Steve Ellis

Director, APSU

Career so far I am an ex-IBMer who has been in the channel since 1993. I set up my own company, Notability Solutions in 1999, merging with Catalyst Solutions (my previous employer) in 2000. In 2003 I did an MBO raising venture capital funds to do so. In 2005 I sold the business to Logicalis and became managing director of Logicalis Computing Solutions. While there, we bought Hawke Systems and TBC to create a $100m+ computing business in the UK. I left at the end of 2006 and in 2007 invested in Assurit, a managed services business concentrating in the IBM power market. In 2011 we bought Apex Computers - a Cisco, HP and IBM power market - merging it with Assurit to create APSU. I have also held a number of non-executive directorships in channel companies, including one based in India.

What was your first job and were you any good at it? I was a labourer in a cement factory.

Who was your top teenage pin-up? Olivia Newton-John.

My colleagues won't know this about me but... I used to be a DJ.

What is your favourite snack? A banana.

What has been your career high point to date? The most important high point is the next one; always look forward, not back.

Has 2013 been good, bad or ugly? Good - Andy Murray won Wimbledon.

What do you say when asked at a party what you do for a living? Nothing interesting.

If I wasn't working in the channel I would probably be... travelling the world.

What will be the channel's biggest challenge in 2014? Maintaining margins.