����TV

Each year, media outlet CRN recognizes outstanding women driving innovation, impact, and leadership with its Women of the Channel list. This year, , who joined ����TV via the Vercara acquisition,��was named to the list. In addition to Lisa, we're spotlighting two other shining stars among ����TV’s own Women of the Channel: Jennifer Bienzle and Carri Hamilton.

These women are��unsung heroes in a complex, fast-moving space. They shape strategies, enable success, and create scalable impact in a role that often requires influence without authority. We sat down with Lisa, Jennifer, and Carri to better understand how their leadership in partner engagement drives measurable growth and innovation across ����TV.

Q: What do you see as the biggest evolution in partner programs over the past few years, and how has your role adapted to those changes?

Jennifer: As customers are doing their own research and increasingly prefer a touchless, sales-rep-free experience, we continue to see the shift from the traditional VAR/VAD quote and order process to hyperscaler marketplaces. Those traditional routes have adapted in an effort to retain their share of the resale market; some make sense, some feel like a desperate land-grab. ��

The result is that we see half of marketplace procurement done through channel partners.��As vendors have increasingly opened their marketplace channels, many vendor reps are quick to position "helping customers burn down their cloud commits” as the primary value prop. ��

I question, though—especially as our economy careens toward recession—whether enterprises will become much more exacting with their cloud spend. With the help of sophisticated FinOps technologies, will there be less need for help with commit burndown? Could this shift revenue back toward traditional VAR/VAD routes?

Carri:��The biggest shift in recent years has been the expansion of our channel strategy to include the "sell-with" motion, which requires more collaborative, go-to-market partner engagement than traditional resell models. ��

My role has evolved in lockstep—from developing campaigns to leading the redesign of marketing programs that align with and deliver on new strategic objectives. Today, it's about architecting scalable, ROI-driven frameworks and optimizing investment to support a more diverse, dynamic partner ecosystem.

Q: Can you share a recent initiative that had a significant impact on ����TV’s partner ecosystem?

Lisa:��Over the past year, I led a revamp of our incentive program to better support each stage of the partner lifecycle. We introduced gamification into our partner portal and redesigned incentives to align with how our partners actually operate.

The results? More than double the partner-sourced opportunities and a major uptick in engagement with our strategic partners.

Jennifer: Doubling the attach rate of our fledgling sell-with partner program in just a few short months took an all-hands-on-deck effort by the ����TV channel team and our extended family. We pulled a list of existing customers who had committed to a small portion of our Digital Trust platform and mapped it to the channel partners most active in those accounts. Then came an all-consuming effort: account manager introductions, product briefs, and account strategy discussions. The snowball effect has more than doubled our channel-sourced pipeline.

A recent change in industry guidelines—the kind of compliance shift tech sellers hope for—has created an unprecedented opportunity to increase partner engagement and use their reach to ensure our mutual customers are prepared. Wasting no time, we developed partner and end-user education, co-brandable social posts, collateral, and campaign materials.��

Carri:��One of the most impactful initiatives I’ve led recently was the redesign and relaunch of our Market Development Fund (MDF) program. This initiative not only aligned program utilization with evolving partner strategies and sales motions but also introduced clearer processes and improved visibility into MDF ROI.

Enhanced reporting capabilities now also allow us to better measure partner impact and tie investments directly to pipeline outcomes. The revamped program has become a more strategic lever for driving partner engagement, accelerating pipeline creation, and improving overall channel sales performance.

Q: How do you foster stronger collaboration between internal teams and partners?

Lisa: I run weekly 1:1s with each channel manager and channel sales leader to stay aligned globally. For partner meetings, I bring in cross-functional teams—from sales and marketing to product marketing and finance—so everyone understands how our partners operate and where we can add value. This alignment ensures a seamless, unified partner experience.

Carri: I prioritize cross-functional leadership by acting as a central connector across global and regional partner sales, field marketing, demand gen, BI, and RevOps teams.

Regular planning meetings, shared KPIs, and integrated workflows ensure we’re strategically aligned and focused on the same channel goals. I also champion the tools and processes that bridge gaps and drive high-performance execution across the partner marketing lifecycle.

Q: What advice would you give to women pursuing careers in the channel?

Lisa: Own your voice. Success in channel roles often comes from collaboration and influence, not direct authority. Be confident and clear in how you show up. Build strong internal relationships—they’re just as important as external ones. And stay curious. This space evolves quickly, and the best opportunities often arise when you're willing to stretch beyond your comfort zone.

Jennifer: Find a technology you understand and enjoy. Know your stuff, get up early, and take frequent exercise breaks to reflect and plan your next steps. Technology can be all-consuming—the day will come when the bleeding edge no longer matters to you. But the people you touched and kept in your life will.

Carri: Own your impact, and don’t hesitate to take initiative—especially in roles that challenge you and drive measurable outcomes. The channel rewards strategic thinking and collaboration, so approach challenges with a solution-oriented mindset and cultivate strong cross-functional relationships. Surround yourself with mentors and peers who help you grow, and build an analytical skillset that clearly communicates the business value of your work.

Q: How do you foster stronger collaboration and alignment between your internal teams and your partners to drive mutual success?

Jennifer: ����TV is on a mission to change our channel attach rate. From 17% in 2024, we’re now at about 34%—and aiming for over 50% by year-end. To hit that target, we’ve gone a bit old-school: Our sellers earn significantly increased commissions when they bring a partner into their new license sales (hello, 2005!). To support this, we’ve done a mountain of account mapping with our friends at TD SYNNEX. It’s alignment-call mania—and it’s paying off.

Carri:��At ����TV, we’re reimagining the partner experience by making channel a strategic imperative, integrating partner engagement into every stage of our go-to-market strategy. We’re streamlining processes to reduce friction, enabling better measurement and reporting, and ensuring partners have access to the tools and resources they need to succeed. A key part of this evolution includes incentivizing our direct sales teams to actively consider partners to move their pipeline forward, reinforcing the value of a collaborative selling approach. Our goal is to create a more connected, efficient, and results-driven partner experience that supports shared success in a rapidly changing market.

Q: How is ����TV reimagining the partner experience?

Lisa: We’re moving away from one-size-fits-all and building tailored programs that align with how our focus partners go to market. We’re also using AI tools to scale content customization and drive efficiency. Most importantly, we’re embedding ourselves into the broader vendor ecosystem our partners rely on—so they see us as integral to their business, not just a vendor.

Jennifer: Still scratching and clawing to get our sell-with program generating a significant portion of company revenue, we’ve also launched a Managed Security Services offering. MSSPs can scale their security business and provide their customers with a unified digital trust portfolio that spans enterprise, device, software, document, and DNS trust.

Q: What emerging trends will reshape the channel, and how are you preparing partners?

Lisa: AI is the game-changer. Many partners—especially smaller ones—lack marketing resources. I’m developing a marketing enablement program focused on practical AI use, designed to help even the leanest teams leverage AI in smart, scalable ways.

Carri: AI is poised to significantly reshape the channel landscape—from identifying demand signals to automating GTM motions and enhancing partner enablement. So we’re working fast and furiously to identify ways we can incorporate AI tools and automation into internal and external partner workflows to drive greater efficiency and performance. We're also moving beyond traditional marketing program models toward more creative, experiential engagement strategies that deliver long-term success.��

Delivering the most innovative and trusted security solutions

Interested in joining our best-in-class partner community? can unlock tailored resources that help you drive business results.