For Gary Abad, last week’s Kaspersky C3 Americas Partner Conference in Maya Riviera, Mexico was a chance to meet his constituents.

About three months into his new role as the company’s North American channel sales chief, Abad played a prominent role in an eventful gathering of some 200 of the company’s top partners.

ChannelBuzz.ca sat down with Abad to get to know him a little bit better, and after the jump you’ll find the first part of our conversation in video format.

Abad tackles his first 90 days with the company, what feedbacks he’s hearing from partners, how he measures success in the channel, and how the company’s new Partner Advisory Council is shaping its next steps in the channel, among other topics.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVZObXF6KAg

We’ll have the second part of our chat up Thursday, including discussions of partners opportunities around Kaspersky’s Small Business Security product and its Service Provider Edition managed services offering.