The International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners unveiled its 2026 Americas executive board, led by WCA Technologies president Peter Fidler.
The IAMCP sets out to maximize the business potential of members through peer-to-peer interaction, member advocacy, community outreach, growth and education while enhancing members’ ties to Microsoft. The overall goals are to enhance business development and increase profits. The group started in 1994 and has more than 2,000 members in 100 chapters in more than 40 countries.
The 2026 executive board also includes vice president Paul Solski (AIM International managing director), Secretary Patti Cataldi (B&R Business Solutions business development manager) and treasurer Craig Zimmerman (Big Cloud Consultants COO).
Fidler is a founding partner of WCA Technologies, which ranked No. 369 on the 2025 MSP 501 list. He started WCA 38 years ago and has been in the business long enough to be named the MSP 501 Lifetime Achievement winner in 2022.
Fidler is no stranger to IAMCP. He was 2025 vice president after serving as the New York Chapter president for years. I spoke with him about his new role as the group’s president.
What do you hope to accomplish as IAMCP president?
Fidler: My number one goal is to increase the membership and increase engagement. I want people more engaged with the IAMCP, and really show them the value that the IAMCP can deliver.
I want to increase the excitement level for the IAMCP. I want to get other communities involved. I'm also part of the Ingram Micro Trust X Alliance, so I'm getting the communication out to them … I want to build a stronger community. I want to build collaboration and a lot of transparency so people understand how the IAMCP operates and its benefits to members.
I’m not only excited about being president, but also who I get to work with on the executive team.
Peter Fidler
What is the value that Microsoft can deliver that partners may not know about
Fidler: It’s about how they can leverage the programs that are out there to greater align them with the Microsoft strategies. How they can benefit from the training opportunities, the co-op funds, the funding, and the partnering with the Microsoft sellers that are out in the field to increase their business. Peer-to-peer is a big component of the IAMCP. But the IAMCP is also an advocate for the partners. We have regular calls with Microsoft just to let them know if something is not working or something needs to be adjusted. An example is Microsoft calling their customers. We want to make sure there is a better understanding. When Microsoft is calling on your customers, it's not to take the customers over, but it's to really educate the customers
And Microsoft has this feeling that there are a number of partners out there that are not doing a good job in terms of communicating value, whether it's Copilot or some of the licensing that's out there. Frankly, there are some partners who will just invoice customers and maybe not really understand the full value of the Microsoft licensing.
With all the interest in AI, how important is Copilot now to partners?
Fidler: That will be a big focus of the IAMCP this year—how do you leverage Copilot? There are a handful of partners that are doing very well with Copilot, and I haven't heard a whole lot of stories from partners out there. I think we're just scratching the surface as it relates to Copilot. But Microsoft is making it a big push for them. They're investing a lot of resources in the partner community to train up on Copilot, and I want to make sure that partners can take advantage of that and leverage that to improve the services they're providing to their customers.
What are areas where Microsoft can do better for partners?
Fidler: Microsoft needs to do better in explaining the value of Copilot and where they need to sort of tell a lot of success stories, not just for the big companies, but for small, medium-sized businesses we deal with. How is it affecting them? They always say Copilot or AI can take the place of an intern or an admin assistant. We need to hear some practical stories around that. How is it helping your HR department? How is it helping your sales department? How is it helping your operations? What are some of the things that people are doing to help businesses be more efficient and stay ahead of their competitors? So it's those types of things. There's a lot of misinformation out there as it relates to AI, and not only the capabilities of AI, but the security around AI and how you roll it out. So it's about understanding the proper way of rolling AI out so you're not putting yourself or your customers at risk.