Brenkel, Jos

A-List 2006

Job title: Vice-president and general manager of solution partner organisation EMEA

Company: Hewlett-Packard.

Year of birth: 1959.

Place of birth: Vanderbijlpark in South Africa.

Career outline: I worked in sales for Burroughs Computers in South Africa. I’ve also been a director at an advertising agency, a programme manager at Hewlett-Packard [HP], marketing manager at HP for PC business Europe, worldwide marketing manager for PC business at HP, general manager for PC business Europe at general manager for HP channel in Europe.

What motivates you every morning to get up and work in the channel? The fact that I work with entrepreneurs in an industry that is always changing, and the people.

What has been the most over-hyped technology in the past five years? Chip performance.

What will be the most underrated technology in the next five years? Mobility and security.

Which technology would you most like to have invented? The iPod, blog technology and the web search engine.

Do you have any regrets from your time in the industry? None.

If you could swap places with anyone in the industry, who would it be? No one. HP is a company that is going places and the channel is an exiting place to be, so I think people may want to swap jobs with me.

What is the biggest hurdle you have faced in your career? Going through the HP/Compaq merger and building a new channel from two channels while merging two cultures.

What is the biggest success of your career? Being able to continue to develop in my career. Being able to learn and meet the people I meet.

What piece of technology could you not live without? My iPAQ and my iPod.

What would be your advice to anyone starting a career in IT? Be ready for change. It’s an aggressive market. Be able to think out of the box. It is the details that count. It’s been an exiting industry and will be for the next five years.

What would you like for Christmas if you could have anything? A porsche.

What is your favorite karaoke song? My Way, by Frank Sinatra.

What would be the title of your autobiography? Thinking Out Of The Box.

Do you have any phobias? Yes, that I will be unemployed.

Number of staff you manage? 1,000.

What is your golf handicap? 50.

What car do you drive? Audi A6.

Number of air miles you have? Thousands.