CRN_June2023_Issue_1420

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How To Succeed By Seeing The Whole Story

Fortinet’s Engage Partner Program Driven By Partner Growth Opportunities Q. What is your channel philosophy? A. Bringing 30-plus years of experience and expertise to Fortinet, I remain committed to strengthening the Fortinet channel team’s culture of collaboration and fostering a growth trajectory through the Engage Partner program. I’m focused on spearheading a clear channel philosophy on top of a solid framework based on three priorities: enablement, engagement and economics. This framework encompasses partner technical training and certifications, business planning and increasing profitability. Q. What does leadership look like to you? A. As a leader, the following qualities have been my guidepost over my career: professionalism, innovation and loyalty. I also spend a lot of time thinking about ways to drive business, motivate people and be a coach. I constantly think about how we are accountable to our partners and customers, as they are a core focus of our company. Q. What about your work excites you? A. I have done almost every job in sales and in the channel. I joke that if I haven’t seen it, it doesn’t exist. I’m proud of my extensive experience in and knowledge of the industry and am excited to collaborate across the organization and channel. Fortinet has a unique multi-channel ecosystem, which allows us to impact the industry in exciting ways. I’m also thrilled to be taking over as the executive sponsor for CRN’s Women of the Channel. This is something that is near and dear to me, and I’m passionate about continuing to elevate our colleagues around the industry. Lastly, I’ll highlight our Women of Fortinet program, as I’m inspired by the group’s mission to empower and enable women to excel in their career within the cybersecurity space. Q. Looking ahead to the year, what will be your key initiatives and priorities for the channel? A. Fortinet’s Engage program sets partners up to address the way technology and demands have evolved so quickly over the past few years. Because of the way Fortinet builds solutions organically with integration in mind instead of bolting disparate solutions together, we can stay on pace with industry changes, which makes it very easy to build a channel program that supports growth opportunities for our partners. Continuing to help partners understand Fortinet’s solutions, as well as the opportunities to support customers in solving their biggest networking and security challenges, is top of mind for me.

Ken McCray Vice President of US Channel Sales

” My focus is

maintaining a clear channel philosophy for our partners as well as internally on top of an already solid framework based on three priorities:

enablement, engagement and economics.

Learn more about Fortinet’s Engage partner program and how your organization can benefit by joining. Current partners can visit the Partner Portal to find important updates from Fortinet and our partner program.

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