At Channel Con 2025, Harry Brelsford interviews Dan Wensley, the new CEO of the Global Technology Industry Association (GTIA), formerly CompTIA. Wensley highlights the success of the new GTIA brand, 200 days into the transition, and discusses the organization's growth and support for the tech industry. Despite being based in Canada, Wensley emphasizes GTIA's global reach and remote operations. He shares his experience with rebranding, citing Level Platforms and Warranty Master as examples. The roadmap for GTIA includes investments in people, resources, community, and advancement, with plans to expand Channel Con to EMEA and enhance community engagement.
Harry Brelsford 00:00
A nation, nation, really, one of the last interviews here at a busy three days at Channel con 2025, in Nashville, at the basically Opryland. And so I'm with the relatively new CEO, Dan Wensley, industry veteran. So, So Dan, how's your energy, man, you're everywhere.
Dan Wensley 00:22
Oh, it's been a fantastic conference, and the energy we've got is come from the membership. And the new gig and brand are alive and well, 200 days into this transition, and I think channel con is really taking us all to the next level.
Harry Brelsford 00:36
Yeah, for my listeners briefly that aren't aware. So CompTIA? Well, there is a CompTIA, but what is gtia?
Dan Wensley 00:46
Gtia is the Global Technology Industry Association. So as the transaction to sell CompTIA and the training and certification business was completed, we took the endowment and funds from that and branded Global Technology Industry Association back in January.
Harry Brelsford 01:05
Yeah, and I feel I just saw you. Man, was that in Palm Springs or Denver, one of the events? And here you are so and I get it, you know, you must have already been in conversations about your new role. You said you hit 100 days as the CEO of gtia, and so, you know, and that involved some, for lack of a better word, some M and A activity, which, which is complex, and, you know, it's, it's a head scratcher for me. I have a limited background that way. But, you know, you're a not for profit. That's that's a little bit of a head scratcher, but you guys made it very clear in the keynotes and at the press lunch that you navigated that,
Dan Wensley 01:51
yeah, the team did an incredible job. And, you know, I've been a 20 year member of this association, it has done so much for me, personally, for the businesses I've operated, and I served on the board a decade ago, and I'll tell you, Yes, it was. It's a transition going for from for profit to not for profit. But one of the things that we've done, and we've all agreed on, is that growth is important for this industry, for the channel, and gtia is here to help, help
Harry Brelsford 02:21
grow. Yeah, and let's talk well, both a little bit about your background. I know you're back in the level platform days. In fact, maybe a side question is, are you relocating to Chicago, or will you still be in Canada?
Dan Wensley 02:34
No, I remain in Canada. Even all the businesses I've run have been global in nature. And obviously a lot of us partners and MSPs over the years, but no, I'll remain in Canada. And as an organization, we're completely remote, because we're global. We have team members across the globe, and we're all remote. So I'll be in the US a lot. I'll be around the world a lot, but home base will remain in Canada for me.
Harry Brelsford 03:01
Alright, so level platforms, if I heard you yesterday, you rebranded that as LPI, or there was another way to view
Dan Wensley 03:10
it. Yeah, it was vice versa. Actually, a lot of folks still call it LPI from back in the day, and that was a first lesson in branding and transition. Level platforms Incorporated was the name of the organization. We kind of got lazy in the early days just calling it LPI, but when we took it to market, we rebranded level platform, so you kind of get an understanding of how far back partners went with us if they call this LPI or level platform based on that, yeah,
Harry Brelsford 03:39
yeah. No kidding. And then you did it again with warranty master. Let's talk about your time there.
Dan Wensley 03:43
Yeah. What a great what a great ride. That was joined as CEO of warranty master back in 2019 with the founder, Chris Day, formerly of it glue. We built that organization up to about 250 people made a number of strategic acquisitions, and Chris leading the technology side, I exited that business after five years. Still remain. They're here and just a great group. But that was a big transition too, because we took what was originally warranty master and a warranty lookup tool application and morphed that and rebranded that under the scale pad brand made six, now seven SaaS acquisitions during that period, and built a platform. So I'm no stranger to rebranding it and change. Yeah, it's, it's, and we're, you know, but the gtia brand has been so well adopted by the membership, by the industry, and we see now we're out of the rebrand phase, and we're into the results phase,
Harry Brelsford 04:47
yeah, and then what's next? You know? And I know you typically can't answer this question, but any acquisitions on the horizon, what's your roadmap here at gtia? That you can share.
Dan Wensley 05:01
Yeah, the roadmaps first is really built on four pillars. So people, the resources that we're delivering, the structure of the community and the strength of the community, and the last pillar is going to be advancement. So our roadmap is going to include investments in all of those areas. People, both our own staff, our own team members across the globe, but also the individuals of the membership, and make sure that we're providing true value to each of the individuals, and then the resources that are being consumed delivered by both members and us on our research team and content, and make sure we've got the right resources that is needed by the channel and then building this community platform. And there's no better example of that than what we do here at Channel con on a pretty grand scale. We're taking channel con to EMEA for the first time, so we'll be in London in the fall, so we've got channel con AMEA kicking off, but we do, you know, dozens of member meetings throughout the year as well. So making sure that community is strong, the communication and conversation is strong, and we've got our eye on advancement to make sure we're driving growth for everybody. Yeah,
Harry Brelsford 06:11
well, hey, appreciate a few minutes with you. I told you I like a short format. You know, there's another well known podcaster in Austin. It's a 90 minute format, and I'm like, no,
Dan Wensley 06:23
after three days of channel con, I'm not sure I can give you 40 minutes, Harry, but no, I really appreciate the conversation. So thank you so much. All
Harry Brelsford 06:30
right, we'll see you next time. Thanks. I'm not
Dan Wensley 06:32
second base anymore. I'm last.