Pete Rawden
Senior director partners & pathways, UK & Ireland, NetApp
Career so far I started in IT sales with a London-based reseller before spending seven years with Xerox in various end user and channel sales and management positions. I joined NetApp 12 years ago to set up its channel operation in UK. Subsequently I have established and grown distribution, GSI, OEM, Alliance & Service Provider business units. I’ve also had end user sales responsibility for our General Territory and Public Sector teams.
If you could be anyone else for a week, who would you be? My dream job is Liverpool FC manager. One week should give me enough time to overhaul the squad, win the Premier League and conquer Europe!
What will next year’s most overhyped industry buzzword be? Cloud seems to be used to cover a number of things that the IT industry was already doing. Private cloud, public cloud, hybrid cloud, flexycloud, my cloud, your cloud… I expect to see more articles and campaigns with cloud as the topic.
Has 2012 been a good, bad or ugly year? The macro environment has been tough but NetApp has continued to drive growth with its partners and take market share. So it has been a good year in challenging times.
What would you have as your last meal? Steak, chips and a large glass of red wine.
What keeps you awake at night? As our vice chairman Tom Mendoza says, a better question is “What gets you up in the morning?” Leading a fantastic team, building successful partnerships in a dynamic market, and delivering quality solutions via our partners that address our customer’s challenges means there is no shortage of motivation to get up in the morning.
What piece of technology could you not be without? I would be lost without my Blackberry.
Have any of your predictions come true this year? The transition to “as a Service” based model for IT acquisition has become a reality and is gathering pace.
What is the best partner/customer trip you have ever been on? It’s a toss up between skiing in San Moritz and people watching in Monte Carlo.