Marla Ellerman

Marla Ellerman, now executive director of Mobile Marketing and Technology, is the former publisher of Channel Partners. It was Ellerman who decided not to shut down the Channel Partners Conference & Expo that was taking place in Washington, D.C.  

““The devastating news of the 9/11 attacks came in the middle of our opening keynote address. At first there was sheer panic, and we weren’t sure what to do. Shut down the show? Forge ahead? As the event host, it was up to me to decide. Once the airports were closed, we became stranded, so the choice was made for me and the show went on but in a different way. We came together as a channel community to mourn the terrible tragedy. We ate together, drank together, watched the news together and some of us even did business. We had nothing else to do but wait and worry. To this day when I run into some of these partners and vendors (they know who they are), we still talk about our experience.”