join the company on March 1, 2018. Dan is the founder of ClikCloud, a digital marketing company, and he has held executive positions at Ingram Micro Cloud, Kaseya, Avamar (EMC), Vicinity (Microsoft), State of the Art (Sage) and Platinum Software Corporation (Epicor). He is a member of the CompTIA Board of Directions and is a frequent speaker on topics including managed IT services, cloud, cybersecurity, mobile computing, business transformation and digital marketing.