Managing director, OCF
What achievement are you most proud of?
For the business, I'm proud of bringing OCF out from receivership in 2002 to its current highly successful state. More importantly, I'm proud of instilling the right values into my children; they've all got balance, they work hard and play hard. And, subsequently, they're all great successes in their own ways.
What has been the biggest change in the channel since you started working in it?
The role of the pure tin shifter seems to be disappearing. Vendors will do business direct unless there is a clear reason for them to engage the channel, and they are continuing to look to provide services themselves. As such, OCF's transition to an HPC integrator has necessitated large investments in training and support services to ensure that we are not disintermediated.
What three things could you not live without?
My golf clubs, computing power (for instance a laptop, desktop, smartphone or tablet PC), and my car - a Jaguar XJ.
What has been your most embarrassing moment so far?
I don't get embarrassed.
What do your family think you do all day?
They all think I work very hard, but both my sons and, now my grandson, have worked in the business during school holidays, work experience and so on, so they probably know the truth!
Who is your ultimate celeb crush?
Ingrid Bergman.
What is your guilty pleasure?
None! I don't feel guilty.
What would be your first act if you were made Prime Minister?
Resign.
Has 2015 been a good, bad or ugly year?
The year has had portions of all three. The IBM-Lenovo transaction caused us difficulties at the start of the year, but we came through. The continued investment from the Government into research and development is leading us to have more opportunities to sell HPC, big data and analytics solutions than ever. As for ugly - sadly, I'm just getting older and that is an ugly fact.
If you didn't work in the IT channel, what would you do?
Watch cricket, play golf and fish. I'd have to do something outside; my wife wouldn't want me in the house all the time.
What major issues will the channel face in 2016?
I can't really see much changing between now and next year. There will still be lots of talk about cloud, big data and infrastructure on demand; the technological advances will continue to come. I'd expect the Government's ideas for the 100k Genome Project and the Alan Turing Institute for Data Science to progress. Perhaps, the year will be slightly more stable - after all, there won't be an election.
