Burlington, MA, February 22, 2017 – Sophos, a global leader in network and endpoint security, announced today that CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, has named five Sophos executives to its prestigious list of 2017 Channel Chiefs, for the second consecutive year. The executives on this annual list represent top leaders in the IT channel who excel at driving growth and revenue in their organizations through channel partners.

Channel Chief honorees are selected by CRN’s editorial staff on the basis of their professional achievements, standing in the industry, dedication to the channel partner community and strategies for driving future growth and innovation. Each of the 2017 Channel Chiefs has demonstrated loyalty and ongoing support for the IT channel by consistently promoting, defending and executing outstanding channel partner programs.

Channel Chiefs from Sophos are Michael Valentine, senior vice president of worldwide sales; Kendra Krause, vice president of global channels; Scott Barlow, vice president of global MSP sales; John Keenan, vice president, Americas; and Erin Malone, vice president of North America channel sales.

These executives are recognized for putting Sophos partners first and implementing the following Sophos programs and initiatives throughout 2016:

• Launched a new global sales engineering team made up of technical industry thought leaders to create a strategic conduit between the channel community and Sophos’ product development team
• Enhanced Sophos’ MSP Connect program, leveraging Sophos Central, to feature monthly flex-pay options so MSPs can increase profitability and buy from Sophos the same way that they sell to end users
• Collaborated with partners on the Sophos Advisory Council and hosted multi-city roadshows to ensure Sophos partners have the tools they need to continue growing as a business
• Drove a successful first full-quarter contribution from Sophos’ industry-leading endpoint solution, Intercept X, with over 3,300 customers signed contributing to total end user product billings growth in excess of 20 percent

For the second consecutive year, Michael Valentine has been named as one of CRN’s Top 50 Most Influential Channel Chiefs and this year, Kendra Krause was also recognized on that same list. Both Michael and Kendra are credited with being true IT channel leaders, driving growth and revenue for their organization and evangelizing the importance of channel partnerships.

“The executives on our 2017 Channel Chiefs list have distinguished themselves by building strong partner programs, developing and executing effective business strategy and helping to advance the channel as a whole,” said Bob Faletra, CEO of The Channel Company. “They represent an extraordinary group of individuals who lead by example and serve as both invaluable advocates and innovators of the IT channel. We applaud their achievements and look forward to their successes in the coming year.”

“Sophos has an unwavering channel-first, channel-only sales model, and we’re honored to have again been recognized by CRN for our commitment to our partners,” said Michael Valentine, senior vice president of worldwide sales at Sophos. “Sophos is constantly innovating to provide our partners with the best technology, products and programs to protect their customers from rapidly evolving cyber-threats like zero-day attacks and ransomware. Most recently Sophos announced the acquisition of Invincea to further strengthen the next-generation endpoint security portfolio and expand Sophos’ vision for synchronized security.”

The 2017 CRN Channel Chiefs list is featured in the February 2017 issue of CRN and online at www.crn.com/channelchiefs.