We are proud to announce that Wendy Shearer, Trustmarque’s Sales Director for the Public Sector, has been shortlisted for a CRN Women in Channel Award.
Wendy has been nominated for the category ‘Sales Employee of the Year – Reseller/Services’ alongside 12 other skilled sales leaders who will all be hoping to take home the prize when the winners are announced this October.
The CRN Women in Channel Awards aim to recognise ‘the achievements of the entrepreneurs, leaders and exceptional employees who can act as role models for young females considering a career in the fast-paced, dynamic IT industry’, according to CRN.
This is something that Wendy keeps very close to her heart. She’s passionate about inspiring young females to work and progress in IT, based on her experience of building a successful career in what is still a very male heavy industry.
“When I started working in IT, I was the only woman in a sales team of 30 and all my customers were men. While things have certainly changed since then and Trustmarque is particularly invested in creating greater inclusion for women, there is clearly still a need to attract more women to the industry as a whole,” comments Wendy.
In fact, on a global level the percentage of female leaders in IT remains at just 9%.
Wendy points out “CRN make the point in their Women in Channel mission statement that more diverse organisations are known to make better decisions. That’s exactly how I feel. I am passionate about driving our business forwards and drawing on a diverse range of opinions to make the right decisions.”
Since joining Trustmarque in 2013, Wendy has held four different roles and has quickly scaled the career ladder to sit on Trustmarque’s Senior Leadership Team. However, she is quick to confirm that her development is linked more to tenacity than gender.
“I’ve never focused on my abilities as a woman but on developing my skills as a sales professional. I love the high pace of the IT industry and the need to continuously evolve. My career at Trustmarque has given me so many opportunities in both my professional and personal life and I feel strongly about extending that out to men and women alike.
“Statistics show that IT is still not the typical career path for women and lots of my female peers have contacted me to confirm that they sometimes feel unrepresented. I think these awards are a great way to recognise the contribution that women make in the industry and to start to highlight the options available to women.”
Commenting on her expectations for the awards ceremony, Wendy said that Trustmarque is sure to make it a “celebration of our women in IT” and she hopes it will be the start of creating a stronger network across the industry.
Additional Award nominations
The announcement comes shortly after Trustmarque’s Government Sales Team, which is also headed up by Wendy, narrowly missed a win at the CRN Sales and Marketing Awards 2019. Despite coming home without the prize trophy, Wendy said the occasion served as a great way for the team to celebrate their recent customer successes and efforts as a team.
About the CRN Women in Channel Awards
The CRN Women in Channel Awards 2019 will take place on 17 October at the Brewery, London. To view the full list of award categories and nominations visit channelweb.co.uk
Wendy Shearer background and career
Wendy started her career in IT as an Account Manager for an independent IBM reseller where she worked for 12 years before moving on to become Datacentre Solution Specialist with Computacenter and later Business Development Manager with Opin Systems, who Trustmarque acquired.
She joined Trustmarque in December 2013 as a Client Director and has progressed through various roles to where she is today, Public Sector Sales Director. In her day-to-day role Wendy manages around 30 sales people and 1,000+ customers generating more than 70% of Trustmarque’s total revenue. She is currently a key member of the Senior Leadership Team at Trustmarque.
Best of Lucky Wendy. Bring IT home.
By Katherine Murphy, content enthusiast
