Heather DeMartini, Global Partner Enablement Lead (Business Development)

Rapid7 is a global cybersecurity company that provides a security operations platform to help organizations manage their attack surface. The company's offerings include software, managed services, and solutions for vulnerability management, incident detection and response, and threat intelligence. Rapid7 aims to make advanced cybersecurity tools more accessible and effective for all businesses.

Briefly describe the nominated individual: history and past performance (up to 1,250 characters):

Heather DeMartini leads Global Partner Enablement at Rapid7 where she recently designed and launched the company's first certification framework, including the first Partner Services Validation & Certification program, to drive partner empowerment, autonomy, and profitability across the entire customer lifecycle from pre-sales to sales to post-sales. For 12 years, she has supported the channel in a variety of ways, including enablement strategy, partner programs, market research, advisory board engagement, partner marketing and executive messaging strategy, partner lifecycle services, and partner-led customer success. She previously worked for Carbon Black and VMware for 11.5 years prior, where she led VMware's semi-annual Global Partner Success Study soliciting feedback from thousands of C-level executives across the global partner ecosystem to measure partner experience, partner business growth, and economic insights to ultimately drive higher partner profitability. She supported Carbon Black's global partner marketing strategy through demand generation, content marketing, webinar facilitation, event management, and advisory board design and management.

Outline the nominee's achievements since July 1, 2023 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 1,500 characters):

BACKGROUND: The Stevie Award-Winning VMware 3-year Global Partner Success Study uncovered the powerful shift occurring in the channel ecosystem due to the partner services multiplier effect. It outlined how technology vendors that enable partners to build, elevate, and expand their services capabilities will help drive the most growth, increase partner profitability, and ultimately, ensure mutual success and a competitive edge in the marketplace. This shift is even more critical for cybersecurity companies due to partners' pivotal role driving 95% of all cybersecurity revenue through and with partners globally. With this knowledge, I was determined as the new Global Partner Enablement Lead at Rapid7 to put theory and data into practice with the design and launch of a brand-new partner enablement framework: Partner Academy.

ACHIEVEMENT: Partner Academy drives partner empowerment, autonomy, and profitability by recognizing partner capabilities, knowledge, and expertise while ensuring awareness and competency in all aspects of positioning, selling, demonstrating, implementing, managing, and supporting Rapid7 solutions across the entire customer lifecycle from pre-sales to sales to post-sales. This includes the first Partner Services Validation & Certification program, enabling partners to set up, manage, and support Rapid7 solutions.

OUTCOME: Partner Academy fuels Rapid7 growth and accelerates revenue by scaling through and with partners, rather than competing with them. By enabling partner skill-building and expanded expertise, we ensure partner success with Rapid7, increase partner contribution to pipeline and revenue, and reinforce the mindset internally that partner success is mutual success.

Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the organization's past performance (up to 1,500 characters):

GAME CHANGING INSIGHTS: By focusing on partner enablement, in particular technical competencies that allow partners to deliver services, we strengthened our market position, have stronger, more engaged partners, reduced deployment costs, minimized internal resource burden, and increased partnership profitability. Most importantly, we enhanced customer experience by improving deployment lead time and adoption time, driving future expansion and renewal revenue. Oct '24-Oct '25 results:

• 5,464 certifications
• 2,850 students
• 76% completion rate, 16% above benchmark
• 91% satisfaction
• NPS of 68

ECONOMIC IMPACT: Prior to Oct 2024, no partner enablement framework existed at Rapid7. It invigorated partners with 1,000 certifications by Feb 2025, far outpacing our original Dec 2025 target due to partner appetite, satisfaction, and excitement. It was recognized during our Q3 '24 Earnings Call as a key source driving partner-led revenue.

DRIVING ACTION: Through role-based learning paths, Partner Academy enables a self-sufficient partner ecosystem to be a revenue generating engine for Rapid7. We monitor progress by correlating enablement impact to partner-sourced pipeline generation, partner-led bookings revenue, and sales velocity (win rate, deal value, opportunities, and time to close), contributing to our 20% growth of partner-sourced ARR and driving progress towards our $275M pipeline goal.

Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 1,500 characters):

PUBLICATIONS: With worldwide spending on Cybersecurity Services growing by 13% this year to reach $595 billion, Rapid7 faced a critical turning point to become partner-centric through a new focus on partner services enablement (Source: MSP Trends & Predictions for 2025, A Canalys Special Report, Jan 2025). This new launch of partner services certifications via Partner Academy helped increase partner profitability as a result of expanding margin and lifecycle monetization opportunities, providing a reliable source of recurring revenue, and ultimately, improving customer and partner experience. This shift is critical for cybersecurity companies due to partners' pivotal role driving 95% of all cybersecurity revenue through and with partners globally (Source: Canalys, Cybersecurity Ecosystems, Dec 2024).