ACW LEAD Awards Recognize Exceptional Female Channel Leaders

Written by Edward Gately
September 17, 2020

The winners have demonstrated exceptional leadership and innovation in the channel.

Kris Blackmon of Channel Partners and Channel Futures is among the winners of the Alliance of Channel Women (ACW) 2020 LEAD Awards. The awards recognize exceptional female leaders in the tech channel.

The fourth annual LEAD Award winners were honored at a ceremony during the ACWConnect Live! virtual event on Thursday. Blackmon is content director of Informa Tech’s channel brands.

Also winning the 2020 LEAD Award are:

Kelli McMillan, founder of Xposure
Maureen O’Connell, Comcast‘s director of partner sales for the Northeast
Shannon Orr, Avant‘s national channel manager

“The LEAD Award is an honor given to women in tech who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and innovation in the channel,” said Michelle Kadlacek, ACW board member, chair of the ACW awards committee and vice president of enterprise channel partner program at Spectrum Enterprise. “All four of these women stand out as leaders in the channel and ACW recognizes their efforts with this award.”

The ACW board of directors chose the LEAD Award winners from nominees submitted via online application between July 6 and Aug. 7. Nominations came from third parties or candidates themselves. All applicants had to demonstrate leadership and innovation in the channel as well as support, advocacy and mentorship of women in the channel.

ACT Award Winners

In addition, the ACW announced its fourth annual ACT Awards.

The 2020 ACT Award winners are:

Carolee Cannata, national channel development analyst at TPx and co-chair of the sponsorship committee
Morgan Granfield, channel sales manager at Digital Realty, and member of the event planning and communications committees
Bridget Kang, partner development manager at Telarus, and co-chair of the membership committee

“Without the support of our member volunteers, ACW as an organization couldn’t function,” Kadlacek said. “ACW is honoring these three women for making it possible for ACW to be successful. Carolee, Morgan and Bridget have routinely gone above and beyond in supporting us, volunteering dozens, if not hundreds of hours of their time to help ACW reach its goals. We can’t thank them enough.”

The ACW board of directors selects the ACT Award winners based on nominations from ACW committee chairs.