Career so far Sales professional who moved into the IT sector in 1983. I worked for Alan Sugar and did marketing consultancy for Clive Sinclair along the way and still do expert-witness and consultancy work.
I set up an industry trade association in 1973 and have primarily focused on that since, working to keep the marketplace as strong as possible and transitioning it to keep pace with market changes.
If you could be anyone else for a week, who would you be and what would you do? David Cameron. I’d legalise and fully control all the illegal drugs that are currently at the root of so much misery and criminality. And prostitution as well, for the same reason.
That way we’d create taxable employment for people in managing these two new legitimised areas of endeavour, as well as generating taxable revenues. Prison populations would fall, health and social issues would diminish, policing costs would drop hugely and so on.
Lots of wins all round and very few negatives – unless you are of a religious, right-wing persuasion.
What would you have as your last meal? I’ll think about that a bit closer to the time.
What is the best corporate jolly you have ever been on/taken partners on? Most of the after-hours elements of TCA events are pretty memorable.
Do you see the cloud as a threat or an opportunity? It is both threat and opportunity. The issue is identifying how much of the cloud is in fact just marketing fog.
Have any of your predictions come true this year? That the cloud would be a great opportunity or threat.
What do you see as the channel’s biggest challenge in 2011? Funding growth when business opportunities come knocking.
What is the best part of your day? The transition between waking and sleeping, at either end of it – and the bits in between, of course.
