The ChannelPro Network has named Joanna Sobran, president and CEO of MXOtech in Chicago, as the inaugural winner of its Peer of the Year award.
Each month during the calendar year, ChannelPro invites a successful MSP, value-added reseller, or solution provider to share his or her story in the Peer to Peer feature that runs in the digital and print issues of ChannelPro-SMB magazine. The column provides actionable advice on topics such as growing a business, improving operations and service delivery, developing new lines of business, hiring and retention, building sales and marketing strategies, and creating and nurturing corporate culture.
All 12 stories in 2019 were considered for ChannelPro’s inaugural Peer of the Year award by the publication’s editors, who selected the one they believe readers could learn the most from and immediately apply to their own business. Sobran’s story outlines the hiring and retention process she uses, which has helped grow her IT managed services business to more than $5 million.
“Joanna’s story details a recruitment and hiring process she developed that honors the firm’s core values and embraces diversity and inclusion,” says Rich Freeman, executive editor of The ChannelPro Network. “Hiring and retention remain top challenges for IT business owners who face a tight labor market as well as a skills gap. Joanna shares sound and creative strategies that have helped her grow MXOtech, and which readers could adapt for their own businesses.”
Sobran, who came from Poland as a child with her parents, founded MXOtech, a 100% woman-owned business, in 2005. She began her career in the healthcare industry working for two successful women entrepreneurs and later moved into IT recruiting, combining her healthcare and technology business expertise. Her knowledge of these two practice areas, along with her business development and recruiting skills, became the foundation on which she built her own successful company.
“My favorite part of owning a business is matching people with their dream job, watching them make an impact, and building a great company together,” Sobran says. “Through our training program, we have changed the lives of individuals from underserved communities and foreign countries so they can do what they love while providing for their families. This is why I get up every day excited to continue our journey.”†
MXOtech has been recognized as one of the nation’s fastest-growing outsourced IT companies by Inc. Magazine’s “Inc. 5000” list. MXOtech healthcare applications have also been nominated for Innovation Awards and adopted by Fortune 1000 companies. Most recently, the Women’s Business Development Center in Chicago presented Sobran with the Deborah Sawyer Rising Star Award.
“The ChannelPro Network is honored that Joanna chose to share her story with our readers, and we are pleased to present her with our first-ever Peer of the Year award,” says Michael Siggins, president and publisher of The ChannelPro Network. “The competition was fierce, as all of our Peer to Peer stories last year were compelling sources of insight and inspiration for our readers.”
For 2020, ChannelPro will be expanding the Peer of the Year selection process to include nominees from the ChannelPro audience of readers and vendors as well as from our 12 Peer to Peer stories featured throughout the year. Interested parties can send nominations to: peer2peer@channelpronetwork.com.
Click here to see all the 2019 Peer of the Year nominees >>
Photography by Jorge Gera
