Colleen Kapase is out at Google Cloud. The VP of channels and partner programs, the person who designed, built, and began rolling out the Google Cloud Partner Network, left the company this month with no public explanation and no transition period that anyone in the partner ecosystem seems to have been briefed on.
In her place: David Smith, a 27-year Microsoft veteran whose last role was VP of worldwide channel sales. Google declined to make Smith available for an interview with CRN.
Let me say what the press releases won’t. This is a significant risk event for Google Cloud’s partner strategy at the worst possible time.
The Program She Built Is Half-Deployed
On January 15, Google terminated its legacy Partner Advantage program and began migrating partners to the new Google Cloud Partner Network. The program Kapase built. The one she described to CRN earlier this year as a complete rethinking of how Google measures and rewards partners, shifting from activity-tracking (business plans, customer stories, certification counts) to outcome-tracking (presales influence, co-innovation, post-sales support, customer success).
“We want this new program to matter to all of these parties: our partners, our sales teams and our customers,” Kapase told CRN. “That’s been our North Star.”
That’s not marketing copy. That’s a structural redesign of partner economics. Changing how Google’s own sales teams interact with partners. Changing what Diamond tier means. Changing what competencies get rewarded. The kind of program transformation that takes two years to design and three to stabilize.
Kapase had the two years. She will not be there for the three.
Why This Matters More Than a Typical Exec Departure
Google Cloud’s channel has a trust problem that predates Kapase. For years, the company was perceived as enterprise-direct and partner-ambivalent. Partners who invested early often found that Google’s sales teams either didn’t know they existed or actively competed with them on deals. The partner programs were confusing, the incentives were inconsistent, and the commitment felt conditional.
Kapase changed that. Not overnight, but measurably. Partners I track describe her as the first Google Cloud channel leader who actually functioned as their advocate inside the building. Brooks Borcherding, CEO of Google Cloud Premier Partner Pythian, called her a “fierce ally.” Other partner CEOs described her as the person who would call them directly before delivering tough news. That’s a specific kind of trust. The kind you can’t hire a replacement for on LinkedIn.
And Google Cloud is not a small operation. It’s running at approximately $71 billion in annual revenue, up 48% year-over-year in Q4 2025. The channel is supposed to be a growth lever for that trajectory. Losing the architect mid-construction raises a question Google needs to answer clearly: is the strategy changing, or just the personnel?
The Microsoft Factor
Smith’s background is interesting and, depending on how you read it, either reassuring or concerning.
Twenty-seven years at Microsoft means he knows how large-scale partner ecosystems work. Microsoft’s channel is arguably the most mature in enterprise tech. He’s run it at the worldwide level. That’s real operational experience with programs that affect tens of thousands of partners across every segment and geography.
The concern is context. Microsoft’s channel culture and Google’s channel culture are different animals. Microsoft partners have decades of muscle memory around licensing, rebates, co-sell motions, and CSP structures. Google Cloud partners are building a relationship that’s much younger, with a vendor that’s still proving its commitment. The program Smith is inheriting was designed for Google’s specific problems. Whether his Microsoft-shaped instincts fit those problems is an open question.
Allen Falcon, CEO of Google Cloud partner Cumulus Global, put it diplomatically: “I sincerely hope that Mr. Smith takes time to meet with a wide variety of partners across the market segments and geographies to ensure that the current program and future changes work well for as many partners as possible.”
Read that again. What Falcon is actually saying is: please don’t come in and redesign everything based on how Microsoft does it. Please listen first.
What Partners Should Do Right Now
If you’re a Google Cloud partner mid-migration to the new program, here’s my read:
Don’t panic. The program infrastructure is built. The technical framework Kapase put in place doesn’t disappear because she left. What changes is the political capital behind it. How Google’s sales teams are incentivized to work with partners. How disputes get resolved. How the next set of competency requirements get designed. That’s all leadership-dependent, and that leadership just changed.
Get closer to your Google Cloud account team, not further away. The next 90 days will reveal whether Smith’s mandate is continuity or reinvention. Your regional contacts will know before any official announcement.
If you were considering deepening your Google Cloud investment this quarter, consider pausing expansion until you see Smith’s first public moves. There’s nothing wrong with maintaining your current footprint while the new leadership finds its footing.
And if you’re one of the partners who built a relationship with Kapase personally, you lost something real. I don’t say that to be sentimental. I say it because relationship-driven advocacy inside a vendor org is one of the few things that can’t be systematized, automated, or replaced by a new hire with a different Rolodex.
Google Cloud has the product. They have the revenue trajectory. But the channel is built on trust, and trust just walked out the door. What Smith does in his first 100 days will determine whether this is a speed bump or a structural setback.
I’ll be watching.