Podcast: Building New Channel Programs
POD2112: Ciena’s Sandra Glaser Cheek on Building New Channel Programs
The job of a channel chief is to build and manage relationships with partners to generate sales that contribute to their company’s goals. They curate those relationships through channel programs designed to reward partners based on their investments and performance. Channel chiefs frequently look to improve their existing programs, but rarely does a channel chief get the opportunity to build a whole new channel program from the ground up. That’s the opportunity Sandra Glaser Cheek had at Ciena. She and her team spent the past year building a new, innovative channel program in parallel to the company’s existing one. Building that program took much planning, coordination, and investment. Cheek joins Pod2112 to talk about the new program, the Ciena Partner Network, and what it took to build a channel initiative that’s different from the marketplace standard.
Sandra Glaser Cheek
Vice President of Global Partners, Ciena
Larry Walsh
CEO & Chief Analyst, The 2112 Group
