Managing director, Home Training Group
Career so far A series of costly and unfortunate events, culminating in a surprisingly positive prospect for the next few years.
Do you care about green IT? I care very much about energy efficiency, but I don't buy any part of the "man-made disaster" scare story. Governments need to keep taxpayers in a constant state of fear so we never question appallingly bad leadership and the colossal waste of our money on an ever-increasing, self-serving and ultimately pointless bureaucracy. I bet you wish you'd never asked.
If you could be in a rock/pop band, which one would it be and who would you be? I suppose I always fancied the "heavy metal" sort of lifestyle - Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and all. In reality, drugs never really did much for me, and my inability to drink and retain any semblance of dignity is legendary. It's hard to believe now but, as a teenager, I had more hair than Robert Plant!
What is the best corporate jolly you have ever been on/taken partners on? I was treated to a long weekend in Dubai a couple of years ago. That was a lot of fun.
Has 2009 been as bad as everyone said it would be? Actually no, not for me, but then I always seem to perform better in a crisis. At least this time, the crisis wasn't of my own making!
Have any of your predictions come true this year? Some, but certainly not all of them. Gordon Brown is still Prime Minister.
What do you see as the channel's biggest challenge in 2010? Probably more so now than in recent memory, the challenge is to find new and innovative routes to market. One of the very few advantages small channel players have over large ones is the ability to innovate quicker, so now's the perfect opportunity for new faces to emerge.
What is the best part of your day? Despite the ups and downs, I still get a warm fuzzy feeling when I get home to my wife and kids in the evening.
