2026 GTIA Updates: Local Chapters, UN Initiative and Texas A&M!
One of us. MJ Shoer, the Chief Community Officer with a 6+ year tenure at GTIA. He was there 1+ years ago when GTIA broke out from CompTIA. “I’m a classic recovering MSP and I sold my business eleven years ago.”
Moving forward, a pillar to the 2026 ChannelCon event (recently in San Diego) was its international community expansion.
What drove that direction? According to Shoer – it was listening to members that wanted to get together locally and more frequently. “Local chapters are the perfect answer.” Shoer added. “The response has been outstanding!”

New GTIA <> Texas A&M University Consortium
GTIA soft launched this thang in March 2026. “The goal is to address the lack of professional standards and regulations in the ITSP space. If we as an industry don’t address it then it will be addressed for us.” Shoer shared. Basically GTIA wants to get in front of this. My take? This effort is complimentary to Karl Palachuck’s (et al) similar efforts at the National Society of IT Service Providers
United Nations AI for Good Program
GTIA is embedded in this effort in North America and the UK that maps to the UN’s 17 sustainability goals for humanity. “Last year at ChannelCon, we told members we wanted to do more and think bigger!” Shoer said. I clarified that GTIA doesn’t have a lobbying arm like the old CompTIA days.
The conversation continues on the podcast HERE.
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