5 Things You Need To Know About New HPE North America Channel Chief Leslie Maher

New HPE North America Channel Chief Leslie Maher, a 30-year enterprise sales veteran who has been running a multibillion dollar HPE compute business, has deep channel, partner ecosystem and technology innovation roots.

A Sales Execution Machine

Leslie Maher -- who will take the HPE North America Channel Chief job effective Nov. 1 -- has proven her ability to develop and execute channel sales plans time and time again, said HPE Managing Director North America Dan Belanger.

Belanger says Maher -- who has designed, implemented and executed on some of HPE’s most successful North America sales initiatives over the course of the last year -- is a sales execution machine.

“It is all about execution,” Belanger told CRN. “Grand plans often get watered down when you get to the street level. Leslie has never let that happen.”

In fact, Maher- who has been overseeing HPE’s North America Compute business for the last five years- has been one of the driving forces behind recent HPE server and storage share gains.

Belanger said Maher is a detail-oriented executive who has a knack for building sales plans that make the complex simple. “She has been absolutely locked at the hip with our channel community,” he said. “She is a great fit for this role.”

Maher Has Proven Her Channel Mettle Time And Time Again

Maher has proven channel commitment that has been tested time and time again working closely with partners in the sales trenches throughout her entire career.

CBTS Vice President Steve Lankard, who has known and worked with Maher in the channel for close to two decades, said Maher has consistently stepped up to help partners win deals throughout her career.

“Leslie has been awesome as our executive sponsor,” said Lankard, the principal of the infrastructure solutions practice at CBTS, the billion dollar plus solutions behemoth with 1,200 technical professionals with 2,800 certifications. “I never hesitate to engage her for support on big opportunities because I know she is all in. What I mean by that is she takes ownership and she becomes personally involved in driving our success when we ask for her help. She has helped us keep clients and gain clients by giving us her support and making sure we are doing right by the customer.”

Before joining HPE in 2014, Maher was senior director of US Enterprise Data Center Sales for Cisco where she played a critical role in driving sales of Cisco’s UCS system and Nexus switches.

Maher also spent 21 years at Sun Microsystems where she spent a number of years as senior director of global accounts and vice president of US eastern sales.

CBTS’ Lankard said Maher has been a channel strong leader throughout her career.

“Leslie knows the value we bring as a channel partner,” he said. . “She knows our client relationships, our sales coverage, our technical solutions capabiltiies and she values those things. She knows it is those types of things that makes the channel a force multiplier for the HPE sales force.”

Maher Is A Proven Business Strategist And Leader

Maher, who has been running HPE’s multi-billion dollar North America compute business for the last five years, has designed and executed sales programs that have helped drive server and storage sales gains for HPE.

Belanger said Maher is proven business strategist and leader. “Leslie has an understanding of the detail that goes into a really, really complex set of businesses,” said Belanger. “She understands the businesses, interprets data well and comes up with meaningful strategies.”

One of the keys to Maher’s success has been her ability to pull together detail oriented plans that can be executed in the sales trenches, said Belanger.“You need a plan that is not just a bunch of Powerpoints, but is, at the end of the day, an executable plan,” he said. “Leslie has proven time and time again her ability to compile great information, put it in a plan and then execute.”

Al Chien, president of Dasher Technologies, No. 144 on the 2019 CRN Solution Provider 500, one of the top systems integrators in Silicon Valley, said he expects Maher’s solid grasp on the economics of the IT industry to pay off for partners.

“Having run the biggest business in North America, I see Leslie’s understanding of server economics translating well into the channel role,” he said. “Her first- hand knowledge of what levers to pull and push made HPE more competitive in the server space. She brings a lot of institutional knowledge that is going to be critical to accelerating storage growth.”

Leslie Has Proven Enterprise Ecosystem Skills

Maher has worked throughout her career driving enterprise solutions sales plans with key ecosystem hardware and software partners as well as solution providers.

In fact, as Vice President of HPE’s multibillion-dollar Hybrid IT business in North America, Maher was responsible for maintaining and managing enterprise ecosystem relationships with the likes of VMware, Microsoft and Red Hat.

Those tight ecosystem relationships will be key as HPE builds out its GreenLake pay per use platform and moves toward putting its entire product and services portfolio into an as a service model by 2022.

Maher says her ecosystem relationships have driven better business outcomes for customers and more profitable solutions selling for partners.

Terry Richardson (pictured), who is overseeing the North America East business for HPE, said Maher’s ecosystem relationships will be key to helping product focused partners pivot to more strategic solutions sales. “Leslie’s collaboration with with strategic ISVs is critically important,” he said.

Leslie Is An Innovation Force

Maher has shown a passion for technology innovation and differentiation throughout her career.

At HPE that innovation drive has helped HPE build a significant lead with composable infrastructure with the ground breaking Synergy platform.

Maher, in fact, was one of the driving forces behind Synergy’s product launch and the wildly successful Synergy Warrior channel program.

That Synergy leadership has translated into big channel success for the DevOps platform which is now more than a $1 billion run rate business.

In the most recent quarter, Synergy and composable cloud delivered record results. “Our partners were instrumental in the Synergy success story,” said Maher.

Maher said innovation differentiation will continue to be key to HPE’s channel sales charge. She said HPE innovation advantages like Gen10 security with Silicon Root of Trust, InfoSight artificial intelligence and composable cloud infrastructure ensures that HPE will get out of the gate fast in the new fiscal year.

“We have got a real innovation agenda that we are going to continue to drive that allows us to really meet our customer’s needs and profitability for the channel,” she said.

Leslie Is A Women In Technology Leader

Maher, one of the top women executives at HPE, has been a role model and inspiration for young women to break through the glass ceiling in the technology world.

Maher, who holds a master’s degree in computer science from Boston University, was a featured speaker at Simmons University’s Leadership Conference in 2017. That conference also featured Girls Who Code founder Nina Tassler and fashion designer and women’s rights advocate Diane von Furstenberg.

HPE’s diverse North America leadership team also includes HPE Vice President of SMB Sales Jas Sood, a 21 year HPE veteran who heads up the new combined HPE North America commercial organization, and Paola Doebel, a 12-year IT industry veteran who is vice president and general manager hybrid cloud for HPE.

HPE’s senior management team, meanwhile, includes Chief Information Officer Archana “Archie” Deskus and Chief Communications Officer Jennifer Temple.

Felise Katz (pictured), CEO of PKA Technologies, Inc, New York, who has been recognized as one of the top women solution providers by CRN, said Maher and HPE’s top women executives are all roles models for young women.

“Leslie enables the people around her,” said Katz. “That is a great skill to have especially in a large company like HPE. Every single day Leslie is an enabler for partners and those that work with her. Customer experience is what counts. Leslie is an enabler of that customer experience.”

Katz herself has also made a big impact as a role model for young women. This year, PKA awarded THEA (Technology Higher Education Achievement) scholarships to three young women. The THEA scholarships was named in the memory of Katz’s mother Thea.

Katz said the scholarships and the work that HPE women leaders are doing day in and day out make all the difference in the world for young women starting out in the business world. “It’s all about breaking the glass ceiling and showing these young women that there are no doors that are closed to them,” she said.