Eggleston, Kay

A-List 2006

Job title: Managing director.

Company: Noxs.

Year of birth: 1967.

Place of birth: Woking.

Career outline: I started at Integralis in 1994 as facilities manager and moved into sales in Activis, Integralis’s quality-of-service division. After 18 months Activis was merged with Allasso and since then I have pursued my career in distribution, from sales to product management and finally business development management. In 2003 I was head-hunted by Risc Technology to set up its new UK distribution subsidiary, which has since been rebranded as Noxs Security.

What motivates you every morning to get up and work in the channel? Not much motivates me to get out of bed in the morning, but if I have to, then working in IT is probably one of the best places to be, largely because of the people and customers I work with.

What has been the most over-hyped technology in the past five years? Probably Public Key Infrastructure because it never really took off due to its complexity.

What will be the most underrated technology in the next five years? One that would allow me to make huge sums of money without having to get out of bed in the morning.

Which technology would you most like to have invented? Concorde.

Do you have any regrets from your time in the industry? Yes, the loss of my fitness due to the long hours we all have to work.

If you could swap places with anyone in the industry, who would it be? Larry Page or Sergey Brin because they are at the top of their game, continue to be innovative, and are currently having fun designing the interior of the new Google 747.

What is the biggest hurdle you have faced in your career? I don’t think I’ve faced too many major hurdles in my career. I tend to face niggly hurdles daily, which are always irritating, but generally solvable.

What is the biggest success of your career? To have grown Noxs UK from scratch to a company with an annual turnover of more than £6m a year in the space of three years.

What piece of technology could you not live without? My mobile. It is ancient and I should have upgraded it years ago, but I rely too heavily on it to risk changing it for some fancy new-fangled model that might go wrong.

What would be your advice to anyone starting a career in IT? Know your market, be honest, offer great customer service, and play hard after hours to relax.

What would you like for Christmas if you could have anything? An Aston Martin and an extended three-month holiday in Australia and New Zealand... Not that I’m greedy.

What is your favourite karaoke song? Daydream Believer, by the Monkees.

What would be the title of your autobiography? The Woman, The Myth And The Reality.

Do you have any phobias? Yes. Spiders.

How many beers before you fall over? 8.

Number of staff you manage? 11.

What is your golf handicap? 12.

What car do you drive? Honda S2000 convertible.

Number of air miles you have? 6,000.