8x8 appoints Emily Masterton as Global Channel Head

8x8 has appointed Emily Masterton as Global Head of Channel, elevating a long-serving internal executive to a global leadership role.

She will lead the company's channel strategy as 8x8 deepens its focus on partner sales and relationships. Her remit includes making the business easier for partners to work with, helping them grow through programmes and marketing, involving them in product and strategy discussions, and strengthening trust between the vendor and its channel community.

Masterton brings nearly 19 years of channel experience across the telecoms and technology sector. She began her career as a Channel Account Manager at Oak Telecom before holding senior channel roles at Unify and Atos.

She joined 8x8 more than six years ago as a Strategic Alliance Lead and later moved into channel leadership positions. During her time at the company, she has helped expand its partner ecosystem, build pipeline and increase bookings.

Channel focus

The promotion reflects 8x8's push to position itself as a channel-led organisation in a communications software market where indirect sales remain central to growth. In this sector, partner programmes, sales support and clear rules of engagement are often key to winning and retaining resellers, service providers and strategic alliances.

At 8x8, Masterton has worked across sales, marketing, support and enablement teams. That has included shaping operating models and internal processes designed to give partners and employees clearer responsibilities and more predictable engagement.

Her new role expands that approach globally. It also puts a UK-based channel leader with a strong internal track record at the centre of one of the company's main route-to-market functions.

Industry recognition

Masterton has received several industry awards for her channel work. She was named a CRN Channel Leader EMEA for three consecutive years, received the CRN Channel Chiefs Award and CRN Women of the Channel Award, and was recognised by IT Europa as Channel Leader of the Year.

The recognition comes as channel leadership takes on greater importance across the enterprise communications industry, where vendors increasingly rely on partners not only to sell software and services but also to support customers, shape demand and provide local market reach.

8x8 operates in the business communications market, selling voice, contact centre and related tools through both direct sales teams and partner channels. In that environment, strong partner relationships can influence access to new customers as well as retention and cross-selling opportunities.

Masterton's background is closely tied to that model. Much of her career has focused on building partner relationships and structuring internal teams around partner needs, rather than treating the channel as a separate sales stream.

Her promotion also highlights 8x8's preference for internal progression in a senior commercial role. Rather than recruit externally, the company has elevated an executive who has already worked across alliances and channel leadership inside the business.

That continuity may matter as vendors face pressure to simplify how partners engage with them. Channel firms often cite pricing, support, programme complexity and sales conflict as barriers to closer supplier relationships, making operational clarity an important issue for channel leaders.

One focus in Masterton's new role will be balancing partner input with the company's broader commercial and product priorities. One of her stated principles is to invest and innovate in partnership so partners help shape future strategy and portfolio decisions.

Another is enabling partner growth through programmes, enablement and marketing, a common challenge as vendors try to show that partner ecosystems can generate measurable demand rather than simply extend sales coverage.

The appointment follows a period in which technology suppliers have placed greater emphasis on partner trust and collaboration, particularly in markets where overlapping direct and indirect routes to market can create tension. Masterton's approach is centred on building the kind of trust that turns a vendor relationship into a true partnership.