John Carter

Managing director, DMSL

Career so far I was head of sales at Brother in the boom years of the 1980s, and later worked as a consultant with BT before setting up DMSL in 2002.

Do you care about green IT? Yes, it's just common sense - it reduces cost too. We've built our success on showing resellers how they can help SMEs to keep costs down.

If you could be in a rock/pop band, which one would it be and who would you be? The Rolling Stones and I'd be Mick Jagger - the one with the big mouth!

What is the best corporate jolly you have ever been on/taken partners on? Dinner at the top of BT Tower with a whole load of legends from the world of rugby was pretty good.

Has 2009 been as bad as everyone said it would be? No, but with the 24-hour news culture we have now, the scare stories are always going to get blown up out of proportion.

Have any of your predictions come true this year? Yes, that the downturn would not be as bad as everyone though it would be - and that Harry Redknapp would do something very special at Spurs.

What do you see as the channel's biggest challenge in 2010? Managing credit and avoiding bad debt - resellers and small businesses in general need to check out potential customers before they do business with them.

What is the best part of your day? Arriving at the office is always good but seeing the sales figures at the end of the day is sometimes better.