Nominee #1 – Finest City I.T.
Nominated by: MSP OneShare
Working with Jim Muglia of Finest City I.T. strongly reflects the impact, innovation, and collaboration The ChannelPro Advisory Group seeks to recognize. Over the past ten years, Jim has been a consistent force of positive energy and forward‑thinking leadership within the MSP community. He brings a “good human”‑centric philosophy to his work—advocating for balance, empathy, and integrity—which has made him a standout leader among his peers.
Jim regularly supports industry panels and collaborative discussions, offering thoughtful insight into the evolving needs of MSPs. His feedback has been invaluable in helping me refine programs and resources for the MSPs I support, and he approaches every interaction with a spirit of generosity and professionalism.
One of the most profound examples of Jim’s impact occurred when a fellow MSP passed away unexpectedly. Jim stepped in to assist the family, ensuring their clients were cared for and critical operations continued. He later used this experience to educate the broader MSP community on the importance of preparedness and succession planning—an act that has had lasting influence.
Jim exemplifies what it means to lead with both heart and expertise. For his meaningful impact, innovative mindset, and deep commitment to collaboration, I highly recommend Jim Muglia for this honor.
Nominee response:
Lynn Williams in general genuinely cares about the people that run small businesses known as MSPs. She deals with her many colleagues, outside vendors, business owners and others with a sincerity. Lynn Williams on numerous occasions has helped the members of the community directly and encouraged those of use to speak out on topics she sees a relevant to the community.
Her willingness to think beyond just the basic business transactions and develop a friendship with those around her it a testament to her dedication to the community.
Lynn has encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and get onto a stage to tell my story as it relates to the others at conferences. Over the years and throughout our many discussions, Lynn has always recognized my, as well as my colleagues, hidden value or talent then gently pushed us to speak out to share our stories which in the end helps all of us in the community.
Nominee #2 – Advantage Micro Corporation
Nominated by: Avast Business
Advantage Micro Corporation, a long‑standing technology solutions provider serving SMB clients, partnered with Avast Business to strengthen its cybersecurity portfolio and deliver more reliable, scalable protection to its customers. Through this collaboration, Advantage Micro has been able to expand revenue, improve customer retention, and simplify security management across diverse environments. JR has been a huge advocate of Avast products for many years. Advantage Micro and Avast Business continue to expand their collaboration, exploring new opportunities.
JR’s business acts as a distributor and a reseller/msp of our services. JR goes above and beyond to service SMB clients across the US.
Nominee Response:
My father created our company in Tucson in 1966 after leaving NASA / Bell Aerospace. I started in 1974 at 14 year old and in 1982, I was promoted from sales to Service Manager. Many of the customers were Government, and Business Associates from the Aerospace industry Ifriends of my fathers), so failure was NOT an option. I took over the company in 1985 and my father went back to NASA.
In the year 2000, we were a Symantec / Norton house, and that’s when all virus’ became Rootkits. We had 100% infection in all clients nationwide. I called Symantec to ask for advise / help with this issue and received no response. So I flew to Washington DC and showed up at the Symantec Fishbowl. I was able to get Management, Engineering, and sales into a room to plead my case. Nobody said anything, so I said “Your kidding, right?” And still no response, so I said “It sounds like to me, that you’re going out of the antivirus business!” The salesman shrugged his sholders and went “ehe’ ehe”. That was my official answer! Symantec had been caught with there pants down, and had no idea what to do.
One of my Engineers stated “You need to take a look at Avast, it cleans better than any program on the market!” During testing, I realized that Avast had implemented their “Virus Recovery Database” (VRDB) where Avast had fingerprinted all of the files. And that enabled Avast to recover all the files to a pre-infected state, thus removing all RootKits without even knowing what they were. We then switched out ALL A/V to Avast at every client. That action 100% solved all infection issues, and we have been an Avast distributor ever since.
I then spent over $25,000 in research over several years on infection and encryption prevention. I have identified vulnerabilities where infection occurs no matter what A/V you are using, and provided an action on how to plug the holes. Security Professionals that do NOT bring this to your attention are negligent!
Nick Powell Director of IT at AAII
“JR provides something that is sadly rare these days – outstanding service! . JR has an in-depth knowledge of his products, and is capable of solving problems of any level of complexity, and if necessary has the contacts to get any problem escalated!”
Nominee #3 – On Top of I.T.
Nominated by: ThreatLocker
ThreatLocker is proud to nominate Alex Liebeskind, Founding Partner of On Top of I.T., for the 2026 ChannelPro Partner in Excellence Award.
Alex and On Top of I.T. have been ThreatLocker partners since 2019, and throughout that relationship, Alex has distinguished himself through his technical expertise and genuine commitment to helping others.
On Top of I.T. has built its business around honest advice, responsive service, and long-term relationships with its customers with security central to their approach. Alex understands how threat actors operate and believes strongly in preventing attacks before they can cause damage. That philosophy has made application allowlisting and Zero Trust an important part of how On Top of I.T. protects its customers from malware and ransomware.
What sets Alex apart, however, is his willingness to share what he has learned. At ThreatLocker Zero Trust World in 2024, after the event had already wrapped up and most attendees were heading home, Alex struck up a conversation with a CMMC Certified Assessor. What could have been a quick exchange became a roughly 45-minute discussion about cybersecurity, during which Alex freely shared his experience and perspective. There was no sales pitch and nothing Alex stood to gain. He simply saw an opportunity to help another professional and contribute to the broader cybersecurity community.
That same willingness to help is evident in his work with other MSPs. Alex has consistently been a strong advocate for better security practices and is generous with his time when other providers want to understand what has worked for On Top of I.T. and its customers.
Alex combines deep technical knowledge with a sincere concern for customers, partners, and the wider IT community. His commitment to advancing cybersecurity and helping others succeed makes him an outstanding representative of the channel and a deserving candidate for the ChannelPro Partner in Excellence Award.
Nominee Response:
We believe that our relationship with ThreatLocker, including both the product that they deliver and the service that stands behind that product, is one of the most critical reasons that our business has been able to protect our clients from the plethora of threats in the space today. Their product just works, but on the off chance that we are in need of support, it’s rapidly available and we’re immediately connected to a team that cares as much as our own. We’ve always been impressed by the interactions we’ve had with the ThreatLocker team, and that’s not something that we can say for all of the vendors that we work with.
While traditional EDR/MDR may be sufficient for many, for the last seven years we’ve been able to provide true Zero Trust protection, helping us tell our clients that their environments are 99.999% free from malicious code. ThreatLocker has alerted us to a few suspicious activities over the years, and being able to take action to determine whether or not a machine has been compromised definitely sets us apart and helps us demonstrate our vigilance to our clients. We have had 0 systems compromised during our time utilizing their product.
I would not be able to sleep as well as I do, knowing that our clients are protected, without the relationship we have with ThreatLocker.
We’re a client for life.
Nominee #4 – ROI Technology
Nominated by: CyberFOX
When CyberFOX set out to build a DNS filtering solution tailored for the MSP channel, we recognized we needed a partner who understood the day-to-day challenges of managing IT for small and midsize businesses. Jasper Grewal at ROI Technology fit that role perfectly.
Jasper didn’t just test our product and send us some notes. He became part of the development process in a way that truly influenced our DNS filtering solution. Working alongside our development leaders, Derek Murrow and Andrew Bensinger, Jasper participated in a real-time group chat. He pointed out issues, suggested features, and tested functionality as it was being built. He felt like part of our internal team rather than just an outside tester.
What made Jasper’s input so valuable was the perspective he provided. He and his team at ROI Technology had spent years using a competing DNS filtering product and had gathered a list of unmet needs. They had requested features that larger vendors had ignored because they stopped prioritizing the MSP channel. Jasper brought this entire list to our dev team, making it clear that “Here’s what the channel really needs.” Our team acted on this feedback.
One notable example is when Jasper highlighted the need for local devices to resolve DNS queries for other local devices on the same network. Our development team had considered this, but Jasper presented it through a real-world use case, which pushed it higher on the priority list. That feature, along with several others he championed, was included in the product.
The measurable impact of this collaboration is evident in several key areas. First, the product is stronger because it was tested by an MSP with a 100% client retention rate and a 0% ransomware incident rate across approximately 40-50 clients, serving nonprofits, education, manufacturing, and wholesale. Jasper’s feedback was grounded in reality, coming from someone who protects real businesses daily. Second, CyberFOX now offers a DNS filtering product that fills gaps left by larger competitors who have moved away from MSP-focused support. This gives us a competitive edge stemming directly from this partnership. Third, Jasper’s willingness to advocate for the product among his peers, as he knows about two dozen other MSP owners personally, gives CyberFOX credibility that no marketing budget can buy.
ROI Technology has signed on as a DNS filtering customer and is actively implementing the solution. Jasper has also volunteered for a formal case study and expressed strong interest in joining a CyberFOX Partner Advisory Committee, indicating that this isn’t a one-time engagement but an ongoing partnership.
This is how vendor-partner collaboration should work. It is not a transactional relationship but a true partnership where both sides create something better together.
A few noteworthy things about Jasper may not come across in a formal nomination. He lists himself as “Business Leader” on his business card instead of “Owner” to ensure clients feel at ease when the boss shows up for a service call. This speaks volumes about his mindset. He prioritizes customer comfort over his own ego.
ROI Technology has been in operation since 2014 and serves all sectors; therefore, the feedback Jasper provided during our DNS filtering development was not limited to a single market segment. He understands what breaks in educational settings, what manufacturers require, and what nonprofits struggle with. This broad experience made his input exceptionally practical and relevant.
Jasper is also highly involved in the MSP community. He participates in multiple peer groups and maintains close ties with numerous MSP owners. When he tells his peers that a vendor genuinely listens to and acts on feedback, it holds significant weight. He noted that vendors who actively engage with MSPs and respond to their suggestions typically perform better over time, and he places CyberFOX in that category.
Lastly, Jasper has shown real enthusiasm about continuing our collaboration. He has offered to provide testimonials, participate in case studies, and join an advisory committee. He is not merely a customer; he is dedicated to the product and the partnership’s success.
Nominee response:
From my perspective, the reason this partnership worked so well is that it never felt like the typical “vendor / customer” motion. CyberFOX pulled us into the process early, kept the feedback loop tight, and actually acted on what we (and many of our peers), have seen in production. As an MSP, we live in the day-to-day realities of what breaks, what’s noisy, and what’s painful to manage at scale. CyberFox wasn’t trying to build what they wanted, they were trying to build what MSPs, all MSPs, needed. In my experience, it’s rare for a vendor to engage in such collaborative development.
I also want to echo something CyberFOX mentioned: that working together felt like being on the same team. I agree, and I want to make sure that I credit the people. Derek Murrow and Andrew Bensinger made it easy to contribute because they were responsive, thoughtful, and genuinely interested in working together. More broadly, everyone I’ve met at CyberFOX has been friendly, sharp, and easy to work with. When a vendor treats an MSP partner like a collaborator, not just an account, it builds trust quickly, and that trust is what enables a successful long-term relationship like the one between ROI Technology Inc. and CyberFox.
Nominee #5 – Robinson Tech
Nominated by: Manuel Palachuk International
I’d like to nominate Robinson Tech for the ChannelPro Networks Partner in Excellence Award based on measurable operational impact, an innovative execution of service delivery, and a disciplined, collaborative partner relationship that produced sustained results.
**Impact
Over the past year, Robinson Tech undertook a comprehensive transformation of its service operations by implementing an Agile Service Delivery model under close guidance and partnership. The outcomes were significant, measurable, and sustained:
• Lead time reduced by more than 50%
• Cycle time reduced by 40%
• Team efficiency increased by 20%
• Customer service performance at the highest level in the company’s history
These results were achieved without adding headcount, expanding tools, or reducing service scope. Instead, Robinson Tech focused on improving how work flows through the organization, reducing costly context switching, and creating clarity around ownership and execution. The result is a more predictable, scalable, and resilient service operation that directly benefits both customers and staff.
**Innovation
Robinson Tech’s innovation lies in how it rethought service delivery itself. Rather than relying on traditional reactive ticket management or hero-based problem solving, the company implemented Agile Service Delivery principles adapted specifically for a managed services environment.
This approach emphasized flow, technician depth, and structured pull of work—moving beyond activity-based metrics to address systemic inefficiencies. While Agile concepts are well established in software development, Robinson Tech’s disciplined application of these principles to MSP service operations represents an original and effective execution that addresses long-standing industry challenges.
**Collaboration
The success of this initiative was driven by a deep, transparent collaboration between Robinson Tech and its partner. This was not a transactional engagement, but a working relationship grounded in shared accountability, regular review, and data-driven decision making.
Robinson Tech leadership actively engaged in the process, committed to behavioral and structural change, and remained focused on long-term operational health rather than short-term gains. This level of collaboration enabled the transformation to move from concept to sustained execution.
**Conclusion
Robinson Tech exemplifies excellence through measurable impact, thoughtful innovation, and genuine collaboration. Their results demonstrate what is possible when an MSP commits to disciplined execution and system-level improvement.
Robinson Tech’s transformation represents a sustained operating shift, not a one-time process change. Agile Service Delivery is now embedded in daily operations, technician decision-making, and leadership review cadence. Beyond improved metrics, the organization has seen increased predictability, reduced firefighting, and stronger customer confidence—results that have been maintained over time through disciplined execution.
Nominee response:
“At Robinson Tech, we’ve always had a strong culture and a driven, talented team—our biggest challenge was directing that energy effectively. Manny’s Agile Service Delivery framework gave us the structure we needed to focus our efforts and operate with clarity. Since implementing it, our team works more efficiently without feeling overloaded, clients are seeing faster ticket resolution, and we now have the metrics needed to guide smart hiring and future growth.
