Director SMB and Channel, UK & Ireland, Lenovo
Career so far
I’ve worked in the IT industry for 18 years across distribution, product management and channel leadership.
What was your first job and were you any good at it?
I worked in DIY store on a school placement scheme. I loved it! I was offered a job and would have happily taken it but my parents didn’t think it was much of a career.
Who was your top teenage pin-up?
Patsy Kensit – naturally because I was a big Simple Minds fan.
My colleagues won’t know this about me but…..
I trained as a sign-writer at art school, specialising in gold-leaf signs.
What is your favourite snack?
Cheese and biscuits – a classic combination. Has to be a soft blue cheese like Dolcelatte.
What has been your career high point to date?
Growing the Lenovo SMB business two years on the trot with nearly 40 per cent premium to market – when all the talk is of the market declining!
Has 2013 been a good, bad or ugly year? Why?
It’s been brilliant in all aspects – we are growing the business, our partner base, adding new product lines like servers and storage and growing the team too. What’s not to be happy about.
What do you say when strangers at a social gathering ask what you do for a living?
I say I run the channel for Lenovo…..and after the blank stares a say I sell PCs.
If I wasn’t working in the channel I would probably be…
I would do something creative again and probably go back to sign-writing. Only on the basis that I didn’t actually have to earn a living from it!
What do you see as the channel’s biggest challenge in 2014?
Capitalising on the changing dynamics in the PC industry – and seeing the likes of new hardware devices such as tablets etc as the Trojan Horse to sell more services into customers.
