CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, has published its 2019 list of the top 50 Most Influential Channel Chiefs. The annual list consists of the top executives who are driving the channel agenda and are championing channel partnerships. These elite executives have demonstrated outstanding commitment to driving growth and revenue through partner programs and have shown extraordinary leadership across the channel as a whole.
The CRN team assesses the professional achievements of Channel Chiefs, their dedication to the community, their standing in the industry, and the strategies each has adopted to drive innovation and growth. To be included in the list, Channel Chiefs must have consistently promoted, defended, and executed outstanding partner programs. There was strong competition this year, but only 50 Channel Chiefs were selected, each of whom has helped to guide and shape the IT channel.
CloudHealth by VMware has announced that Bob Kilbride, Senior Director of Global Channels at CloudHealth by VMware, has been named in the 2019 Most Influential Channel Chief list.
“Bob personifies the ‘partner-first’ mindset,” said Tom Axbey, CEO of CloudHealth. “He and his team have built a global ecosystem of CloudHealth partners that deliver immense value as enterprises increasingly turn to service providers to manage their multicloud environments, be it AWS, Azure or Google Cloud. Bob has the rare ability to think strategically and execute tactically, and it’s great to see him deservedly recognized by CRN for his incredible work.”
Bob Kilbride was appointed Senior Director of Global Channels in 2016 and has overseen a major expansion of CloudHealth’s channel program which has now become a truly global network of partners. Partners leverage the CloudHealth platform to help their clients govern multicloud environments, optimize cloud resources, and reduce cloud costs.
Last year, CloudHealth increased its partners by 53% and revenue generated by its partner program increased by 100%. To date, there have been more than 100 professionals who have received certification as either a Platform Administrator Associate or Partner Platform Specialist, and CloudHealth rolled out six major Partner Platform releases, including Cost and Usage Report (CUR) Splitting, Custom Price Books, Cross-Customer Reporting and Billing Families.
“The individuals on CRN’s 2019 Channel Chiefs list deserve special recognition for their contribution and support in the development of robust partner programs, innovative business strategies, and significant influence to the overall health of the IT channel,” said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. “We applaud each Channel Chief’s remarkable record of accomplishments and look forward to following their continued success.”
