Jeremiah Jenson Takes AWS’ New N. America Resale Partners Leader Role
'Based on (Jenson's) background with channels at other large tech companies, I think it's good,' says Ethan Simmons, managing partner at Pinnacle Technology Partners. 'AWS needs to get some of that IT channel maturity. I think that'll help.'
Amazon Web Services continues to expand its AWS Partner Network program with an internal appointment to the newly created position of leader of its North America resale partners.
Jeremiah Jenson took the new resale partner role this month after serving as AWS’ former head of global partner training and enablement since September of 2018.
In his previous position, Jenson focused on all AWS channel segments across the globe, according to his LinkedIn profile, “driving incremental revenue through training, certification and go-to-market activities.” He was the former channel sales director for Veeam Software for four months and worked for many years at Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, serving as sales director of the enterprise group channel for more than seven years and as vice president of Americas channel sales for three-plus years.
AWS declined to disclose Jenson’s new resale role duties. A recent AWS job listing for a North American reseller field leader position listed responsibilities including developing a partner-led sales strategy and executing it with solutions architects, marketing and field sales leadership; leading a team and working directly with partners to drive growth through the development of their practice areas, skill sets and go-to-market with AWS; and working closely with the AWS Partner Network (APN) Solution Provider team to shape future program enhancements.
The APN’s AWS Solution Providers Program allows value-added resellers, systems integrators, managed service providers and public sector partners to resell AWS services to customers. They get license rights to resell AWS to customers and tiered discounts based on their technical capabilities and customer success.
AWS named a new channel chief last July, tapping Doug Yeum, who previously was AWS CEO Andy Jassy’s chief of staff and AWS’ general manager in Korea, as its new head of worldwide channels and alliances.
The top-ranked cloud provider been placing a much bigger focus on its channel program, and bringing in someone with a channel background is a smart move, according to Ethan Simmons, managing partner at Pinnacle Technology Partners, a Norwood, Mass.-based AWS Advanced Consulting Partner.
“Coming out of re:Invent last year and working with the AWS field sales teams, we're definitely seeing more and more conversations with them on how to work with channel partners and how to leverage the channel to get to their growth numbers that they're trying to achieve,” Simmons said.
“Based on Jeremiah's background with channels at other large tech companies, I think it's good,” Simmons said of Jenson’s new position. “AWS needs to get some of that IT channel maturity. I think that'll help.”