Every year, CRN and The Channel Company recognize incredible women whose expertise and vision are leaving a noticeable and commendable mark on the industry. Honorees for this award span technology vendor, distributor, and solution provider organizations. This year, I’m delighted to state that 8x8 has six wonderful, dedicated, and talented people who have been recognized on the list.

Congratulations to Michelle Paitich, Emily Masterton, Carri Stansbury, Claire Snow, Amanda Hill, and Michelle Bonfantine! Every one of these fantastic individuals deserves to be celebrated for their efforts—not only within 8x8 but in what they do for the channel overall.

Michelle Paitich

Michelle is a recognized go-to-market operator and talented partner executive with a track record of repeated success across multiple partner types. A relationship builder who loves coaching and mentoring people, she absolutely excels as an organization builder and problem solver. She is known for building high-performance teams and partner programs while simultaneously managing operations to exceed sales goals/targets. Beyond that, Michelle is an exceptional speaker and storyteller whose values align perfectly to 8x8's culture and focus on customer experience.

Emily Masterton

One of Emily’s strengths is that she understands that it’s all about b​​eing customer first, understanding the needs and the pain points that customers have and the business outcomes needed. To Emily, it's not just selling products, it's about understanding solutions that deliver. Her accomplishments in the last year include revamping 8x8's Terms of Engagement, ensuring they were fit for purpose for a modern marketplace, and being made the channel lead for EMEA.

Carri Stansbury

With more than a decade of channel success, Carri has worked equally hard building channel teams, growing revenue, and exceeding targets. A true channel advocate and well-known in the industry for her passion, integrity, and partner-first approach, Carri continues to demonstrate success in accelerating channel growth through 8x8's award-winning channel partner program, Elevate.

Claire Snow

With decades of experience in the communications industry, Claire is considered a highly-motivated and results-oriented channel sales professional. She has a reputation for developing and managing excellent client relationships, demonstrating outstanding communication skills, and influencing effectively up to boardroom level. These skills have served Claire well, allowing her to build a wide network across the communications sector in the UK, in addition to building allies with channel partners and people over many years. She is well versed in bringing new solutions to market, identifying opportunities, creating and executing successful business plans, coordinating resources, and driving business deals through to closure.

Amanda Hill

An advocate for fostering strong, mutually-beneficial partnerships across the channel and beyond, Amanda is an experienced B2B marketer, with comprehensive experience and a proven track record in developing both direct and channel strategic programs. At 8x8 she is a strong leader, managing both partner marketing and cross functional teams. As a creative thinker, she has the ability to conceptualize challenging campaigns and deliver programmatic projects while being focussed on ROI and metrics and aligning channel initiatives with company objectives.

Michelle Bonfantine

At 8x8, Michelle is excellent at listening to our partners, spending time hearing about their business goals, and then aligning our program and offerings to meet their unique needs. Michelle always delivers, knowing that partners are the engine driving growth at 8x8. She has been key in helping drive our VAR strategy, building a business model that includes all aspects of the business including systems, processes, enablement, marketing, demand generation, sales, solutions design, deployment, support, and customer satisfaction—all with the aim of delivering increased customer experience enablement for our partners.

8x8’s partner experience commitment

Michelle, Emily, Carri, Amanda, Michelle, and Claire all represent how dedicated 8x8 is to partners and the partner experience, ensuring that across the company—and the globe—we are doing what we can to meet our partner’s expectations to deliver solutions for their customers.

“It is a great privilege to honor the remarkable achievements of these women leaders in the IT channel,” says Jennifer Follett, VP, U.S. Content and Executive Editor, CRN at The Channel Company. “Each woman on the list has demonstrated a deep commitment to innovation and leadership that advances their organizations and drives transformation and success across the IT channel.”

To see the full CRN 2024 Women of the Channel List, visit www.CRN.com/WOTC. To learn more about how 8x8 values and enables its partners, click here to read the latest on 8x8 Elevate.