Jay McBain, Chief Analyst, Canalys
Jay McBain is one of the most visible and respected thought leaders in the global channel. Named 2021 Channel Influencer of the Year by Channel Partners Magazine, Top 40 Under Forty by the Business Review, as well as numerous channel magazines top influencer lists, he is often sought out for industry guidance and future trends.
He has spent his 28-year career in various executive channel sales, marketing, and strategy roles within IBM, Lenovo, Autotask, ChannelEyes, and Forrester. Jay is chief analyst at Canalys -the world's leading research firm with a distinct focus on channels, partnerships, alliances, and ecosystems.
Louise McEvoy VP, US Channel Sales, Trend Micro
As a proud Trend Micro employee, Louise McEvoy is responsible for the company’s US Channel Sales and developing its cloud strategy as the modern approach to the channel business.
She’s especially proud of the company’s recent awards in the channel; including the AWS Global Partner Award and Canalys’ #1 Channel Security Vendor award; proving that the hard work that’s gone into developing a channel Marketplace strategy and evolving our traditional approach has been valued by the industry.
Previously, she worked for IBM with a number of years on their Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) team; managing corporate due diligences and integrating acquired companies into the business.
Louise’s personal life goal was to summit Mt. Everest; after 14 years of training and climbing the world’s highest mountains, she realized her goal and summitted Everest, May 2018.
Louise is dedicated to helping others reach their “summit”, and has spoken to many groups and organizations on that topic, knowing that sometimes the hardest things in life are also the most fulfilling.
James Hodgkinson, SVP Ecosystem, 360insights
With his brother Will, James founded his first company, VLI Limited, in the UK, at age 20. Following a journey that lasted over two decades, that company would eventually grow and evolve to become Webinfinity - acquired by 360insights in 2022.
Through the course of that time, James became an industry leader in partner and channel engagement technology, working with some of the world’s leading companies in support of their global business strategy. Career highlights include helping Computer Associates launch the industry's first end-to-end Channel Partner Management system, enabling companies such as NetApp, SAP, Verisign, and Iomega fully automate partner experience and leading the company's relocation and transition to a groundbreaking no-code platform company in the US marketplace.
Supported by the same core group throughout this time, James and his team have learned through passion and experience, creating innovative solutions to complex partner engagement challenges. 360insights Ecosystems represents the realization of a vision to change the way organizations are able to personally engage their ecosystems at any level of scale.
James lives in Huntington, New York with his wife Sarah and their two children. Outside of his role with 360insights, James is a keen runner and supporter of Liverpool Football Club
Heather K. Margolis, SVP, Marketing, 360insights
Heather is a sought-after keynote speaker to a variety of audiences about entrepreneurship, building a service-based business and B2B strategy, B2B marketing and channel marketing. Heather K. Margolis is Senior Vice President of Marketing at 360insights. Formerly, Heather was the Founder and CEO of Spark Your Channel, creators of a through-channel marketing automation platform, and Founder and Chairperson of Channel Maven Consulting, a strategic channel marketing agency. Both companies were acquired by 360insights in November 2021.
Heather is a recognized channel marketing expert and a sought-after keynote speaker to a variety of audiences about entrepreneurship, building a service-based business and B2B strategy, B2B marketing and channel marketing. A self-proclaimed "recovering channel professional," Heather is passionate about enabling vendors to drive sales through their channel partners. She spent several years in channel programs and marketing for big-brand tech companies like EMC, EqualLogic and Dell before forming Channel Maven Consulting in March of 2009 to provide strategic channel marketing “to” and partner demand generation “with” to IT and telecom channel organizations of all sizes.
Heather has a master’s degree in business administration from Babson College in Wellesley, Mass. She grew up in Massachusetts and now lives in Boulder, Colo., with her husband and fellow entrepreneur Simeon, their two daughters and dog Zoe.
