Sage Appoints Microsoft & Splunk Vet Gretchen O’Hara to Lead Global Partner Channel

Splunk is a platform designed to search, monitor, and analyze massive volumes of machine-generated data in real-time. Essentially, it helps organizations make sense of the data from their websites, applications, servers, and security devices. This is crucial for security – identifying and responding to threats – as well as for operational intelligence, like troubleshooting application performance.

O’Hara joins Sage from Splunk (now part of Cisco), where she was the Vice President of Worldwide Channels and Alliances. Before that, she spent 18 years at Microsoft in various executive roles.

A Recent History of Sage’s Channel Leadership

To understand the context of this change, let’s look at the evolution of this role since Jennifer Warawa, a well-known figure in the Sage partner community, departed in 2019:

• Jennifer Warawa: Held the global partner role until August 2019.
• Dewey Forrester: Served as the interim EVP from August 2019 to January 2021.
• Aziz Benmalek: Led the Global Partner Organization from January 2021 until his departure in February 2024. During his tenure, he was also appointed President of Sage North America.
• Eduardo Rosini: Took over channel duties in February 2023 and was recently promoted to Sage’s Chief Growth Officer in February 2024.
• Gretchen O’Hara: The newly appointed leader, stepping into the role in October 2025.

The Microsoft & Splunk Connection

The last two permanent leaders in this global partner role, Aziz Benmalek and now Gretchen O’Hara, came to Sage after holding senior channel positions at Microsoft and, more recently, Splunk. Additionally, Sage’s Chief Growth Officer, Eduardo Rosini, is a Microsoft alum.

Why This Matters for Sage Partners

The “Business Development” in O’Hara’s title may be significant, signaling her role is to actively build new revenue streams and alliances, not just manage the existing channel. Partners should anticipate an even more proactive and strategic approach from Sage, making this a crucial development for any ISV or consultant planning their future with the company.