CRN names Sophos SVP as a “Top 50 Midmarket IT Vendor Executive”

There’s no better endorsement of our channel-first strategy than being recognized by the channel community. That’s why we’re so proud that Mike Valentine, Sophos Senior VP of Worldwide Sales, has been named by CRN Magazine on its inaugural list of Top 50 Midmarket IT Vendor Executives.

As CRN says, this list puts the spotlight on influential executives like Mike who demonstrate leadership, strategic thinking and excellence. Executives on the CRN list were nominated by peers, colleagues, customers and partners.

With more than 20 years of senior sales and channel experience at global IT security companies including Fortinet, SonicWALL (now Dell SonicWALL) and WatchGuard, Mike joined Sophos in February 2013 to lead our global sales and channel organization.

Now, Sophos is stronger than ever with 30% year-over-year growth since his arrival as a leader at the company. And our Partner Program is experiencing tremendous growth as well. Since the beginning of this year, we launched an industry-first MSP program and brought more than 1,600 new partners on board, bringing the total number of active partners to more than 12,000.

As Mike has said: “At Sophos, every year is the year of the partner, but this year in particular has truly demonstrated our ‘channel-first’ commitment—from hosting the largest partner conferences in our history to a game-changing new MSP program, our focus is our channel.”

Mike was also recognized in 2008 and 2009 as a top “Channel Chief” by CRN magazine.