D&H Canada held its annual Partnerfi Symposium in Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON from April 15 through 17, 2025. The distributor welcomed members of its Partnerfi engagement community for the three-day Spring Symposium, conducted at the 124 on Queen Hotel and Spa in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Topics included best practices for implementing AI, refreshing devices to Windows 11, and protecting organizations with the latest security solutions.The event gave D&H partners and vendors the opportunity to convene, network, and develop leadership skills, exemplifying D&H’s “Built For Growth” ethos.
The event included keynote sessions from D&H leadership, plus a “Voice of the Partners” panel session featuring solution providers. Vendor presenters included Melissa Gould, Director, Distribution & Emerging Solution Providers at Lenovo; Channel Business Development Manager, Personal Systems Jay Khair; and Distribution Account Manager Cateria Mazzotta from HP.
Susanne Tamburro, Director of Marketing & Business Development at D&H Canada, welcomed partners to the symposium, explaining the program’s enhancements over its first year. Vendors participating in the event included platinum sponsors HP and Lenovo, in addition to sponsors AMD, Eaton, Microsoft Surface, and TP-Link.
Peter DiMarco, Interim General Manager of D&H Canada & Senior Vice President of Commercial Sales, delivered a business update to the audience of both customers and vendors. He detailed his plan for accelerating growth for Partnerfi members by strengthening relationships and adding value to the community.
D&H Canada Vice President of Sales David Stephens discussed the power of partnership and peer-to-peer support that’s fostered by the Partnerfi community and shared the group’s collective successes during his “By the Numbers” segment. Additional vendor presenters throughout the event included Jonathan Corteau, Partner Development Manager from Microsoft Surface; Jeremy Lister, Distribution Channel Manager at TP-Link; and Jodi Bonham, IT Channel Manager, at Eaton.
The room shared a laugh during the “Voice of the Partners” segment, a partner panel moderated by Partnerfi Advisory Board Members Barb Plicka and Jason Gorjan. Plicka is Vice President of Partner Relations at managed IT services provider Bulletproof IT, located in Calgary and Red Deer. Gorjan is Vice President at Montreal technology provider Central Microsystems. The partner segment allowed attendees to share best practices and discuss real-world issues.
Daniel Reio, Director of the Modern Solutions Business Unit at D&H Canada (second from left), listened to partners during a series of roundtable discussions and networking dinners during the event. Reio and D&H Canada’s Executive Director of Vendor Management Chris Ralston presented a business session on Wednesday, April 16. The Symposium also featured one-on-one sessions for customers with participating vendors HP and Lenovo, and a series of three community sessions on business topics such as marketing, operations, and employee retention and recruitment. Community segments were led by Plicka, Gorjan, and Jennifer Roy, CEO of Vancouver MSP Nucleus Networks, respectively.
Jeremy Lister, Distribution Channel Manager at TP-Link, demonstrated the latest Omada networking and VIGI surveillance solutions during vendor seminars on the second day of the event.
Relaxing after a busy day at the event, D&H Canada Partnerfi members were invited to nearby Trius Winery for a Black Glass Tasting Experience and dinner, one of the networking activities that were scheduled for the symposium.
D&H Canada Partnerfi community was launched in May of 2024 and has been growing since its establishment. Although the Partnerfi groups in the U.S. and Canada have held combined symposium events in the past, this Niagara-on-the-Lake engagement was solely for D&H’s Canadian Partnerfi members.