Carola Cazenave Is New North American Channel Lead At IBM

She replaces Dorothy Copeland, who takes a position shaping channel programs and business development strategy globally for Big Blue

IBM has shaken up its channel leadership, elevating Carola Cazenave to lead its massive business partner ecosystem in North America.

Dorothy Copeland, who previously held the position of vice president of IBM Partner Ecosystem for North America, has transitioned to global vice president, programs and business development, in the same ecosystem division.

The changes happened in April, and are "part of our ongoing commitment to drive the next-generation IBM ecosystem strategy, helping partners digitally transform, build new skills and grow their businesses," an IBM spokesperson told CRN.

[Related: IBM And Red Hat: What’s Next For Their Channel Programs]

Since January of 2018, Cazenave held the position of vice president, strategy and programs for IBM Partner Ecosystem. She started with Big Blue in 2002 as a manager in Latin America and became a channel leader in that region by 2008.

In a recent interview with CRNtv at IBM’s Think 2019 conference in San Francisco, Cazenave discussed her efforts to simplify Big Blue's channel programs and incentives to give partners a competitive advantage in the market.

She said IBM "walks the talk" when it comes to new incentives and enablement and referenced her work on the pilot of Business Partner Connect, a platform that uses Watson artificial intelligence to match partners with each other.

Copeland, who spearheaded much of the development of Amazon Web Services' global channel program, was hired by IBM in 2017.

Her immediate focus, she told CRN in an interview back then, was bringing simplicity to the IBM channel and helping business partners build skills and drive demand.

Cazenave takes over from Copeland the responsibility for increasing the number of IBM partners in the North American market while enabling those partners to expand their practices across all IBM solutions.