Colleague Spotlight: Pat Jamison
Meet Pat Jamison, our Partner Development Manager. Pat has worked in a range of sales and consulting roles, across different industries—and what he enjoys the most is working together with partners and being part of a team where everyone is innovating to move the industry forward.
Getting started at ConnectWise…
What did you do before joining ConnectWise?
I have been in different sales and consultative fields most of my career before joining ConnectWise and have worked in a range of fields—from commercial real estate, digital marketing, technology start-ups, and other channel sales organizations. I really found my success was in being able to work hand in hand with those valued partners and help build relationships where my expertise was seen as an extension of their organization and my value was truly appreciated.
Equally important to me was always being a part of a team where people were innovative, disruptive, and striving to move the industry forward in all facets. Building, growing, and sustaining a successful and profitable cybersecurity practice is filled with lots of exciting and challenging times, but we were aligning to the same values and with resources provided by ConnectWise, the process was so different than anything I’d seen in the market before. So, when I got the opportunity to join such a new and unique initiative with the ConnectWise Partner Program, I was all-in!
Being a ConnectWise colleague…
What different roles have you had with the company?
This is my first role at ConnectWise. However, the Partner Development Manager role has really allowed me to collaborate with so many other critical organizational members from both inside the cybersecurity teams and outside them—all of whom I’ve learned are equally important to driving success to security growth of our partners.
What do you enjoy about working at ConnectWise?
Thankfully lots of things! What comes to the forefront is mostly the way ConnectWise has put me in a position to be cooperative with strategic partners as part of the partner program. As cyberattacks continue to rise, we are helping their teams keep pace with the chaos their end customers are facing on an everyday basis. We have tons of resources to help them from a sales, marketing, and technical perspective to combat these challenges and win! We don’t shy away from getting in the trenches with the customer to help them in a holistic way, which makes it easier for me to make big impact across individuals in each organization I work with.
The second, and equally valued, thing to me is working with all the ConnectWise employees. Our organization’s core values truly permeate the culture from the top down. To be able to build professional and personal relationships with so many different types of people is something that does not happen everywhere!
What’s something about your job that makes you feel accomplished?
The ConnectWise Partner Program requires managed service providers (MSPs) to commit to a great deal of work across multiple departments. The journey to become a thriving cybersecurity practice does not happen overnight. But what feels so good is when you begin to see the little victories snowball—like a partner selling their first security information and event management (SIEM) deal to their customer base, and then gaining the confidence to go out and do it again, and again! On top of that, to be able to meet with these partners at events like IT Nation gives us a terrific opportunity to hear that appreciation in person. The help they receive has been transformative in changing their lives and businesses. Understanding that can make you feel very good as their development manager.
What’s something that you want people to know about ConnectWise?
ConnectWise as an organization is uniquely different. People will say that all the time, but here it is. Such a large-scale global organization—with tons of different teams and products—can sometimes lose its identity as it scales. But I’m still able to have direct conversations with everyone in the organization, ranging from direct peers all the way to the CEO, regarding my work. This doesn’t happen everywhere. ConnectWise colleagues foster a feeling that you are valued and your job has an impact on partners.
What’s a big win that you’re proud of?
Looking back at my start in January last year, it has been quite the journey. Launching something like the Partner Program had never been done here at ConnectWise, and so often it felt like we were building the plane while flying it. There were lots of successes and setbacks along the way. So, a big win was the culmination of all aspects to the job—recruiting partners to commit to the program, training their teams, building trust with us, and seeing the victories at all different levels of MSPs in our new initiative was very gratifying. The biggest win was seeing the success of our partners translate to my own professional success. To be honored as the Partner Development Manager of the Year in 2021—as a result of not just sales numbers, but as a recognition of all the work to support everyone through this process—was certainly my big win as part of ConnectWise so far.
And now for some fun!
If you can have any superpower for 24 hours, what would it be and why?
Probably flying. Who doesn’t want to fly like Superman?!
What’s your go-to karaoke song?
“Friends in Low Places” by Garth Brooks or maybe “Don’t Stop Believin” by Journey. Basically, anything that can get the crowd to join in, so it drowns out some of my voice, since I’m not an amazing singer to begin with!
What’s one bucket list item you’re looking forward to?
After the last few years, like many, I’ve been unable to do much traveling. Going abroad to Croatia has been a bucket-list destination. I’ve heard amazing things about that and I’m looking forward to checking out soon hopefully!
