Vice president, channel sales, EMEA, McAfee (part of Intel Security)
What was the worst job you have ever had?
I have been really lucky and never had a really bad experience. I guess the worst was working as a graduate trainee on a three-week orientation within a marketing department which basically involved filing.
Which actor would you pick to play you in a movie of your life?
Peter Capaldi, as a number of my friends have already commented on the similarity. What do you do as your party trick? Sing (badly).
What is your favourite chocolate bar?
Any but I am a type 1 diabetic and diabetic chocolate is not very nice - so all chocolate is kind of a forbidden fruit.
What has been the highlight of your career to date? Building teams of great people.
Has 2014 been a good, bad or ugly year?
It has been good - we have seen continued strong growth for our business in EMEA driving really substantial growth for our partners.
How would you explain the IT channel to a stranger without boring them to death?
I tried this with my eight-year-old son recently and attempted to explain it in terms he would understand. I started with Lego as a manufacturer of toys, who sell through shops, on-line and so forth. The best shops (channel partners) provide extra choice, better service and fair prices. I think he got it.
Aside from the channel, my dream career would be... a military historian.
What major issues will the channel face in 2015?
There will be a continued consolidation in the security space and one major challenge for partners will be picking the vendors that can provide broad, integrated solutions that really address their customer's needs.
