12 May 2020

Five female NTT leaders recognized on CRN’s 2020 Women of the Channel list

Monica Benatti, Mechelle Buys Du Plessis, Tanya Edmonds, Muna Khurshid and Edith Santos recognized for their professional accomplishments, demonstrated expertise and ongoing dedication to the IT channel  New York – 12 May 2020 – NTT Ltd., a world-leading global technology services provider, announced today that CRN^®, a brand of The Channel Company, has recognized five of the company’s female leaders on the prestigious 2020 Women of the Channel list. Recognizing the unique strengths, vision and achievements of a select group of women, the annual list acknowledges channel leaders who are blazing a trail for future generations. Honourees are carefully selected by the CRN editorial team to celebrate exceptional women acclaimed for their contributions to channel advocacy, growth, thought leadership and dedication to the IT channel. The final list is comprised of women from all areas of the IT ecosystem, including technology vendors, distributors, solution providers and other IT organizations.  NTT honourees on the 2020 CRN Women of the Channel list include: 

Monica Benatti, Senior Marketing Director, LATAM

Benatti began her career with NTT nine years ago as a Senior Account Manager and currently serves as Senior Marketing Director for LATAM. Through her leadership, the Brazilian team was awarded the 2019 Cisco Marketing Partner of the Year award. She also received the 2019 Innovator of the Year LATAM - Marketing Velocity from Cisco at the Cisco Partner Summit. Benatti has over 20 years of experience in the Information Technology market and is now responsible for developing business and relationship strategies with the main suppliers and distributors in the region to further expand the NTT brand in the LATAM market.

Mechelle Buys Du Plessis, Vice President, Sales - Central

Buys Du Plessis began her career with NTT in South Africa, most recently serving as Managing Director for Middle East operations prior to moving to the U.S. She now dedicates her skills to developing and fostering deep relationships with her clients and partners, offering business development and innovative creative solutions. Buys Du Plessis is a 24-year veteran with NTT and has a supporting sales team that spans across the Central Region of the U.S. Together with her sales specialists, she continues to drive engagement to ensure that business is delivered and growth by partner is measured.

Tanya Edmonds, Regional Diversity & Inclusion Lead, Americas

Edmonds is responsible for developing and executing the diversity and inclusion strategy for the U.S. and Canada. In her time with NTT, she has successfully developed an Early Career Program with dedicated resources and relationships with key universities to ensure diversity engagement. She has also developed partnerships with external organizations such as Women In Technology International (WITI) to provide additional professional development.

Muna Khurshid, Vice President, GTM Intelligent Infrastructure, Americas

Khurshid is known for driving change and building strategic relationships with her clients, partners and cross functional teams. She is an effective communicator and trusted advisor with a proven record of building and developing strong, diverse and high performing teams. She is currently responsible for developing & executing NTT's Hybrid Cloud, Data Center and Enterprise Networking GTM strategy in the Americas. Khurshid was also recognized on the 2019 CRN Power 30 Solution Providers, an elite subset of the Women of the Channel list.

Edith Santos, Director, Global Incident Response

Santos joined NTT after a law enforcement career spanning nearly two decades where she worked undercover as a detective and hostage negotiator before joining the Secret Service task force. Her background in law enforcement, as well as time in the private sector working for Bank of America, equipped her with the leadership and decision-making skills needed for her current role with NTT's global Digital Forensics Incident Response Team, where she is responsible for identifying areas of improvement and establishing action plans to ensure services are meeting client demands. Santos was also named 2019 Cybersecurity Woman of the Year from the Cyber Defense Magazine, as well as 2020 Cybersecurity Professional and Cybersecurity Women of the year from the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards.

“CRN’s 2020 Women of the Channel list recognizes an accomplished group of influential women leaders whose strategic vision and unique achievements accelerate channel growth through cultivated partnerships, innovative thought leadership and unwavering dedication to the IT channel,” said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. “We are proud to honour them for their accomplishments and contributions to driving channel success.”

The 2020 Women of the Channel list will be featured in CRN^® Magazine in the June issue and online at www.CRN.com/WOTC

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About NTT Ltd.

NTT Ltd. is a leading global technology services company. We partner with organizations around the world to shape and achieve outcomes through intelligent technology solutions. For us, intelligent means data driven, connected, digital and secure. As a global ICT provider, we employ more than 40,000 people in a diverse and dynamic workplace that spans 57 countries, trading in 73 countries and delivering services in over 200 countries and regions. Together we enable the connected future.

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