The New Generation

Just as the IT channel needs a steady stream of new, innovative technologies to be successful, it also needs a continuous infusion of people with new skills and new ideas—and the drive and the passion—to champion new ways of doing business and develop and deliver next-generation IT solutions for their customers.

For the third year we present CRN’s Next-Gen Solution Provider Leaders project, spotlighting the up-and-coming solution provider executives, directors and managers who are poised to be tomorrow’s channel leaders.

The list recognizes solution provider employees 40 years of age or younger who have made significant contributions in driving growth and strategic direction in the channel over the past year. It includes people who have started their own solution provider companies and people who began where they work today as interns and have risen to positions of influence.

These are people who have brought their passions, their new ideas and their unique talents to the table and are shaking up how the companies they work for operate, whether it be streamlining internal business processes, stepping up new product and service innovation, reimagining go-to-market strategies, and taking the way they work with customers and IT vendors to new levels.

These new ideas and new ways of doing business are all the more important at a time when rapid technology change and economic uncertainty are altering the way many businesses operate—including solution providers themselves and their customers. With their new problem-solving ways, the people on this year’s list have helped their companies not just survive but thrive.

Here’s a look at 62 rising stars in the channel, including a brief overview of what they consider some of their key accomplishments and most innovative ideas during the past year.