Dan Wensley recently took over as CEO at the Global Technology Industry Association and is excited by the future for the organisation and what it can do for its members in the channel in the UK and globally at a time of tremendous change and opportunity.
This year has been a year of change for the Global Technology Industry Association (GTIA). Formerly known as the CompTIA Community – the membership arm of CompTIA – it was renamed GTIA earlier this year. Adding to the change, a new CEO, industry veteran Dan Wensley, came on board in May. But while there has been much change, GTIA’s focus on helping its members, and the wider IT channel, to improve and grow is unchanged.
For Dan, taking on the role of CEO was an honour having been a member of the organisation for many years. “It has helped my career and the businesses that I’ve owned and operated over the last few decades,” he says. “To come into this position and join the organisation in its next phase of growth under the GTIA brand has been heartwarming and inspiring, frankly, from our internal team to members globally and their support of what GTIA is now and will be in the future.”
Dan has a long history in the IT services channel and has been part of emerging technology organisations for nearly 30 years. “Any success that those businesses have had has been built on research, information, insight, collaboration and, most of all, people and community, and CompTIA was a cornerstone of that for my businesses, and me personally,” he says. “To come out of the for-profit, fast-growth vendor industry and have the opportunity to give back in this capacity in this nonprofit organisation is incredible.”
Ambitions
Dan’s ambitions for GTIA and its members is clear. “The businesses I’ve run have been fast-paced, fast-growth global organisations,” he says. “Bringing that passion and mentality to GTIA was vitally important. Growth being at the cornerstone for the advancement of the industry globally.
“We want to do ‘more for more’: that is not doing just more research or providing more information but increasing the utilisation of it – making sure that the assets delivered into the market by GTIA are used by more members so they can benefit from it. There’s so much more we can do for members.”
This fits with the GTIA’s four pillars of people, resources, community and advancement. “People are at the forefront of everything we do,” says Dan. “Second is making sure that we are providing the resources and developing new resources that matter to members.
“Third is community. The strength of the channel has been predicated on individuals in the community coming together with the resources and assets they need to have conversations, to collaborate and share emerging ideas. This is as important as ever with the ongoing advancement of AI and cybersecurity.
“The last pillar is advancement. It’s one thing to do good and build a community, but we need to ensure that we are producing results for members by advancing personal careers and businesses and advancing the industry by geography.”
One key advantage of the GTIA is that it is vendor-neutral. “We are truly unbiased, not being influenced by anything other than doing well by the channel,” says Dan. “Our autonomy means we can understand the market, listen to our members and, without any external influence, deliver value, resources and the community to enable them to advance.”
There is also the endowment that GTIA has through the GTIA Charitable Foundation. “This year, we will support charitable donations of $1.5 million to help nonprofits where technology is having a positive impact, and we expect that to grow in the future,” says Dan. “Members are a vital part of defining the charitable areas where we can make a real impact.”
Event success
Since taking over as CEO, Dan has been busy getting out and meeting members at events around the world, such as the GTIA UK & Ireland Community Forum & Spotlight Awards, held in Manchester in June.
“That was my first opportunity to sit down with the executive council in that region,” says Dan. “The membership in that geography is incredibly passionate, insightful and inspiring, and they shared lots of ideas, many of which we brought back to North America and some of the feedback that they provided us we’ve already taken action on.”
This was followed in July by ChannelCon, held in Nashville, Tennessee. “I have attended ChannelCon for decades, but this was my first with GTIA. We had nine major initiatives coming into that event, and we had succeeded in all nine even before the event started, which was great. But what was also exciting for me was that I met new members at their first ChannelCon and the excitement that they brought really renewed our focus on youth membership and emerging technologies.
“A lot of us grey hairs who have attended for decades, folks who have given so much to this organisation and to the channel overall, were reinvigorated too by the new initiatives that we set forward at ChannelCon.”
Dan hopes for something similar at the upcoming ChannelCon EMEA event, which takes place in London on October 13-14.
Regional focus, global perspective
The events show how the GTIA has global reach, but Dan emphasises the importance of providing regional resources, but with a global perspective. “Many markets are evolving at different paces,” Dan explains. “Being able to learn and understand what other markets and geographies are going through adds a unique perspective. We can go into one region and get laser-focused on that area and understand the barriers, challenges and where they are in their evolution. But to be able to bring the experience of, for example, another market that went through a similar evolution a year ago, gives those members a new perspective, as well as providing that localised value.”
This global perspective is also important given the fast-changing pace of technology, as well as the evolution of the relationship between the IT service provider, the MSP and their customers, Dan adds.
“As an IT service provider, it is not just about providing outsourced services on a recurring revenue model, but actually being a part of the customer’s business, especially with the evolution of new technology such as AI and understanding it and the impact it has for the customer and end user,” he says. “It’s always been part of the channel, but there’s never been a more prevalent time to understand the impact of technology on businesses, because AI is as transformational as the internet was to how we operate businesses.
“For IT service providers, the relationship with their customers has never been more important.”
It’s also about deepening relationships with distributors and vendors. “We’ve seen incredible advancements in those areas,” says Dan. “Major vendors are making great investments into helping their partners understand their technologies and the services that they provide, but going a little deeper, whether it’s financial modelling or training on operational efficiency. And that’s an area where we’re providing incredible amount of value as well for our vendor members and ultimately to MSPs.”
Future
Looking to the future, Dan is excited. “We’ve defined our mission statement and our core values to continue to become the industry association for the global channel, and to ensure we are leaning into that advancement pillar and advancing the careers of individual members and their businesses,” he says.
“We’re championing the importance of the channel and the vital role the industry plays across the globe, especially with the rapid advancement of technology. We are going to continue to make sure that we’re providing that platform for communication as there is no more important time in the history of the channel to be a part of a community and have access to the resources and the conversations that are available at GTIA.
“We’re really excited about what we’re going to be able to do, in 2025 and in the future.”
