CDN Women of the IT Channel Ecosystem 2014: Trusted Advisers

CDN Women of the IT Channel Ecosystem 2014

CDN’s fifth annual list of Women in the IT Channel Ecosystem selected top personalities from all sectors of the channel.

These senior women executives are shaping the economy of IT in Canada. This year CDN broke down its list into sections to properly represent each area of the channel. They are leaders, channel chiefs, distributors, trusted advisors and a special category called mavericks, which features executives in sales and marketing roles. There are 23 returning executives from 2013’s list.

There are just three non-Canadian born executives who made the cut. As for the Canadians, some hold worldwide roles, while others have a specific North American responsibility.

Our second category is: Trusted Advisers

Iris Black

National Director, Consulting, Metafore Technologies

CDN Top 100 Solution Provider Metafore opened a new office in Toronto in 2014 and while that was a company highlight for Iris Black, a 2013 CDN Women of the Channel honouree, achieving multiple Microsoft gold competencies was a goal worth talking about.

Mandy Grewal

Canadian Leader, SoftwareOne Canada

Mandy Grewal was the first Canadian based employee in SoftwareOne’s history. And, with that distinction she had to build the Canadian office from the ground up. SoftwareOne is trying to establish themselves a software licensing expert specifically regarding Microsoft.

JoeAnne Hardy

President, WBM Offices Systems

WBM has had an awesome year. The Saskatoon-based solution provider grew at a 100 per cent clip from the previous year and increased its workforce to 180 from 135 people across three locations.

Yasmin Jivraj

President, Acrodex

Always known as an innovator, Yasmin Jivraj took a bold step in 2014 by entering the highly lucrative, but also quite complex Internet of Things market. She developed a practice team that crafted many unique solutions for the Internet of Things.

Darlene Kelly

COO, TeraMach Technologies

Darlene Kelly is responsible for the sales, professional services and corporate services of TeraMach Technologies. TeraMach accomplished one of its main goals to be a Top 25 solution provider on CDN’s Top 100 list. In 2014, Kelly was selected as a Fellow of the Society of Management Accountants of Canada.

Wendy Lucas

Country Manager, Dimension Data Canada

2014 was Wendy Lucas’ first year as full time Country Manager. Before that she was just the Area Director for Dimension Data’s Canadian business. It was a sign that the solution provider has grown up in this market. With that, the company launched a cloud data centre in Toronto.

Carmela Orlando

Senior VP & GM, Insight Canada

The Montreal-based executive has been called by her peers as a consummate professional and fantastic leader. Managing more than 250 business associates across Canada, Orlando’s team contributed greatly to the more than $5 billion in revenue the company earned globally.

Mary Ann Yule

GM, CDW Canada

Mary Ann Yule chased the top spot for more than half a decade as general manager of CDW Canada. In 2014, Yule and her team reached the pinnacle of success in the channel by capturing the No. 1 position on the CDN Top 100 Solution Providers list.