Dean Douglas

President and chief executive, Westcon Group

Career so far I've spent 30 years in the technology industry, working on three continents. I started at IBM where I worked for several years in sales and marketing, and subsequently worked on an IBM/Blockbuster Entertainment JV. After this, I managed Motorola's data products business for the Americas and then shifted over to their Cellular Infrastructure Group, working out of EMEA and the US. Then I rejoined IBM in their Global Services organisation, where I was responsible for the telecoms industry and eventually the Communications and Distribution Sectors for IBM Global Services in Asia, based in Shanghai. Immediately prior to joining Westcon Group, I was the CEO of LCC International, a listed engineering services firm focused on wireless service providers.

Do you care about green IT? Yes. We have corporate policies but we have also invested in ways to mitigate our impact on the environment. Additionally, we have explored and implemented "reverse logistics" capabilities, which give companies an effective route to disassemble and dispose of IT hardware that is no longer used.

Has 2009 been as bad as everyone said it would be? No, it has not been as bad as we contemplated at the start of the year. Although the first calendar quarter was very tough and there was little visibility to how far the markets could degrade, we have seen stability in the many markets since then.

Have any of your predictions come true this year? My crystal ball remains very foggy. We are just driving our business in a very straight-forward and fundamental way in order to ensure that we continue to drive value for both our vendors and our resellers.

What do you see as the channel's biggest challenge in 2010? It continues to be liquidity. It is a very high priority for Westcon, as it has been all year, to drive more liquidity into the channel.

What is the best part of your day? The whole day is great!