This is the second post in our Meet the Women of the Dell Partner Program series, which provides insight into what drives the inspiring women of the Dell channel. Missed the first post? Get to know Joyce Mullen (President, Global Channel, OEM & IoT, Dell) now.
What is your current role/area of responsibility, and how long have you worked with the channel partner community?
I have been working in the channel for 20+ years, holding various sales and marketing leadership positions that covered nearly all partner types—solution providers, distributors, global systems integrators—across multiple companies in the industry.
As Senior Vice President of Global Partner Marketing at Dell, I spearhead development and strategy for the newly-established Global Partner Marketing Organization. Beyond my main global responsibilities for branding, partner program marketing, channel events, partner communications, and MDF program investment and execution, I drive long-term partner marketing strat
egy, together with regional Commercial and Infrastructure Solution business teams. A vocal advocate for the Partner community, I work to create mutually-beneficial business solutions that accelerate our partners’ success.
What are your goals for your company’s channel business over the next year?
We will continue to invest and refine our Dell Partner Program, collaborating with our Partners and expanding across all Dell solution areas. Like our customers, our partners are undergoing their own Digital, IT and Security transformations. We need to find ways to support the partner ecosystem as digital marketing and social selling become more and more pervasive. Extending our digital capabilities and best practices, in addition to providing digital marketing tools, training and resources, will help our partner community transform the way they market, sell, and integrate these emerging technologies in their own digital journey.
Outside of your family, please name a woman you admire and why?
As many working mothers experience, it was difficult to balance my career while raising a family with my two sons. You need to have the right support, and I was quite fortunate to have Julia, our full-time nanny, housekeeper, and house-wife of 22 years. I admire Julia for her dedication and commitment to my family. Her devotion provided me with the comfort and peace of mind that my children were receiving the best, loving care. Her presence in our family allowed me to pursue my career with confidence, and I would not have the career I’ve had without her.
What advice would you give to other women in the industry? Or men?
Be confident and trust your instincts. When I was just starting in business, as confident as I was, I had a lot of self-doubt and questioned my instincts. As I look back on the choices I made, I can now say that I was right, but there was some self-doubt. So my advice is: trust your gut and internal compass. Be authentic, and don’t shy away from new challenges.
Please share some words to live by that have helped you throughout your career.
I view change as an opportunity, rather than a deterrent or roadblock, and this “glass half-full” attitude has really helped my career. In the IT industry, we feel incredible pressure to change: to survive, we must adapt quickly to the pace of digital transformation and how our customers are planning for it (or reacting to it). Whether in our own businesses or those of our partners and customers, we know it’s digitize or die, Uber or be Ubered, sink or swim! The dynamic, rapidly changing world of technology creates many opportunities to evolve and transform the organization to meet our customers’ needs. I like problem-solving and am stimulated by new challenges, and I found that being open to and anticipating change enabled me to accept any number of options or paths that could get me where I wanted to go. I call it “the art of the AND”: instead of viewing choices as an either/or scenario, view them as an “and”, an opportunity. It is the power of the “AND”—the “What’s next? What else?”—that gives one an advantage. Every time change presented itself in my career, I took the opportunity and adapted, and that openness to change has been critical to my career.
What do you do for fun outside of Dell?
When I’m not running from airport to Dell office or partner sites, I enjoy exercise, shopping and spending time with friends and family. I am an avid Florida Gator fan (there’s nothing passive about being a Gator, especially for University of Florida alumna). As you can see, I love to combine my favorite things: family (my sisters in this picture) and the Gators … So give a cheer for the Orange and Blue!
