With Thanksgiving upon us in the United States, it is time for my annual Thanksgiving blog of thanks to our members and the broader IT channel ecosystem.
2025 has been a year like no other. On January 9, 2025, GTIA was born as a result of the Association closing on the sale of the CompTIA brand, certification and training business. We were faced with needing to rename the Association, establishing a new brand and keeping our member services operating without interruption—and we did it. The Global Technology Industry Association, GTIA, launched that day and has only grown from strength to strength since.
As part of this transition, GTIA had to rebuild all our internal systems from the ground up, while keeping our events and member benefits uninterrupted. This was no easy task! My profound thanks go out to our entire staff, along with our business partners, who all worked tirelessly to build a brand, a new website, implement new systems, and serve our members and our staff. My equally profound thanks go to my partner in this undertaking, our chief operating officer, Kelly Ricker, who came to GTIA in December of 2024 to help manage all the back-office activities that go along with such a major transition.
On behalf of the entire GTIA team, I cannot express our thanks to our members enough for the support we received during the transition. From the moment we launched, your support and enthusiasm for what was now possible was felt and appreciated more than you know.
Over the course of 2025, we held twelve regional community meetings across North America, the UK & Ireland, Benelux, DACH, ASEAN and ANZ regions. We produced three Community Forums and Spotlight Awards, recognizing twenty-eight Spotlight Award winners. We extended our ChannelCon brand to the EMEA region with our first ever ChannelCon EMEA.
This year, as a result of the sale and GTIA’s singular focus on our members and the positive impact we are able to make, we launched the GTIA Foundation to support our charitable giving aspirations. In 2025, we committed $1.9 million to charitable giving. Our intention is to grow this program annually. #GTIAGives is an important initiative for us, as we look to have a more positive impact in the communities where our members live and work. Stay tuned for more details as we continue to develop this program and thank you to our members who helped identify and select many of the charities we supported this year.
Our research and market intelligence team continued to deliver at impressive levels. The team delivered fifteen research reports, to complement nineteen guidebooks and resources built by members, for members. We published over 150 posts on the GTIA blog. One of the most interesting resources we released this year is the Channel Economic Tracker. In response to the economic uncertainty that we have seen since the introduction and modification of U.S. tariffs on the world economy, this tool surveys the IT channel to spot warning signs, concerns and opportunities resulting from this new reality. We will be extending this across our geographic regions in 2026. And we just released our Channel Trends in Cybersecurity 2025 report, which is our first ever cybersecurity research focused solely on the IT channel.
Not to be outdone, our member education team delivered eleven in-person Managing the Technology Channel trainings. This training is designed for vendor and distributor account managers, to help them build a solid book of business with their partners. Thanks to all the participants and for the overwhelmingly positive comments on the course and our instructors. And speaking of instructors, thank you to all our member education instructors; you do a great job!
This year, we formed the Global Leadership Committee, or GLC. The GLC is made up of the chairs and vice-chairs of our regional Executive Councils, Advisory Councils, Cybersecurity Executive Council, Member Champions Council, GTIA Member of the Year and a Board liaison. This strategic group of volunteer leaders is a critical component of our member experience, working closely with GTIA staff to achieve our annual objectives. Thank you to the members of the GLC for your leadership and engagement.
I also want to thank my fellow executives, Dan Wensley, GTIA’s CEO, and Nancy Hammervik, our chief channel officer. Dan joined GTIA in May and has brought exactly the type of leadership and vision we need as we chart our new course, focused solely on delivering ever increasing member value. Dan’s vision for “the possible” is exciting and it is a true joy to work with him on delivering on our collective vision. Nancy Hammervik handed my role to me several years ago when she transitioned into another role within the organization. Her guidance, friendship and expertise have been invaluable to me and so many others at GTIA. We are so fortunate to be able to bring Nancy on to the GTIA executive team, focusing on channel growth and engagement. Nancy’s creativity, knowledge of the channel and dedication to our members is something to admire. Thank you to Dan, Kelly and Nancy for making our executive team the best in the channel!
For those in the United States, Happy Thanksgiving. To our global members, enjoy a couple of days with less noise coming from the U.S., LOL. Let me close by saying a most sincere thank you to the 2,400 member companies, 212,000 individuals and 60+ staff that make GTIA what it is today. The same Association you have always known, with a new name, brand, and focus on you, our members. The best is yet to come. #WeAreGTIA
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