Virgo Publishing has announced the ten finalists for Channel Executive of the Year.

TNCI President Brian Twomey was named one of the ten finalists.

The finalists will be honored during an awards ceremony wherein the winner will be announced March 1.

Mike Saxby said, “After hundreds of votes, we are honored to announce these 10 finalists, who have won the respect of the independent channel. We look forward to announcing the winner in a month at the Channel Partners show.”

To determine the Channel Executive of the Year, organizers solicited nominations from channel partners. To be eligible, a nominee must have been the top person in the company’s channel operation, defined as at the executive level of vice president or higher at a telecom vendor (network operator/service provider/manufacturer).

Channel partners were then asked to vote for the Channel Executive of the Year based on nominees’ leadership, longevity, innovation and contribution to the indirect channel.

Along with Twomey, other finalists include ACC Business's President and CEO John “J.D.” Baker, AireSpring's chief operating officer, Daniel Lonstein, The Conference Group's (News - Alert) Director of Business Development Greg Plum, Level 3 Communications's Vice President, Indirect Channels Craig Schlagbaum, New Edge Networks (an Earthlink (News - Alert) Company)'s Vice President of Agent Sales J.R. Cook, NuVox's Vice President, Indirect Sales Dan Sterling, One Communications's Vice President Channels Michael Fair, Pgi's Senior Vice President, PGi Partners Ralph B. Hawkins and Qwest (News - Alert) Communications's Vice President, Sales, Qwest Business Markets Group Blake Wetzel.