Jane Silk

General manager of Sigma Software Distribution

Career history: Vendor relations manager at Sigma; marketing manager at Sigma

Measure of influence: Responsible for the whole company, overseeing relationships with more than 200 vendors

Activities to advance women in tech: Encourage and mentor female staff throughout the business

How significant an issue do you see the lack of women in the UK IT channel?
It's a really significant issue because it's completely unrepresentative of the number of women working in the UK companies who are buying the IT from the channel, making our industry unreflective of the companies we sell to. I believe in recruiting solely on merit, not a gender benchmark but I know women have a lot to offer the UK channel - given the opportunity.