CRN handed out trophies in 12 categories to individuals, teams and companies, part of a months-long process that included two rounds of judging.
At a ceremony held in the Egyptian Ballroom at the iconic Fox Theatre, CRN and parent The Channel Company recognized some of the channel’s most remarkable leaders for the role they play in advancing the IT channel.
Over the course of the evening, CRN handed out trophies in 12 categories to individuals, teams and companies, part of a months-long process that included two rounds of judging and culminated with the 2025 Best of the Channel Awards Gala event.
The evening also included the naming of the Best of the Channel Lifetime Achievement Award winner.
A group of CRN editors judged the first round to determine a list of finalists. In the second round, CRN editorial staff were joined by members of the IT channel industry as judges to determine the winners.
Here’s a look at the winners of the 2025 CRN Best of the Channel Awards.
Jon LoBello, Schneider Electric
Best Emerging Leader of the Year
The Best Emerging Leader of the Year award honors a promising up-and-comer in the channel who is on the path to channel greatness.
Jon LoBello, director of IT channel program strategy at Schneider Electric, has had a measurable and lasting impact on his company’s partner ecosystem. Recognizing that the existing partner program had grown increasingly complex over time, he led a strategic effort to evolve and modernize it—reimagining the partner experience from the ground up—and introducing a new foundation built on the guiding principles of transparency, consistency and simplicity.
LoBello accepted the award from CRN Features Editor Rick Whiting.
Tina Fisher, D&H Distributing
Best Channel Achiever of the Year
The Best Channel Achiever of the Year award honors an individual for their exceptional performance, significant contributions and notable accomplishments throughout the past 12 months that were instrumental to the success of their channel-focused organization.
Tina Fisher, vice president of vendor management at D&H, has played a key role over the last year in building strategic programs and partnerships across the distributor’s vendor and partner communities. Her significant accomplishments include building out comprehensive go-to-market programs focused on driving total solution sales, partner enablement and vendor-partner engagement.
Fisher accepted the award from Stuart Sumner, Chief Content Officer at The Channel Company, the parent of CRN.
Rob Purcell, 22Vets Technologies
Best Channel Visionary–Solution Provider of the Year
Celebrating a trailblazing executive with a fresh perspective, the Best Channel Visionary of the Year Award for a solution provider goes to a person who has shown an outstanding capacity to instigate channel evolution for their company and the channel at large.
Over the last 12 months, Rob Purcell, president and Chief Mission Officer at 22Vets Technologies, has led his company through “one of its most transformative and purpose-driven” years, redefining how the IT channel can drive positive, measurable social impact while at the same time delivering innovative high-performance solutions. The leader of a veteran-owned and operated solution provider that donates the majority of its revenue to programs that provide lifesaving services to military veterans, he is proving that the IT channel can be more than transactional—it can be transformational.
Purcell accepted the award from CRN’s Rick Whiting.
Susan Odle, StorMagic
Best Channel Visionary –Vendor/Distributor of the Year
The Best Channel Visionary of the Year, Vendor/Distributor, Award recognizes an executive who is anticipating trends and driving innovative change.
Susan Odle, CEO of StorMagic, has had a hands-on role in accelerating her company’s transformation during one of the most disruptive periods in the virtualization technology market. Most notably, she has led a revamp to modernize its global channel partner program. She has also empowered the company’s sales and channel leaders to realign sales incentives, rebuild partner communications and launch a simplified self-service portal to improve the partner experience.
Odle accepted the award from The Channel Company’s Stuart Sumner.
Kevin Lynch, Optiv
Best Solution Provider CEO of the Year
The Best Solution Provider CEO of the Year is an award given to the top executive who is most deserving of recognition for achievements in driving a solution provider business over the past 12 months.
Kevin Lynch, CEO of Optiv, has demonstrated exceptional leadership and strategic thinking guiding the launch of three groundbreaking offerings in the cybersecurity space. These innovations are allowing clients to securely harness generative AI and address business challenges in cybersecurity, while at the same time cementing Optiv’s leadership position in the cybersecurity channel.
Optiv teammates accepted the award from CRN Senior Editor Kyle Alspach on his behalf.
Rob Rae, Pax8
Best Channel Chief of the Year
The Best Channel Chief of the Year Award goes to the channel executive who is most deserving of recognition for achievements in the IT channel over the past 12 months as an all-around standout in channel acumen and leadership.
Rob Rae, corporate vice president of community and ecosystems at Pax8, is widely recognized as one of the premier experts on the business of working with channel partners. He has been focused recently on launching a new marketplace as well as a new partner event, all while educating MSPs and evangelizing Pax8’s message of innovation around the world.
Rae accepted the award from Gina Narcisi, Associate Managing Editor at CRN.
Quantiphi
Best Solution Provider Team of the Year
The Best Solution Provider Team of the Year Award spotlights a group of company executives at an MSP, VAR, systems integrator or consultant for overall excellence in business leadership.
Quantiphi is an AI-first digital engineering company that’s driven by the desire to reimagine transformational opportunities at the heart of business. By combining deep industry expertise with engineering prowess and extensive marketing capabilities, Quantiphi’s executive leaders have positioned it to be a perennial partner award winner for such industry giants as Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Nvidia and Snowflake.
Jhon Alexander, global marketing leader, and a teammate accepted the award from CRN’s Kyle Alspach.
Exclaimer
Best Channel Marketing Team of the Year
The Best Channel Marketing Team of the Year award honors an outstanding group responsible for marketing at a vendor, distributor or marketplace that can quantify the generated demand and increased brand awareness it drove for its channel business.
Despite its small size, the team at Exclaimer has delivered measurable results across global markets, supported thousands of partners, and driven scalable improvements in how their company’s product is positioned, sold and experienced across the channel. Their work has created sales pipeline, increased channel engagement and built trust with partners who have many other vendors competing for their attention.
CRN’s Gina Narcisi and Kyle Alspach accepted the award on Exclaimer’s behalf.
Advizex
Best AI Solution Provider of the Year Award
The Best AI Solution Provider of the Year award recognizes an MSP, VAR, systems integrator or consultant for overall excellence and technical acumen in delivering AI-focused solutions to end customers.
Over the past year, Advizex, a Fulcrum IT Partners company, has emerged as a true AI powerhouse by delivering practical, scalable AI solutions that solve real-world business challenges. It has taken a strategic, execution-focused and results-driven approach to AI that spans infrastructure, data, cloud and applications—ensuring that customers can move from experimentation to tangible outcomes with confidence.
Advizex CEO C.R. Howdyshell accepted the award from Steven Burke, Executive Editor, News, at CRN.
TD Synnex
Best Channel Team of the Year
The Best Channel Team of the Year Award recognizes a group of channel management leaders from a technology vendor, distributor or marketplace for its efforts to help its channel ecosystem succeed.
TD Synnex delivers exceptional value to partners by prioritizing innovation, fostering collaboration and consistently delivering transformative offerings that redefine industry standards. Thanks to this team’s ability to translate innovative ideas into tangible results for the channel, TD Synnex partners have seen remarkable increases in cloud solution sales and identified faster routes to AI monetization.
The TD Synnex team accept the award from CRN Executive Editor Jennifer Follett.
Avatar Managed Services
Best Solution Provider of the Year Award
The Best Solution Provider of the Year Award celebrates an MSP, VAR, systems integrator or consultant for overall excellence in business and technology acumen.
In just two years, Avatar Managed Services has transformed from a small, legacy “lifestyle” MSP into a fast-growing, next-generation technology partner built on innovation, agility and results. This past year has been notable for the progress it has made in smart scaling, strategic diversification and operational resilience. With its strategic investments in R&D and AI, and what it describes as a “relentless” commitment to trust and accountability, this company is not just a top-tier solution provider, but a true leader in defining the future of managed services.
CEO Jason Wright accepted the award from CRN’s Steven Burke.
ThreatLocker
Best Vendor of the Year
The Best Vendor of the Year award recognizes an IT manufacturer for overall excellence in channel partnership.
ThreatLocker has transformed the cybersecurity landscape for channel partners and their clients by introducing groundbreaking security technology that makes it possible for small and midsize businesses to adopt enterprise-grade zero-trust cybersecurity. The company’s unquestioned ability to innovate in the highly competitive IT security space, combined with its commitment to its MSP partners, is an unbeatable combination.
Members of the ThreatLocker team accepted the award from CRN’s Jennifer Follett.
Jim Kavanaugh, World Wide Technology
Lifetime Achievement Award
Jim Kavanaugh, co-founder and CEO of World Wide Technology, was honored with the inaugural Best of the Channel Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his contributions as the founder and CEO of one of the largest and most influential solution providers in the world. Under his steady hand, WWT has evolved over the last 35 years into a $20 billion global powerhouse that sets the standard for technology acumen and vision.
He continues to position the company for success in the AI era with the blockbuster acquisition of Softchoice. The relationships he has built with the industry’s biggest vendors, such as Cisco, Dell, HPE and Nvidia, not only have spurred WWT’s success but have influenced how those companies work with channel partners across the industry.
And he has built a people-first organization that is led by a culture of inclusion and accountability, all while fostering a strong philanthropic focus that he personally models.
Kavanaugh accepted the award from CRN’s Jennifer Follett.
Congratulations to all the winners of the 2025 CRN Best of the Channel Awards!
