Paul Comessotti
The new channel chief for Check Point Software Technologies will be familiar to Canadian partners of the Israeli network security vendor – former Canadian regional director Paul Comessotti.
Comessotti, who led Check Point’s Canadian operations since 2005, began a new role in January as head of channels for the Western US, Central US and Canada. Check Point is a 100 per cent channel company, and Comessotti said he’s looking to build on that in his new role.
“We have always delivered 100 per cent of business through the channel and that won’t change,” said Comessotti. “Check Point’s new objectives are to develop even better business relationships with channel organizations by dedicating resources to channel development, establishing our new Stars Partner Program, as well as accelerating growth while limiting the complexity of selling and supporting security solutions.”
While he’s just a few weeks into the new role, Comessotti is certainly no stranger to the channel, having worked closely with partners and on channel development while leading Check Point’s Canadian operations. Going into 2015, Comessotti said Check Point has three key priorities it’s focused on around the channel:
- Educate partners on the mobility and threat emulation solutions Check Point delivers; both solutions are experiencing significant growth.
- Ensure partners have the technical and sales ability to deliver a solution that is uncompromising on security but doesn’t impact business productivity.
- Fully integrate partners into the Check Point team by building their knowledge base, and helping them grow out of low margin business into profitable trusted advisors.
Check Point will be investing more resources into its channel team under Comessotti in several key locations across the U.S. and Canada, and for the time being he’ll remain based in Canada – but with a lot more travel in his future.
Replacing Comessotti as the new Canadian director of Check Point is Christine Gauthier, who brings sales management experience from senior management positions at HP Canada, where she served as vice-president of sales for global accounts and vice-president of Canadian service providers, and Cisco Systems Canada, where she was regional vice-president for emerging service providers.
Christine Gauthier