Some chiefs find themselves in challenging contests as Round 2 of the CRN Channel Madness Tournament unfolds.
The Solutions 16 are back on the court for Round 2 of the 2026 Channel Madness Tournament of Chiefs, and early voting shows several tough matchups as the field narrows toward the quarterfinals.
The Transformation region is the home of the closest matchup of the moment, where Cloudflare’s Christine McElduff has jumped out in front with 53 percent of the vote against HP Inc.’s Scott Lannum, who’s at 47 percent.
Meanwhile in the Innovation region, 1Password’s Larissa Crandall has an early lead against Lenovo’s Wade McFarland. Crandall is ahead with 55 percent of the vote to McFarland’s 45 percent.
Several contestants in the Acceleration region have come out fast to gain large leads.
CrowdStrike’s Michael Rogers, still riding high from his Round 1 overtime win, is ahead with 76 percent of the vote in his battle with Michael DePalma of OpenText, while F5’s Lisa Citron is ahead with 79 percent of the vote to 21 percent for Kaseya’s Dan Tomaszewski.
Here’s a look at the full results so far:
Transformation
Christine McElduff, Cloudflare, 53 percent vs. Scott Lannum, HP Inc., 47 percent
Bob Skelley, Arctic Wolf, 41 percent vs. Jennifer Heard, Red Hat, 59 percent
Acceleration
Michael DePalma, OpenText, 24 percent vs. Michael Rogers, CrowdStrike, 76 percent
Dan Tomaszewski, Kaseya, 21 percent vs. Lisa Citron, F5, 79 percent
Innovation
Christian Goffi, Nutanix, 63 percent vs. Denise Millard, Dell Technologies, 37 percent
Larissa Crandall, 1Password, 55 percent vs. Wade McFarland, Lenovo, 45 percent
Evolution
Kevin Rooney, Veeam Software, 59 percent vs. Landon Scott, Fortinet, 41 percent
Scott Barlow, Sophos, 76 percent vs. Brian Lanigan, SentinelOne, 24 percent
Voting in Round 2 remains open until noon ET on Tuesday, March 24, so there’s still time to head to CRN.com/madness to cast your votes and choose your chief!
