Top VARs 2021: Female future

From 1 January 2022, three of the world's five largest IT solutions providers will be female led

Although male CEOs still predominate among the 100 companies featured in Top VARs 2021, two of the world's largest tech solutions providers moved to appoint female leaders in 2021.

Norway-based software licensing giant Crayon - whose £50m UK arm ranks 84th in Top VARs - made Melissa Mullholland its permanent CEO in August following the departure of predecessor Torgrim Takle in March. Mullholland had made "a significant difference in helping to promote innovation, diversity and compassionate leadership" since joining the £1.6bn-revenue outfit in 2020, Crayon co-founder Rune Syversen said.

Two months later, global reseller goliath Insight named former Dell bigwig Joyce Mullen as its new CEO. She will replace the outgoing Ken Lamneck on 1 January 2022.

Factoring in CDW's Christine Leahy and SHI's Thai Lee, this means that three of the five largest global IT solutions providers are female-led. With Pam Maynard also in charge at $2bn-revenue global Microsoft partner Avanade, the question is whether smaller UK-headquartered outfits will follow this trend in the years to come.

Read the Top VARs 2021 PDF here, or view the Top VARs 2021 hub here. Alternatively, the individual profiles can be read here.