CenturyLink Expands Channel Management Team With Solution Provider Superstars

Three of CenturyLink's four new national channel managers hail from solution provider organizations. CenturyLink also promoted one of its channel executives to sales director.

CenturyLink is tapping the channel to grow and deepen its indirect channel management bench.

The Monroe, La.-based service provider has added four new channel managers, three of which come from solution provider organizations, to the team. CenturyLink also promoted one of its channel executives to sales director.

The four new channel managers will report to Jim Glackin, vice president of strategic partnerships, who reports Garrett Gee, senior vice president of indirect sales for CenturyLink.

[Related: CenturyLink Continues Strategic IT Services Push as Consumer Services Land On Chopping Block]

Matt Thompson, a senior channel manager for CenturyLink for the past two years, has been promoted to sales director. In his new role, Thomson will be leading a team of channel managers responsible for the states of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, according to CenturyLink. Thompson will report to Craig Patterson, vice president of indirect sales for CenturyLink's West Region. Patterson also reports to Gee, CenturyLink's channel chief.

CenturyLink's four new channel managers have been tasked with managing the company's relationships with several key master agents, CenturyLink said.

“CenturyLink Channel Partner Program members, including our master agents, play a critical role in enabling successful digital transformations for our mutual customers," Gee said in an email to CRN. "We want to ensure that our Partners have comprehensive support through all stages of the sales lifecycle and a critical component is having the right staff in place. These individuals bring extensive experience across a variety of functions in the indirect channel and are eager to deliver the best possible experience to our partners.”

Mike Brown has joined the company as national channel manager overseeing its relationship with Converged Network Services Group (CNSG), a Charlotte, N.C.-based master agent. Prior to his new role, Brown served as client development manager for solution provider Opex Technologies.

Laura Welch is a sales professional and entrepreneur with two decades of experience who most recently led solution provider Vertical Network Solutions for the past six years as its president. Welch is now overseeing CenturyLink's relationship with Scottsdale, Ariz.-based master agent PlanetOne as a national channel manager.

Scott Moerman has joined CenturyLink as its national channel manager overseeing the TBI relationship, a Chicago-based master agent. Moerman, who has a long-standing relationship with TBI, most recently served as regional vice president of Element Critical, a data center and connectivity services provider based in San Francisco.

With a diverse background across IT solutions business development, vendor alliances, sales and field marketing, CenturyLink has brought on Jessica Milner as national channel manager overseeing Sandler Partners, a Culver City, Calif.-based master agent. Milner has come to CenturyLink from IT consultancy firm Entisys360 where she served as its Cisco software and services manager of sales.

CenturyLink in April introduced its highly anticipated, consolidated channel agreement for all of its partners that was designed to incentivize them to sell strategic IT services, such as hybrid networking and cloud, Lisa Miller, CenturyLink's president of wholesale and indirect channels and alliances, told CRN at the time. The new CenturyLink Channel Partner Program Agreement includes a commission structure based on performance.

CenturyLink generates three-quarters of its revenue from business customers. The company in May revealed that it was evaluating strategic alternatives for its consumer business.

"Generally speaking, the more enterprise-focused, network-related, and fiber-based and growth-oriented it is, the more core it is to our future," Jeff Storey, CenturyLink's president and chief operating officer and former Level 3 CEO, said at the time during the company's Q1 2019 earnings call.