Vonage has appointed Kristy Thomas as its new Senior Vice President of Global Channels and Alliances to implement the company’s ‘high-growth strategy’ for indirect routes to market.
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She will also be responsible for overseeing global channels, such as Technology Services Distributors (TSDs), Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), Software as a Service (SaaS), System Integrators (Sis), Resellers, and hyper-scaler partnerships.
Thomas brings with her more than 20 years of sales and leadership experience to the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and unified communications-as-a-service (UCaaS) service Vonage.
Reggie Scales, Acting Head of Applications for Vonage, welcomed Thomas to the role: “Kristy is a respected and well-known leader within the Channel space, and I am thrilled to welcome her back to the Vonage team.
“At Vonage, we offer full-service partner programs – from introduction to provisioning to deployment and beyond. Kristy will be instrumental in supporting our partners to continue to “think Vonage first” for every step of their customers’ life cycles.
“Her unrivalled passion for customer experience, technology innovation, and sales strategy will be vital to helping drive and steer our channel strategy, which remains a high -growth, core focus of our overall corporate strategy.”
‘Dedicated to Partners and Customers’
According to Vonage’s related press release, Thomas has “dedicated her career to working with partners and their customers”, which include global businesses looking to release their potential within the ever-changing digital landscape.
Thomas has previously served as a Senior Vice President for Vonage’s contact center and sales teams between 2018 and 2020.
She was a key figure in the company’s acquisition of NewVoiceMedia, the leading contact center provider, as well as promoting a customer engagement framework for transformation within the contact center that helped organizations bolster their customer engagement results.
Scales also commented on Thomas’ successes in her former role: “Kristy made a tremendous impact on our business when she previously served on the sales team at Vonage, not only in the growth of our contact center business but in the way our sales teams support our network of partners.
“We are fortunate and delighted to have her back at Vonage, where she will be an invaluable asset in driving innovation and success for our business, for our partners, and for their customers.”
Before she rejoined Vonage this year, Thomas worked as the Vice President of Partner Experience and Enablement at Intelisys.
Here, she created a partner ecosystem that contributed towards the company’s 37 percent year-over-year growth, focusing on the individual needs of partners by offering the necessary tools to effectively meet their customer needs.
For example, Thomas introduced a partner marketing program, a partner loyalty program, and high-growth technology programs and promoted partner education and events.
Thomas shared her enthusiasm to begin working in the role:
“I am excited to be back at Vonage and to step into this new role, building on my experience and success at the Company to further our channel program, strengthen our foothold in the market and support our partners in serving their customers.
“During my previous time at Vonage and throughout my career, I have gained an appreciation for and deep understanding of our competitive landscape, including the evolving education and enablement needs of the partner community and the complex buying behavior and technology investments of their customers.
“This is an exciting time at Vonage, and I look forward to working closely with our strong channel management team who provide expert advocacy and support to our robust network of trusted partners around the globe to guide and support them in embracing the kind of technology that presents high-growth opportunities for their businesses and drives meaningful connections for their customers.”
Earlier this year, Vonage appointed Niklas Heuveldop as Vonage’s new CEO. Heuveldop, who was Ericsson’s Head of Market Area North America, was named as both Vonage CEO and Head of Business Area Global Communications Platform from February 1, 2024.
