Ingram Micro’s Paul Bay Named CEO of the Year, Inducted into 2026 Channel Partners Circle of Excellence
Bay Honored Among Visionary Leaders Driving the Future of the IT Channel
IRVINE, Calif., April 16, 2026 — Ingram Micro is pleased to announce its Chief Executive Officer, Paul Bay, has been named CEO of the Year and inducted into the prestigious 2026 Channel Partners Circle of Excellence. This exclusive honor recognizes IT channel leaders who demonstrate sustained commitment, vision, and impact across the global partner ecosystem.
Announced earlier this week at CPEXPO in Las Vegas, the 2026 Circle of Excellence CEO of the Year award recognizes Bay’s thirty-year career and unwavering commitment to the success of the channel. In its coverage of the news, Channel Partners highlights Bay’s strategic foresight, operational excellence, and commitment to innovation. These qualities are reflected in Ingram Micro’s differentiated approach to building transformative change with its team and Xvantage™, a secure, intelligent platform redefining how modern B2B organizations operate at scale.
“I'm so proud of all we've accomplished and will continue to innovate together,” Bay said. “I’ve been fortunate to spend most of my career in the channel and with Ingram Micro, and there’s no greater reward than the relationships we build in this industry and the growth and successes we achieve together. Congrats to the Circle of Excellence honorees and thank you to Channel Partners for this honor.”
An Amazingly Human and Aggressively Digital Approach to Growth
Under Bay’s leadership, Ingram Micro is driving meaningful industry transformation, placing the $52.6 billion company and its customers at the heart of an era defined by human-led, AI-powered innovations that are delivering measurable business outcomes.
Working together with their customers and alliances, Ingram Micro has advanced a high-impact digital strategy centered on its customers’ needs powered by its proprietary, AI-powered digital experience platform, Xvantage™. The company’s signature “amazingly human and aggressively digital” approach continues to strengthen Ingram Micro’s role as an industry innovator, enabling partners to harness AI to capture and create value and accelerate growth across the global IT ecosystem.
Demonstrating a clear return on innovation, Ingram Micro’s success with AI runs deep and wide with four patents earned for Xvantage and dozens more pending approval, further demonstrating that architecture matters.
As highlighted in its Q4 2025 Earnings, Ingram Micro’s Intelligent Digital Assistant, IDA, has driven more than half a million proactive engagements, helping its customers convert more than 100,000 opportunities into billions of dollars’ worth of orders. The multiplier effect is evident in Ingram Micro’s customers’ growing ability to convert opportunities into sales orders, with conversion rates approaching 3x the normal rate.
“The Circle of Excellence includes a wide range of industry leaders who make contributions to the entire channel via their actions, investments and thought leadership,” said Kelly Danziger, GM of Informa’s Channel organization. “This award recognizes those who consistently put the channel first and drive meaningful progress across the partner ecosystem.”
“We are thrilled to welcome this year’s exceptional honorees into the Channel Partners Circle of Excellence, including our CEO of the Year Paul Bay,” said Bob DeMarzo, Sr. Director of Content and Strategy for Informa Channels. “As the channel continues to navigate unprecedented transformation and innovation, these individuals stand out as true visionaries who prioritize partner success and help shape the future of the industry.”
Channel Partners inducts Circle honorees across multiple categories, including CEO, channel leader, sales leader, and distribution executive. The 2026 class includes one CEO of the Year, alongside leaders representing marketing, sales, distribution, and broader industry influence.
About Ingram Micro
Ingram Micro (NYSE: INGM) is a leading technology company in the global information technology ecosystem. With the ability to reach nearly 90% of the global population, we play a vital role in the worldwide IT sales channel, bringing products and services from technology manufacturers and cloud providers to a highly diversified base of business-to-business technology experts. Through Ingram Micro Xvantage™, our AI-powered digital platform, we offer what we believe to be the industry’s first comprehensive business-to-consumer-like experience, integrating hardware and cloud subscriptions, personalized recommendations, instant pricing, order tracking, and billing automation. We also provide a broad range of technology services, including financing, specialized marketing, and lifecycle management, as well as technical pre- and post-sales professional support. Learn more at www.ingrammicro.com.
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