Mark Evans
Commercial director, Imerja
Career so far I worked in the NHS for two years after university before moving to Hong Kong where I had a number of jobs, including managing an Italian restaurant. When I returned home I had a brief spell with Cable and Wireless before joining Satelcom in 2001. I was a founder member of Imerja and have been with the company ever since we formed in 2004.
What was your first job and were you any good at it? I was a pizza delivery boy for my local takeaway before I went to uni. I was good at it, apart from one time my car broke down and I received a few angry phone calls from hungry customers.
Who was your top teenage pin-up? Kylie - and she still is.
My colleagues won't know this about me but... I once jumped out of a plane for a good cause - fortunately I was attached to a parachute at the time.
What is your favourite snack? At home I conform to the fresh fruit diet to encourage the kids to eat healthily, but the truth is curly fries and anything chocolate.
What has been your career high point to date? Being part of the Imerja journey since it started, and achieving record turnover and profitability this year.
Has 2013 been good, bad or ugly? It has been great. We made some key appointments to our senior management team that have really made an impact in terms of streamlining the business and helping us to secure new deals. The investment we have made in developing our own Video as a Service (VaaS) offering has delivered tremendous benefits in a number of healthcare organisations and this continues to be an important growth area for us.
What do you say when asked at a party what you do for a living? I say I am a director at an IT services company, a relatively small business but with national coverage, delivering 24-hour managed services and providing niche services to customers, especially in the public sector.
If I wasn't working in the channel I would probably be... doing a similar role in another SME - I really enjoy the variety and flexibility of working in a small business environment.
What will be the channel's biggest challenge in 2014? Agility and innovation. Companies in the channel can sometimes become complacent when really they need to keep motivated and react to the changing market around them. As their business develops resellers need to ensure that they look for market trends, emerging technologies and new opportunities in order to innovate and remain competitive.