IT Channel Perspectives: Meet CompTIA Member Kerry McDonough

CompTIA member Kerry McDonough is U.S. director for small business sales at Cisco Systems Inc. He is also a long-time contributor to the channel and the association, and currently serves CompTIA as a member of the board of directors. In his role at Cisco, McDonough’s responsible for growing the company’s small business sales strategy and vision, as well as growing opportunities for its partner community.



As a strong advocate of the small business community, he’s focused his attention on providing the tools and resources solution providers need to be successful in this lucrative market segment. McDonough and his team work to develop and promote new options that help their partners deliver quality customer service, including the Cisco online support community.  He understands the value of the IT channel, and immerses himself in small business issues and opportunities every day.

McDonough has held a number of leadership positions over the years, beginning his Cisco career in 1996 when hired on as a channel account manager. He worked closely with solution providers in every role he held, including as U.S. channels director of business development, director of U.S. commercial channels, northwest area operations director, manager of midwest channel operations, and operations director. That experience helps McDonough understand the needs of the channel, especially how solution providers can differentiate themselves from the competition.

Success is all about service and delivery, and Cisco’s Kerry McDonough shares some of his thoughts and suggestions on this topic when we sat down for this interview at Breakaway. He learned a number of lessons during his years in the channel and offered several of them that you can see (and hear) for yourself in the attached video.