Naomi Ashlee is in charge of business development at OnDeck Systems Inc., a small reseller based in Courtenay, B.C.
According to CDN’s Top 100 Solution Provider list, it ranks 88th with revenues between $5 to $10 million in a community of just 35,000 people. But, that is not why Ashlee
is a Top Newsmaker for 2004.
She is also the president of
Ingram Micro’s VentureTech Network (VTN) Advisory Council and a member of the North American Integration Committee.
Ashlee is the first president from a West Coast reseller. She is also the first president from a small community.
Under her watch, VentureTech has grown into 52-member reselling powerhouse.
It has 75 locations in Canada and approximately 1,700 employees with more than 2,000 certifications. Collectively, VTN members did about $450 million in business this year.
While other resellers suffered during the IT slowdown, VTN members grew their business dramatically, she said.
Her goal is to expand the network to 70 members by the first quarter of next year. It had fewer than 40 when she became president.
“”Naomi personifies VTN members out there,”” said Dave Walsh, Ingram Micro Canada’s director of marketing. “”She recognizes that if they leverage the collective influence of VTN it aggressively increases their market position, their value and their power.””
She lobbied the U.S.-based VTN members to become partners with their northern neighbors, believing that the two entities can be more efficient by eliminating duplicate processes. “”This was pivotal,”” Ashlee said. “”To align the U.S. team with Canada we learned to share information, and it turned out we made VTN a better organization because we were working with Ingram as a North American model, which is how they are run.””