Thanksgiving Gratitude, Partner Style

Thanksgiving is a good excuse to pause and take stock. I’m not lacking for gratitude this year — for family and friends, food and home, and some special life experiences. Not all of it was easy – in fact, a lot of it was hard. But the fingerprints of the people and companies I’ve worked with are all over this remarkable year. I’m deeply grateful.

Amy Senew and Chaos — saw a need and acted with conviction. Amy and team are reshaping a global partner network and upgrading the playbook for how to engage the right set of partners to win big together.

Jeff Oldham and SwellSpace — not ones to settle. Entering the HCM marketplace alongside big, established partners isn’t for the faint of heart. It takes a sharp strategy, high-quality execution, networking like no one’s business, and real creativity to generate engagement from those partners and, more importantly, their broader ecosystems.

— nothing like a stealth startup in the AI/HCM domain swinging at a big global opportunity. I’m grateful for the swagger. You know who you are — go get it!

Clyde Valentine and QualityLogic — evolving the GTM engine. Starting with product and seeing that a truly innovative managed service (a real one-of-a-kind) needed its own GTM motion. This is going to be fun to watch.

Mark van Oppen and FusionAuth — seeing early in the company’s history that the partner growth lever needs to be developed to ensure incredible customer outcomes at scale. That kind of conviction, backed by execution, is how the sprawling and evolving global needs around CIAM get met while others struggle through the noise.

There are many more, but these stand out for me in 2025 — and there are also a lot of personal “partners” who’ve been uniquely generous. Thank you Emeka Obianwu, Lisa Dunn, Tim Luchtefeld, MBA, Gaurang Telang, Doug Norton-Bilsby, Denise Figone, Sonny Yuen, Stephen Ludwig, David Hope, Francesco Cardi, Adrien Cipel, Stan Hickory, Allie Reitz, Lauren Dai, Brejesh G. Aiyer, and countless more — I’m thankful for you.

Happy Thanksgiving