Red Hat names Kevin Kennedy as global leader for the Red Hat partner ecosystem

The technology landscape is shifting rapidly, and at the heart of this change is a vibrant, interconnected ecosystem of partners. Today, we are excited to introduce Kevin Kennedy as vice president of the Global Partner Ecosystem at Red Hat.

Kennedy steps into this role during a pivotal era for hybrid cloud and AI, bringing a unique perspective forged from sitting at every side of the technology table – from direct sales at IBM and Xerox to a decade in leadership within distribution at Arrow, EMC and Tech Data, and most recently, leading Red Hat’s partner ecosystem in North America and Latin America. 

Read on for a brief Q&A with Kevin Kennedy about his experiences and vision for the Red Hat partner ecosystem.

What is your vision for the Red Hat global partner ecosystem? 

My vision is one of evolution and growth. Over the past few years, we have built a strong foundation to enhance the Red Hat partner experience and it’s now time to sharpen our focus to help partners capture the opportunities ahead. 

We do this by recognizing and rewarding our partners for their exceptional quality, positive impact, strategic alignment, and investment in Red Hat. By hyper-focusing our efforts, we can deepen and broaden our collaboration even more with key partners to fully realize our shared potential and maximize collective opportunities. Acquiring net new customers is the lifeblood of our future growth, and we have already started expanding incentives and programs to encourage our partners to hunt for these new accounts. 

Ultimately, this sharpened focus on collaboration means bringing together the collective power of distribution, ISV co-creation, systems integrators, and services partners to unlock new business opportunities. This holistic approach is essential for scaling our business, acquiring new customers, and ensuring our mutual success in the rapidly evolving hybrid cloud, virtualization and AI landscape.

Which technology areas offer the greatest opportunity for partners this year? 

For partners looking to maximize their collective opportunity with Red Hat this year, there are several key technology areas that require focus and investment. RHEL and Ansible Automation continue to be high-impact platforms for customers. Linux will always be our bread and butter. As the basis for the entire Red Hat portfolio, RHEL remains a top priority and foundational entry point for customers. Ansible offers huge advantages in helping customers manage increasingly complex IT landscapes and prime their business for AI. 

Taking the AI leap doesn’t have to be a dramatic transformation, but a continuation of the investments an organization has already made with Red Hat and our surrounding ecosystem. Whether they are running RHEL, Ansible or OpenShift, we have already set the table to get them to the next step with our AI offerings. Speaking of OpenShift, virtualization will be a continued growth story for us in 2026. This will be especially driven by our highly skilled partners in the commercial segment. 

Beyond specific products, it all comes back to collaboration. As I mentioned already, we need to leverage the deep relationships that our distribution partners have with other OEMs, ISVs, and hyperscalers to grow our business. Likewise, co-creation work with ISVs is vital, especially as we look to recruit new AI-focused partners who are building on our platform.

What energizes you the most going into 2026 with Red Hat partners? 

What truly energizes me is the sheer scale of the opportunity before us. For years, Red Hat has achieved incredible success primarily by leveraging our own internal resources. The chance we have now to really explode is by fully tapping into what the ecosystem brings. We have tremendous relationships, and now we need to fully leverage them to capture the market together.

My personal journey, having worked on all sides of the tech realm—from direct sales to established OEMs and a decade in distribution—gives me a unique view of how to make this work. I believe my greatest value to Red Hat is bringing maturity in leveraging an indirect sales motion. This is crucial for scaling our business, especially in order to effectively position Red Hat’s AI offerings as a seamless continuation of the investments that customers have already made with us and our partners. It’s an incredibly exciting time to move to the next level.