Microsoft U.S. Partner Community Manager Team

Community Resources

About Eric:   As the U.S. Senior Manager of Community Engagement on the Microsoft Partner Strategy, Marketing, and Programs Team, I am the community lead for the Microsoft Partner Community Manager Team.  In this part of my role, I am the liaison between Microsoft Headquarters and the Partner Community Managers in the field.  This includes: setting strategy and initiatives, providing resources and information, and communicating promotions and offers for the team to deliver out to our Partner Community. I am also the person who funnels information from the Partner Community Managers back to Microsoft, and I run the Microsoft SMB Channel Community (Web Site, Blog, and User Group).

The Microsoft US Partner Community Managers are a national team dedicated to providing the Small Business Specialist Community Partners and the broad Partner Channel Community with access to information and resources to help these partners build and grow their businesses and relationships with Microsoft.  This information is provided in many different ways such as the SMB Channel Community (http://www.mssmallbiz.com), local partner newsletters, partner briefings (live and webcast), through local user groups, Microsoft Live Meeting sessions, and more.  Among the many types of information the Partner Community Managers look to provide to these partners are: available resources, how-to information and training for programs or licensing, events and promotions, access to their peers around the world in the user group, and future items that they should know about.

I am very excited to be in this role given my background and personal experience with our channel.  I worked for a channel partner, then started and owned a channel partner (system builder, software and hardware reseller, and network integrator) for several years. In addition, I have been working with Microsoft Licensing Programs for over 16 years now while at a Partner, while owning a Partner, and now at Microsoft.  I believe we have a great opportunity to really address the needs of the SMB customers everywhere and together, build the strongest channel anywhere.