Martin Hellawell

Chairman, Softcat

Career so far I spent 12 years with the Computacenter group in the UK and France, then eight years as managing director of Softcat before moving into the chairman role last year. I'm still wondering what a chairman does.

What was your first job and were you any good at it? I ran my own catering business (barbecue on the beach) during the university summer holidays. I was doing really well until my chef caught fire.

Who was your top teenage pin-up? A combination of Bo Derek in 10 and early Debbie Harry did it for me. In fact I am thinking of that very combination right now and it still works.

My colleagues won't know this about me but... I'm secretly extremely competitive.

What is your favourite snack? I'm particularly partial to a cheesy Wotsit.

What has been your career high point to date? A Computacenter/Toshiba incentive up Everest. I think we got to 20,000ft high.

Has 2013 been good, bad or ugly? Good, but as always not without its challenges. I always tried to make myself redundant and have certainly got very close to that with the arrival of Colin [Brown, Softcat's new managing director] and an increasingly strong Softcat leadership team.

What do you say when asked at a party what you do for a living? I sell computers, because that is what I try to do.

If I wasn't working in the channel I would probably be... an international porn star for the seriously depraved.

What will be the channel's biggest challenge in 2014? Same as ever - recruiting, retaining and getting the most out of outstanding people.