We are passionate about empowering businesses through strategic technology alliances. With over 25 years of industry experience and a proven track record of success, we are dedicated to guiding organizations through every step of the alliance journey.

Cascadia Leadership Advisors was established with a mission to drive innovation, collaboration, and growth through strategic technology alliances.

We strive to be a trusted advisor for businesses seeking to leverage the power of partnerships to achieve their strategic objectives and stay ahead in today's rapidly evolving business landscape.

Meet the expert.

Calvin Rowland

As an accomplished global tech executive in Cloud/SaaS and enterprise technologies, Calvin’s career has been defined by the pursuit of excellence and an innate ability to lead transformative change. His journey, spanning sales and alliances leadership roles, illustrates a unique blend of strategic leadership with a deep understanding of technology alliances, strategy creation, and business development.

Transformational leadership

At F5 Networks, he helped rebrand the company from a "Load Balancing" firm to a leader in "Application Delivery Networking." This strategic pivot was vital in F5's growth from $100M to $2B in revenue.

  • Strategic rebranding: Key leader in the shift in F5's positioning, defining a new category in the networking industry.

  • Industry influence: Played a pivotal role in influencing industry analysts and creating new industry standards.

  • Public representation: Recognized as a face of the company and frequently represented F5 in public and social forums.

Alliance strategist and Wall Street influencer

At F5 Networks, he led the Alliances function, which was vital in redefining SDN from a perceived threat to an opportunity, significantly altering Wall Street's perspective.

  • Strategic partnerships: Fostered key alliances with VMware and Cisco, navigating competitive challenges to establish productive collaborations.

  • Reputation management: Effectively changed Wall Street's perception, enhancing F5's market position and contributing to sales growth and market cap increase.

Organizational leadership

His philosophy is simple: recruit people who are more talented and more intelligent than yourself. Leading people, connecting with people, and mentoring people are what he does best.

It's easy for him to find common ground with people and to befriend them. Early in his career, he was taught: "When all things are equal, people buy from people they like. And when things are NOT equal, people buy from people they like.” This approach is the essence of followership and the ability to lead groups to new outcomes.

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.”
-Tenacity Prayer

What people are saying.

  • “I met Calvin in 1999 when we both worked at a start-up in Bellevue, WA. I was immediately struck by his passion, his energy, his positive attitude and his creativity. I made a mental note that if I was ever starting a team he would be one of the first people I called. That call took place in fall of 2001 when I was hired by F5 Networks to start up a Business Development/Alliances function within what was at the time a struggling $100m, non-profitable networking company. Over the next 15 years I watched Calvin go from an individual contributor to a manager, to a Director, to a VP and then an SVP while maintaining those same qualities that drew me to him in the first place. Calvin never takes a day, an hour or a minute off. He is always on and always moving forward and always looking for more. Over 15 years I had a front row seat as I saw Calvin execute day in and day out on an ever-growing and ever-evolving alliance partner strategy that was key to driving the growth and profitability of F5. Over those 15 years I saw him grow from someone who was primarily execution-oriented to someone very adept at defining strategy and then driving crisp execution of that strategy, all withing a landscape that seemingly shifted every 18-24 months. Today he is a true Executive and is the one who now defines key business development and partnership strategies for F5. However, he is more than that. His passion, drive and commitment will always keep his sleeves rolled up and his hands on the wheel of the business. Its how he is wired. He has the unique ability to go from someone up on stage in front of 2000 people as part of a panel with other IT executives or as a main stage presenter to someone who is comfortable owning and delivering day to day outcomes himself. He can traverse that entire range. If partnerships our important to your business, if the successful execution of a well conceived partner strategy is key to you achieving your company goals I would very strongly recommend you contact Calvin and talk with him about what is possible for your business. I am pretty certain that the discussion you have will surpass your expectations and the vision that you had for your partnership strategy will be expanded.”

    — Jim Ritchings

  • “I highly recommend Calvin as a key strategic advisor for your business. Calvin is at the top of my list of advisors and usually my first call. Over our many years as peers and friends, Calvin has helped me with highly valuable advice in both Business Development, specifically, and business management, generally. He is a proven tech exec with a strong track record of success. In our time together at F5 I came to rate Calvin as one of the best team builders and managers of people I've known. He has a proactive style of driving success in business development strategy, relationship development, and people management. He gets things done -- and has everyone laughing and learning while doing it.”

    — Andy Reinland

  • “I've worked with Calvin directly for over a decade. Calvin, brings an amazing blend of channel, technology, and business development experience to help define and drive a winning GTM and partner strategy. Often, the most effective way to scale a business is with effective partnerships that compliment and amplify your solution. Calvin has built teams that deliver over and over again. On a personal level, I've found Calvin to be incredibly creative, open to ideas, resourceful and willing to make the tough calls when needed. His style of connecting with others brings people together and gets folks aligned across the organization on right goals.”

    — Jason Needham

  • “Calvin is a dynamic leader that knows how to create business value through excellent collaboration skills. I had the pleasure of working with Calvin and have seen him build strategic partnerships with a broad ecosystem as well as use his skills to align internal stakeholders, motivate, and lead teams across multiple functions to inspirational outcomes.”

    — John Morgan

  • “Calvin is a world-class executive and one of those rare individuals who can successfully manage dualities: the pressures of continuously delivering results and ensuring that everyone involved is having fun; driving transformation while growing existing business; exploring new business models while optimizing existing ones. He also has a unique skill to find win-win options in highly complex environments. I have enjoyed working with and for Calvin, and I hope that I will have the chance to do so again.”

    — Damir Vrankic

  • “Calvin is a top notch technology executive. I worked closely with him as he led our business development and alliance building at F5. He is also what we refer to as a "tremendous athlete" meaning he was also given the opportunity to nurture and build fledgling businesses within the larger organization given his skill set. He is a tremendous mentor to his teams and strong developer of talent. He is also an all around great guy and witty. I highly recommend Calvin as someone to work with.”

    — Scot Rogers

  • “I wholeheartedly endorse Calvin for his exceptional expertise building and operating tech alliances and all manner of strategic collaborations. Having worked with and for him over 15 years, I've witnessed firsthand his strategic acumen and ability to forge impactful connections within the tech industry. Calvin possesses a unique understanding of the complexities involved in fostering successful partnerships, from identifying technical opportunities to navigating the human elements. Calvin also stands out for his remarkable skill coaching growth-minded professionals at all levels. He has an uncanny ability to understand nuances of human relationships and would often remind us not to "jump to conclusions". I think his coaching style is characterized by a blend of thoughtful listening, pragmatic insights, hard truths, and warm encouragement. Whether providing guidance on technical skills development or offering strategic career advice, I think his guidance will be invaluable to those seeking to thrive in the dynamic tech landscape!”

    — Phil de la Motte

  • “Calvin was my manager for 8 years at F5 leading ISV and Technology Alliances. He is an extremely passionate, driven and diligent boss. I witnessed his sound leadership many times during critical decision making where he always brings, solicits and freely discusses objective(s) and ideas from his staff and across the stakeholder matrix. Then, be those ideas strategic, tactical and/or managerial, he communicates direction(s) very effectively and holds himself and all those accountable for achieving successful execution and results. To top it off, he is full of funny "Calvin-isms" (jokes, sayings or expressions) which can make meetings and conversations quite fun!”

    — Mike Schrock

  • “Calvin is an outstanding business development leader. His ability to forge deep and strategic relationships with his partners enables him to be successful at developing long-term partnerships. Calvin is also the consummate relationship guy. He has the uncanny ability to make everyone he works with feel at ease which makes him highly sought as a team member and leader. In addition, Calvin has the highest level of ethics and integrity. Finally, he is very loyal to his employer and always a positive influence around his team. I would work with Calvin again in a heartbeat.”

    — Leon Suh