Chief executive, Company85
Career so far I have been Unix infrastructure manager at JPMorgan, been part of a failed dotcom, was associate partner at Company-i and UK services director at Symantec.
What was your first job and were you any good at it? I delivered bedroom furniture. And the ability to carry a double bed on my shoulder still occasionally comes in handy.
Who was your top teenage pin-up? It has to be Clare Grogan from Altered Images. "Don't talk to me about love..."
My colleagues won't know this about me but... I once made an interesting centre-back pairing with the comedian Omid Djalili.
What is your favourite snack? Tough one. Gala Pie or Scotch Egg. It's too hard to call.
What has been your career high point to date? Celebrating Company85's third year of growth after the MBO from Symantec with CRN A-Lister status!
Has 2013 been good, bad or ugly? Good. Very good. We acquired XOR in August to add Workspace Transformation to our channel services portfolio - so 2013 has been something of a landmark for us.
What do you say when asked at a party what you do for a living? I say I'm a freelance biscuit designer so they'll actually talk to me rather than getting me to fix their laptop.
If I wasn't working in the channel I would probably be... losing loads of money running a wine shop somewhere.
What will be the channel's biggest challenge in 2014? The way IT is consumed is fundamentally changing, so I think the traditional VAR needs to become much more services focussed - and that will be a real challenge for some businesses. But hey, I would say that because that's what Company85 helps its partners with.
