GTIA Steps Into the Channel Spotlight

The newly christened Global Technology Industry Association (GTIA), formerly part of CompTIA, held their Communities & Councils Forum (CCF) from earlier this month in the beautiful city of Chicago. There are currently six advisory councils composed of members serving as advocates and educators to accelerate adoption of technology solutions. They are:

• Artificial Intelligence
• Channel Development
• Data
• Internet of Things (IoT)
• SaaS Ecosystem
• Workforce

In addition, several interest groups were highlighted at CCF:

• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Interest Group
• Managed Services Interest Group
• CyberSecurity Interest Group
• Advancing Women in Technology (AWIT)

Taken together, GTIA members have a broad selection of resources and areas in which to focus.

An Unprecedented Opportunity
The most striking thing about this event was the incredible enthusiasm of everyone in the room. There was lively conversation everywhere, much laughter, and a great deal of intensity at every presentation and every group meeting. Why are these people so enthusiastic?

The GTIA was created when the CompTIA brand of technology education products and programs were sold to Thoma Bravo and H.I.G. CompTIA will continue to operate, though now as a for-profit company.

GTIA was created from the industry trade association side of CompTIA. Based on the regulations governing how a nonprofit can sell of part of itself, an endowment was created to fund GTIA's annual budget.

The thing is, that endowment is enormous -- probably enough to fund GTIA in perpetuity. To hint at the enormity, it was announced at CCF that the philanthropic program at the former CompTIA had given $150,000 to worthy charities last year. This year, however, GTIA plans to triple that: $450,000 to charities. If you can afford to give away almost a half-million, you should be able to fund operations on the interest that principle will earn.

Why That's Important to You
Based on this endowment, GTIA never has to invest a moment in raising funds of any kind in any way. This means that 100 percent of the energy and talent embodied in this association will be focused on benefitting the IT channel -- you, the members.

That could be great, or it could be totally wasted. It all depends on who from our channel becomes involved in the organization. Looking at the councils and interest groups alone, it's clear there are many ways that anyone who wants to can get a lot out of putting in a lot.

A Leadership Example
Tracy Pound is the current chairperson of the member Board of Directors of GTIA. Her own ascent to that position tells a great deal about the opportunities awaiting GTIA members. As Tracy explained, "GTIA is a membership organization, and therefore is owned by its members. The board is representative of the membership of the trade association."

She went on to add, "The role of the board is to set strategy, and the role of the staff is then to execute on that strategy."

The staff she is referring to are the employees of the organization, most of whom moved along with CompTIA as it became a for-profit company.

Several years ago, I polled a large number of CompTIA members to ask them who actually ran CompTIA. Most replied that Todd Thibodeaux was in charge. I then pointed out that there was a member board of directors and asked who that was. Nobody knew. Thibodeaux was in charge of a large staff composed of people who had never worked in the IT channel. How could they be expected to direct and guide it?

At that time, the Chairman of the Board of Directors was M.J. Shoer who today has been hired by the organization and is working as Chief Community Officer. At this most recent CCF, I asked a few people who was in charge of GTIA. Most replied that Shoer was in charge, but only until a new CEO is hired. Shoer, who was an excellent board chairman, is also an excellent leader with infectious enthusiasm, a welcoming disposition and long experience working in our industry.

But nobody named Tracy Pound, despite her being the chair of the board. She absolutely sees that changing in the new organization.

Pound spoke of creating a clear route for every member to participate in leading the direction of GTIA. Regarding her own experience, she explained, "I count myself very lucky, because I have literally come up through that membership route. I started as a member of CompTIA. Back in 2012 I became part of the education faculty, and so I delivered and managed channel training. I would go and talk about our research at vendor events, at disti events and the like."

She continued, "I joined the UK Executive Council. From that I got noticed by people on the board and was asked to join the board." She completed the story by emphasizing, "I love the mission that we have, which is to be more professional in our industry, to add value to MSPs, to the channel. To help people grow their businesses, to learn more, to be better."

Regarding making members more aware of the role of the board of directors, Pound was very explicit. "There should be more presence so people know who the board are, and there are plans afoot to make the board more visible. We're going forward with a singular focus. It means that we're going to have people who are directly relevant to the channel, who can add value."

She then hinted at another more personal value available to those who seek leadership in GTIA. Regarding her own activities as chair, Pound said, "I speak at most ChannelComs [the annual GTIA conference]. I also speak at local events. I was in Benelux a few weeks ago on stage there. I'm going to be on stage in Ireland tomorrow. Then I'm going to Australia in September to do some training on managing the channel timed with a community event."

Regarding the Opportunity
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transition to a trade association that can truly be a support to people in the channel," Pound explained, "and we have to get that right. So, listening to members, we've done some town halls where we've taken a lot of questions in all the different regions, in different time zones to understand what concerns they have, what questions they have, what asks they have of the association.

"And we've taken that all in now. Timing is an interesting thing, as well, because we don't have a CEO at the moment, and that CEO selection process is nearing its end. We hopefully should have a CEO in place to start May 1. When we've got that kind of proper liaison point, it will make things an awful lot easier."

An Important Conclusion You Should Consider Carefully
The perpetual funding of the organization presents, in and of itself, wonderful opportunities.

There's also the fact that both the board of directors and the staff are mainly composed of people who come from the IT channel. This makes many conversations much easier and holds the promise of much faster progress. There's a reason the attendees at CCF were all so enthusiastic. It has a great deal to do with the amazing opportunities and with how the leadership is taking shape.

Regular readers of this column know that I have always been an advocate of participating in channel communities because they bring so much value to members. They certainly have over the years for me. I seriously recommend that you visit http://gtia.org to learn how you can join in and enjoy some of that value.

Posted by Howard M. Cohen on March 31, 2025