The Channel Champions panel of judges, our largest and most impressive ever, has been selected for their in-depth knowledge of the range of disciplines represented across the awards spectrum.
DEREK OWEN
IAN FISHWICK
JACKIE BOUGHTON
JO EVANS
JOHN DONOHOE
JULIE MILLS
KATE WOOD
MARK HORNSBY
MARK WHITEHEAD
PAUL STOBART
PHILIP CARSE
KATE BRUNNNING
Derek has been helping businesses in the ICT sector for well over 20+ years and founded Totem Consulting Group in 2010 to help businesses to develop their marketing strategies to provide real business growth and profitability. Derek has held senior global Business Development and Marketing board level and NED roles in Technology and Retail Businesses such as NEC, Alcatel-Lucent, THUS Telecom, Demon Internet, The Kingfisher Group and B&Q.
Ian is Chairman and Founder of AdEPT Technology Group. He was a Managing Director/CEO in the Telecoms industry and had the honour of reporting increased EBITDA for 29 consecutive years. Ian represents the Telecoms industry at Cabinet Office level on the SME Panel. He is currently Chair of the Cabinet Office Industry Working Group on Carbon Net Zero for public sector suppliers. Ian is also author of ‘The Street-Smart MBA – Mastering Business Acumen Without Going To School’.
As Barbican’s Head of Business Events and Commercial, Jackie has re-positioned its growth in the meetings and event markets, whilst incorporating the artistic offer. Previously at Wembley Stadium and Hilton, she is a major contributor to international UK and London delegations focusing on inward leisure and business tourism at global events and trade shows and regularly is on industry Advisory Boards and Award Judging panels. A winner in the supplier/venue category of the UK Event Hot 50 Awards, she has been voted third in the UK in C&IT’s top 50 Venue Heads; 18th in Event Management’s Event 100 club and has appeared in C&IT’s Power 50 – the 50 most influential people in the UK Meetings and Events Industry and in the top 20 ‘UK Event Heroes’ list (Hot 50 Prestige Events Awards).
Jo Evans has been at the ITP for over a decade, working across several functions before specialising in marketing and events. She joined ITP in 2008 with a background in IT and telecoms and drives communications with members, partners and clients. Jo also spearheads the ITP’s work to raise the profile and address industry issues including the skills gap, diversity and inclusion, women in tech and apprenticeships. During her time at the ITP, Jo has overseen 15 Annual Awards ceremonies, thousands of copies of the ITP’s members’ Journal, hundreds of seminars and countless member events.
John led sales teams at Lloyds Bowmaker, Altus Group and Comtec before co-founding resellers Essential Group and Absolute Voice & Data. He is now a partner at sales growth and leadership company Believe which has helped countless sales teams in the channel improve their KPIs.
CEO of Support to Win and Train to Win, Julie has over 25 years’ experience in the industry, having worked at large carrier and reseller companies in senior sales and service management. This provided the grounding and inspiration for establishing the Support to Win and Train to Win businesses. A ‘go-to’ expert on comms industry skills and operational excellence, Julie remains passionate about responding to the rapidly evolving needs of channel players through innovative managed services (Support to Win) and strategic personal development (Train to Win). She regularly consults with UK channel leaders on two fronts; strengthening culture and skills and fostering sustainable, profitable technical operations.
Kate Wood provides culture as a service to multiple organisations, helping them transform their employee engagement strategy to improve business performance. Passionate about D&I Kate heads up Women in Tech North and sits on the Unlimited Potential Board. Kate is an entertaining public speaker and strongly believes all dresses should have pockets.
Mark has worked in the telecoms and IT channel for approximately 25 years delivering UC and CC solutions to clients. He was Operations Director at AdEPT Technology Group Plc and is now Head of Deployment at Sycurio.. Of all the projects involved in over the years, the delivery of a 10,000 user Unified Communications and 2,000 agent Contact Centre was perhaps his biggest challenge and greatest achievement.
Having spent more than three decades across sales and marketing within the IT and communications sector, Mark has lead sales strategies and driven ambitious growth plans at a number of high-profile UK Managed Service Providers. As Channel Chief , Whitehead led the £6m turnover sales function within the GCI Group and in four and a half years helped over 300 Channel Partners adopt Cloud & Unified Communications services. Until 2022 Whitehead was Sales Director at MSP Air IT, implementing its sales re organisation post PE investment and was able to deliver growth 14% above sector norms during the height of the pandemic.
Paul has been CEO at Zen Internet since 2018. Paul’s philosophy has always been that well-led, inspired and engaged people will deliver a great customer experience which, in turn, will deliver superior performance. This philosophy aligns perfectly with the Zen ethos of putting its people first, providing customers with an exceptional service and doing business in a sustainable, ethical, transparent manner. Paul read law at Oxford, qualified with PWC, and worked in corporate finance in London and New York, before joining Interbrand, the branding consultancy. Paul moved to Sage, the FTSE-listed technology business, where he was a member of the executive team for fifteen years. He has also served as CEO of businesses in the financial service and healthcare sectors and is currently Chair of two PE-owned businesses, Total Fitness and Platinum Stairlifts.
Philip joined Megabuyte in 2009 and is a partner in the business. As well as his Chief Analyst duties, Philip’s leads Megabuyte's coverage of telecoms services companies as part of the broader ICT services coverage. Philip has around 30 years' experience in telecoms, including six years as an equity analyst with UBS, Commerzbank and Citigroup, and seven years as a management consultant with PA Consulting Group and NERA. Prior to joining Megabuyte, Philip worked as an independent telecoms analyst and consultant, advising banks, operators, investors and regulators. Philip holds a B.Sc and M.Sc in Economics from University of Southampton and Birkbeck College, University of London respectively.
Kate Brunning is the People Director of Virtual1. She joined the organisation in 2013 having previously ran her own HR consultancy. Her passion and enthusiasm for people engagement led Virtual1 to be a multi-award-winning organisation. She played a significant role in the growth journey hiring over 400 people into the organisation. Now having recently been acquired by TalkTalk Group, Kate’s role will be to lead the people strategy for Virtual1 whilst the business continues to be a stand-alone organisation. When Kate isn’t working, you can find her on a netball court or indeed taking part in a Zumba class!
Through her 10-year career, Nova worked in many different sales roles, including retail, charity, and SaaS sales before she decided it was time to share what she knew with young people to help them to get into sales careers too. Having come from a working-class background, she understands the power of the unique opportunities that exist in sales careers. AimHire creates sales opportunities for social mobility.