Choose Your Chief: 2017 CRN Channel Madness Voting Opens Thursday
It starts with 32 of the industry's most influential channel chiefs. It ends with one.
Thursday, March 16, kicks off the 2017 CRN Channel Madness Tournament of Chiefs, pitting some of the channel's best-known executives against each other in head-to-head battles where CRN readers vote to determine the victors.
The winners of our third annual tournament will make their way, round by round, through the bracket, moving closer and closer to the championship match, where bragging rights are at stake. The losers? Better luck next year.
[Related: 2017 Channel Madness Tournament Of Chiefs: Round 1 Matchup Breakdowns]
Our 2016 champion, Sandra Glaser Cheek of Ruckus, is back to defend her title, as is finalist Brooks McCorcle of AT&T and several other fan favorites from last year's contest. We also have a number of channel veterans who are new the Channel Madness tournament, such as NetApp's Bill Lipsin, Sophos's Kendra Krause, Donna Grothjan of Aruba, and Eric Martorano of Intermedia.
Is it a popularity contest? A beauty contest? A vote for the executive that's advocated on your behalf or a vote against one who didn't step up when you needed help? It's up to you. The power of the vote is entirely in your hands.
One thing's for sure: It will be a lot of fun.
Picked from CRN's 2017 Most Influential Channel Chiefs list, CRN editors selected the 32 participants, representing a variety of vendors across the technology industry, from startups to stalwarts. Each represents one of four technology "regions:" Cloud, Hardware, Infrastructure and Software.
Voting for Round 1 opens on Thurs., March 16 at 10 a.m. ET with 16 executive face-offs and will remain open until Wed., March 22 at noon ET. You can follow all the action at crn.com/madness and on social media with the hashtag #CRNChannelMadness
Here's a look at the executives we've selected for the 2017 CRN Channel Madness tournament and the opening round match-ups.
So, ladies and gentlemen, prepare to choose your chief.
Infrastructure
Shannon Sbar, APC by Schneider Electric
Vs.
Vs.
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Terry Richardson, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
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Scott Dunsire, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Hardware
Sandra Glaser Cheek, Ruckus (2016 Channel Madness Champion)
Vs.
Vs.
Vs.
Vs.
Cloud
Brooks McCorcle, AT&T (2016 Channel Madness Finalist)
Vs.
Vs.
Vs.
Vs.
Software
Vs.
Vs.
Neeracha Taychakhoonavudh, Salesforce
Vs.
Vs.