Sophie Atherton, Microsoft Alliances Manager, Adatis

Sophie Atherton is an experienced B2B IT channel marketing, business development and strategic alliances professional. As the alliances manager at Adatis, a leading Microsoft Data Analytics and Business Intelligence partner, she is responsible for developing and executing Adatis’s Microsoft partner strategy. This includes all marketing planning and execution, driving sales and creating and nurturing positive long- term relationships with key stakeholders at CxO level. Atherton is also responsible for identifying, building, maintaining and growing strategic relationships with industry organizations whose products and services complement Adatis’s offerings in the market place.

She has a proven record of delivering profitable business relationships within vendor and channel partners. Atherton also serves on the advisory board of the International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners (IAMCP) to help drive partner-to-partner relationships to increase revenue within the Microsoft ecosystem. She also very actively involved in the IAMCP Women in Technology community who help encourage women to collaborate, support and empower each other to do amazing things that change the world.

Julie Baldwin, Microsoft Partner Account Manager EMEA, Red Hat

As Red Hat's EMEA partner account manager for Microsoft, Julie Baldwin is responsible for the management of strategic partners in EMEA for open-source solutions on Azure for cloud-certified service providers. Baldwin is a proven, manager and successful, commercially driven sales and management professional with an outstanding pedigree in developing and motivating sales teams, new business, product launches and turn-around solutions. Prior to joining Red Hat, Baldwin served as the CEO of 6 Degrees North Ltd. She also served as the director of sales CSP, EMEA, for Citrix and spent 11 years working for SunGard rising to the position of regional sales manager. Her principal achievements include recruiting, training and developing new sales team for the SME market, telemarketing departments for UK, France, Germany and the U.S. In addition, she has developed sales training programme and succession planning objectives for new recruits. Baldwin also managed and motivated strategic sales team with blue chip clients across multiple market sectors including public sector. Baldwin, who is a CCSP, is a graduate of Byng Kendrick.

Andrea Carter, Marketing Director, UKI & Global Field Programs, Sophos

Andrea Carter joined Sophos in 2011 and has been running marketing for the UKI region for the last four years. She is not only responsible for the UK and Irelands’ marketing strategy, channel marketing programs and go-to-market activities in the UKI but also global field programs working on projects that benefit the field marketing across the globe at Sophos. As well as managing a team of marketing professionals, Carter also manages a tele-sales team owning the lead process through to qualified opportunity creation. Carter’s career spans 18 years in which she has held roles in sales, marketing and international business development. She is a big believer in the importance of synergy between sales and marketing and is passionate about both disciplines. Carter has been working in B2B technology her entire career including sales and marketing automation platforms, technology for the education sector and more recently cyber security. Outside of work, Carter is passionate about fitness and will normally be found in the gym throwing around some barbells.

Bethany Hedger, EMEA Strategic Partner Business Manager, VMware

Bethany Hedger is the EMEA Strategic Partner Business Manager at VMware who accelerates digital transformation by enabling customers to master a software-defined approach to business and IT. Hedger is responsible for taking this message to her partners, who operate across EMEA and USA markets. She works with them to understand their priorites and business objectives and then weaves the VMware proposition into their go-to-market messaging at the same time agreeing to growth revenue targets. as well as other measurable outcomes around people/accreditation/. Hedger has worked in the IT/Software business for 16 years in Sales and Partner Sales roles across Vendor/ISV businesses, achieved multiple awards for over achievement. Her strength & passion sit with the partner community, taking time to understand them so we can assist in making them successful and grow. She has a track record in partner revenue growth, she challenges the status quo, reviews their current business engagement and business attainments to date, and pushes for new initiatives by sharing success stories and constantly brings new ideas to the table to improve relationship an She has been involved in various organizations built from within the Vendor community that focus on getting more women in IT, OWL, IMACP to name a few. She plays active roles in volunteering days with Learning to Work and has shared her story to inspire others with Women to Work who recently published it along with offering mentoring to individuals who want to develop themselves.

Kavita May, Vice President, Planning and Operations, GTDC

In her role at the Global Technology Distribution Council, Kavita May is instrumental in the leadership, strategic direction and operations of this worldwide industry association dedicated to defining and promoting the role of wholesale distribution. The Council is comprised of the industry’s top distributors who serve skilled solution providers, internet resellers and retailers around the globe. GTDC members drive $150 billion in annual worldwide sales of products, services and solutions. May’s more than 20 years of industry experience helped the organization grow on an international scale--more than doubling in size during her tenure–while cultivating close relationships with research analysts, training partners and channel executives across the globe. Prior to joining the GTDC in 2002 as manager of planning and operations, May was with Tech Data, specializing in business analytics relative to core sales and services. She earned a master’s in government and international affairs at the University of South Florida and bachelor’s in international relations at the University of Florida.

Sarah Munro, EMEA Distribution Strategy, Intel

Sarah Munro is an international specialist in developing partnerships, alliances and channels to accelerate market results. She is currently responsible for Intel’s distribution strategy across Europe Middle East, Africa and Russia. Munro has held a variety of channel development roles at reseller, distributor and vendor organizations. She joined Intel in 1997 to develop a new channel for videoconferencing with European telecoms partners, and went on to run Intel’s premier reseller program across EMEA. She later established the first online channel telesales capability for Intel EMEA. Munro currently runs distribution network, commercial and enablement programs across EMEA.

Maribel Ortiz, EMEA Channel Director, Viavi Solutions

Maribel Ortiz received her Master's in Telecommunications Engineering from Madrid Politechnical University and PDG by IESE Business School in 2006. She's fluent in Spanish, French, English and German. Ortiz joined Viavi (formerly JDSU) in 2006 as distribution sales manager to develop the company's channel business in EMEA. As channel director, she is responsible for driving market segmentation and GTM strategies for direct and indirect channels, developing channel sales tools, training and channel management and driving vertical channel sales. Ortiz created the first global virtual channel team and preliminary global program prior the launch of Viavi's Velocity Partner Program. She has actively contributed to Viavi's overall channel strategy and implementation as the channel director for EMEA. Prior to Viavi she was the Spain country manager for NetTest and the telecom and systems business unit manager for Tekelec Spain.

Diane Paternoster, Manager EMEA Marketing, Partners & Alliances, Red Hat

Diane Paternoster is a senior-level European IT marketing professional with the experience and ability to work at both strategic and tactical levels. Experienced in managing people, change, projects and budgets across multiple regions, with a consistent track record of meeting objectives, creating new initiatives and contributing to corporate success. Prior to joining Red Hat, Paternoster served as the director of channel marketing, EMEA, for Akamai Technologies where she was responsible for initiating, implementing and driving channel marketing strategy and activities across the EMEA region. She also served in channel and marketing roles at VMware, Extensity/Geac and Visio which was acquired by Microsoft. Paternoster earned her MBA from Reading University, a bachelor's degree in international marketing from Greenwich University and has earned a diploma in digital marketing from the Oxford College of Marketing.

Penny Philpot, VP, WW Business Dev & Field Operations, Microsoft

Penny Philpot is the Vice President of Field Operations, ISV and Small sub Partner strategy in the One Commercial Partner Group at Microsoft. She is a seasoned industry leader with 28 years’ experience in IT sales, marketing, business development and operations. Based in the UK, Philpot is responsible for leading the teams driving engagement with the A14 OCP leaders’ community and managing the Regional Business Leads, driving impact through field connection, enablement and ROB. Prior to Microsoft, Philpot was Group Vice President, Worldwide Alliances and Channels at Oracle Corporation. She led a worldwide team of approximately 450 staff located across all regions and is responsible globally for supporting the implementation and execution of Oracle’s Partner Strategy.

Philpot started in Oracle UK in 1994 to develop and implement the UK VAD Strategy. She then went on to roll this out across EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa), while also taking on additional responsibilities including partner marketing, events, communications, partner enablement, partner operations, the Partner Business Center and set up the ISV business development team. In 2009 she joined the Global team where she developed and launched Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) Specialized, led the consolidation of the worldwide Partner Business Center and the OPN related Operations team, plus set up the ISV inside sales team globally.

Prior to Oracle, Philpot had key sales and marketing leadership positions in several blue-chip IT companies. She has also been voted one of the top 100 women in the channel for the last eight years.

Violetta Senda, Executive Director, IT Product Portfolio Head for Digital Banking, UBS

Violetta Senda is an international leader at the intersection of finance and digital technology, shaping innovation and digital adoption initiatives at the world’s top firms. With a distinct foresight and over 15 years of experience, she uses her expertise to steer large, multinational enterprises toward growth at her helm. Senda is the Executive Director, IT Product Portfolio Head of Digital Banking at UBS. Prior to that Senda worked as a function head in leading client facing organizations and as a director-level consultant for world leading digital business solutions provider. She has led company-wide strategic initiatives across multiple functional areas: digital, finance, securitization, business development, collections, operations and technology. She is a strong advocate for science skills and gender diversity in business as means to greater equality. At Avanade, she created and launched digital advisory practice generating net new revenues for the company. This initiative is recognized as an exemplary execution of ‘Rotate to New’ corporate strategy. She remains passionate about effective application of data science and design thinking methods to drive improvements and raise standards within commerce and broader business environments through technology and innovation. Recently quoted in Forbes, with established reputation as a public speaker and winner of several achievement awards.