Richard Lockey

What has been your personal highlight of 2020?

I'm not sure I have a highlight of 2020 yet. It's been a very strange year - I would have to say my family, friends and colleagues all being well…my kids managing to survive home schooling, and Crayon continuing to grow.

Which three celebrities would you invite to a Zoom party?

Oh, the dreaded Zoom parties! I'd go for Roy Keane, Alan Shearer and Patrick Viera - then I'd sit back and enjoy!

What has been your guiltiest lockdown pleasure?

BBQs for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Hooray for the Great British weather!

Which tech figurehead has inspired you most this year, and why?

For a tech figurehead, probably Jack Dorsey for trying to manage the new era of free speech. However, I think the most inspirational figurehead of 2020 is Jacinda Ardern.

What piece of technology, or app, have you not been able to do without during the pandemic?

From a business standpoint, Teams. It made things easier than they otherwise would have been - but from a personal perspective, Netflix and Spotify.

If you could be anyone else for a week, who would you be and what would you do?

Rory McIlroy, play in the Ryder Cup and beat the USA at the K Club in Ireland.

Do you miss face-to-face events?

Absolutely, I miss the networking side of things, the social side - I guess I had better get used to it.

How will COVID leave its mark on the way the channel operates long term?

I'm not sure there is a huge difference. There's the obvious working practices, more video calls, fewer face-to-face meeting/events etc, but I think that's the way it was going anyway. The biggest legacy will be on people in the channel having to step up knowledge-wise, become experts in their field and not rely on the one ‘expert' in their organisation.