Career so far: I’ve been managing director of the UK operations since December 2006. Previously, I was senior vice president of enterprise division EMEA at Tech Data. I started at Tech Data in 1993, and had a number of senior roles both within Computer 2000 and Tech Data Europe. I left the company briefly in 2000 to become managing director of Sage UK, returning to Tech Data the following year.
If you could be anyone else for a week, who would you be and what would you do? Kate Moss’ boyfriend and no further comments.
What would you have as your last meal? Haggis, neeps and tatties as part of a Burns Supper with close family and friends.
What is the best corporate jolly you have ever been on/taken partners on? Best recent one was opening match of 2012 World Cup with Microsoft. Brilliant atmosphere and I still have the vuvezelas ringing in my ears.
Do you see the cloud as a threat or an opportunity? Both – it fundamentally challenges the current go-to-market model, but is a massive and game-changing opportunity for the whole channel. We believe distribution has a key role to play in the education, delivery and management of cloud-based propositions to and through the reseller community.
Have any of your predictions come true this year? Distribution would continue to be a tough competitive market, but we would still manage to grow profitably. Queen of the South still not in Scottish Premier League.
What do you see as the channel’s biggest challenge in 2011? Fulfilling the promise and growth potential of technologies and concepts such as converged infrastructure, unified communications and cloud computing will be the main challenge. Resellers will need to develop new value propositions and skills so that they can articulate and deliver these solutions effectively. The channel as a whole will need to ensure that they are understood and embraced by the wider end-user community.
What is the best part of your day? Still all of it – I’ll let you know if that changes.
