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Here's the 2025 Channel Partners Circle of Excellence

By Dave Raffo | March 19, 2025

A dozen esteemed channel leaders have been named the 2025 Channel Partners Circle of Excellence winners, continuing a tradition of honoring individuals who display outstanding support of the channel.

For more than a decade, Circle of Excellence winners have been selected during the Channel Partners Conference & Expo. Beginning this year, we are inducting Circle honorees by category, such as CEO, channel leader, sales leader or distribution executive among others.  

  

The 12 2025 Circle of Excellence winners include six channel leaders, two CEOs of the year, two channel executives of the year, one distribution executive of the year and a channel sales leader.

They are:

CEOs -- Michelle Accardi, Liongard; Joan Logan, GTT

Channel Executives -- Rick James Stapp, ConnectUS Wireless; Eric Torres, Engagement, Pax8

Distribution Executive -- Jennifer Dimas, Telarus

Channel Leader -- Tim Barton-Wines, HaloPSA; Ken McCray, Fortinet; Louise McEvoy, Trend Micro; Michael Quince, NICE; Kristy Thomas, Vonage; Mark Tina, Verizon.

Channel Sales Leader -- Alicia Richter, T-Mobile for Business

Circle of Excellence members distinguish themselves by providing resources aimed at supporting partners’ needs to evolve their businesses, optimize operations and improve the customer experience. They share a dedication to building partner relationships.

Accardi, one of the CEOs of the Year, said over the past year she’s focused on channel partner enablement, expansion of Liongard’s partner ecosystem and product integration, driving collaborative growth and prioritizing customer and partner success. Her overriding 2024 goal was to provide MSPs with the tools and resources to succeed in an evolving cybersecurity threat landscape.

“One of the unique differentiators I bring to my role is my relentless focus on both strategic growth and personal relationships,” she said. “I take the time to understand the specific needs of our channel partners and work alongside them to find tailored solutions. My hands-on approach, combined with a strong ability to empathize with the challenges MSPs face, enables me to lead initiatives that are not only visionary but also deeply aligned with the day-to-day realities of our partners. This unique combination of big-picture thinking and personalized attention has been key to fostering trust and long-term success within the channel.”

Joan Logan, president of GTT’s Americas Division and the other channel CEO of the Year, brings a customer-obsessed focus to the networking- and security-as-a-service provider.

“We are transforming GTT to accelerate growth with the channel as the engine behind our acceleration,” she said. “Through bringing some of the best talent in the industry to GTT, the development of partner-obsessed programs that are focused on channel success, and with the entire GTT ecosystem behind these initiatives, our partners, customers and employees are poised for success in 2025 and beyond.”

Circle of Excellence winners are selected by the senior leaders of the Channel Partners Conference & Expo and The MSP Summit events along with input from our Channel Partners boards, past winners and industry thought leaders.

Here are our 2025 Circle of Excellence winners:

Michelle Accardi, CEO, Liongard

As leader of Liongard, Accardi has driven innovation and business transformation to the vendor that sells attack surface management to MSPs, MSSPs and other IT service providers. She spearheads Liongard’s mission to empower MSPs with advanced automation, cybersecurity insights, and scalable growth strategies. She has worked in the channel for 27 years and is a fierce advocate for women in technology and leadership, helping to mentor the next generation of industry leaders. Under her leadership, Liongard has been recognized as one of Deloitte’s Fast 50 companies.

Michelle Accardi

Joan Logan, President, GTT

As president of GTT’s Americas Division, Logan oversees key functions in the Americas region. These include customer success, sales and solution architecture for GTT’s rich portfolio of secure cloud networking, professional services and advanced solutions to the largest global accounts and most strategic partners based in the Americas. She joined GTT in 2024, bringing over 30 years of telecommunications industry experience from senior roles at companies including Lumen, Level3 and Global Crossing.

 

Joan Logan

 Rick James Stapp, Executive VP, ConnectUS Wireless

Stapp is known as a “glass-half-full guy,” even after 25 years in the telecom industry -- much of it spent heavily engaged in channel sales for America’s major wireless carriers. In the last decade or so, he has expanded his marketing prowess to include executing all things online, from organic and paid campaigns to website creation, design, and implementation, as well as creating applications that not only increase productivity but also grow sales.

Rick James Stapp

Eric Torres, Channel & Community Engagement, Pax8

Torres has nearly 20 years of experience in the tech industry. He has built a top-tier MSP as well as several top data security and analytic vendors. As Pax8’s VP of Channel and Community Engagement, he brings expertise in managed service offerings to the MSP community, accompanied by a passion for educating the business community on the ever-changing IT landscape.

Eric Torres

 Jennifer Dimas, Chief Marketing & Experience Officer, Telarus                                                          

Dimas has spent her career in B2B technology growth marketing and is passionate about the alignment of the customer, the organization and its partners for the best outcomes. As a data-driven leader, she loves to leverage the latest process and technology for bottom-line impact. At Telarus, Dimas is responsible for brand, demand, product, marketing operations, customer marketing functions, learning and development, events and the voice of the customer/advisor.

Jennifer Dimas

 Tim Barton-Wines, Chief Commercial Officer, HaloPSA

Barton-Wines joined Halo in 2018 as employee No. 11, and was one of the HaloPSA founders in 2019. Currently with more than 10,000 hours of sessions logged, and 10 years of B2B SaaS experience, he works with new teams to help them move away from legacy ways of working. The goal is to drive the most value out of using a modern unified workspace such as Halo. Halo has experienced 100% growth eight straight years, and services more than 4,000 MSPs across more than 75 countries.

Tim Barton-Wines

Ken McCray, VP, Channel Sales, Fortinet

McCray is a channel sales leader and business builder dedicated to transformation, partnership expansion, team development, and revenue and profitability growth. As the leader of the US channel sales team, McCray draws on his successful experience to transform Fortinet’s Engage Partner Program and drive revenue and profitability growth for partners. McCray joined Fortinet in January 2023, after a career with McAfee that included progressively more visible and expansive roles. He maintains a genuine commitment to the value of each partner and his team, ensuring he understands the personal and professional needs of each to foster a culture of responsiveness and excellence.

 

Ken McCray

Louise McEvoy, VP of US Channels, Trend Micro

McEvoy is a proud “Trender” and has worked at the company for 10 years, focused mainly on channels and cyber. She is responsible for Trend’s US channel sales business, including the national channel program, which supports 10,000-plus US-based partners. Her team manages resellers on a regional and national level and enterprise-level services. McEvoy recognizes that the market is rapidly changing, and she’s been focused on developing a modern approach to the channel business. This includes Trend’s approach to cloud-based resellers and services partners, global scale partners and AI-forward partners. The modern approach also recognizes new partner profile types that are changing  the way the channel goes to market. 

Louise McEvoy

Michael Quince, Regional VP, Partner Sales, NICE

As a long-serving professional in the cloud communications industry with 18 years in the channel, Quince is a recognized authority in channel sales and marketing. He brings a wealth of experience and strategic vision to his role at NICE, and displays a strong commitment to leveraging cloud technology to integrate employee productivity with customer experience.

 

Michael Quince

Kristy Thomas, SVP of Global Channel & Alliances, Vonage

As SVP of Global Channels and Alliances, Thomas oversees Vonage’s global channels including technology services distributors (TSDs), SaaS vendors, independent software vendors (ISVs), system integrators, resellers and hyper-scaler partnerships. She is responsible for building Vonage’s high-growth strategy for its indirect routes to market.

Thomas is a visionary executive with a passion for customer experience, technology innovation, and sales strategy. With more than 20 years of experience building and scaling successful sales and leadership teams in the cloud communications space, she has dedicated her career to working with partners and their customers, including global enterprises seeking digital transformation, to unlock their full potential within the ever-evolving technological landscape.

 

 

Kristy Thomas

Mark Tina, Channel Chief & VP Indirect Partner Sales, Verizon

As Channel Chief and VP of Indirect Partner Sales for Verizon Business, Tina leads more than 700 employees to deliver Verizon Business’ best-in-class customer solutions through a national channel strategy. Tina's group is responsible for overseeing and building a cohesive customer-centric partner program across all five of Verizon Business’ core sales and distribution outlets: Indirect to Business, Alternative Channel Distribution, Business Agents, Fios Mass Markets, and Mobility Co-Sell. He also leads sales for Verizon Fios mass markets. He has nearly 25 years of sales and progressive leadership and in 2020 he co-created LEAD Together, Verizon Business’ mentorship program that enables employees across business units to develop leadership skills.

Mark Tina

Alicia Richter, Sr. Manager, T-Mobile for Business

With a career spanning over a decade in the wireless industry, Richter has consistently demonstrated exceptional strategic insight and operational excellence, driving innovation and success within her organization and the broader industry. As the leader for the primary agent channel program at T-Mobile, Richter has been instrumental in developing and executing high-impact channel strategies that have significantly expanded the company’s market presence and revenue. Her leadership has fostered strong relationships with key partners, improving collaboration and ensuring the alignment of goals that benefit both the organization and its partners. Under Richter’s guidance, the channel program has grown 30% year over year, making her a recognized leader in the industry. Her ability to adapt to changing market conditions, identify new opportunities, and motivate her team has made Richter a pivotal force in her company’s success.

Alicia Richter