PCR’s Top 25 Women in Tech 2019

Each year, our diversity-themed issue features a Top 25 Women in Tech list, with people nominating inspirational and influential women working in the UK IT and tech channel.

We have once again had an abundance of high-quality entries from across the distribution, vendor, retail, reseller and channel services arenas. It was tough whittling the list down to just 25 people, and we really wish we could list everyone that was nominated. Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter, and good luck for 2020’s list!

Back to this year, in alphabetical order by company name, here are your Top 25 Women in Tech for 2019:

CARMEN ENE
CEO – 3 Step IT

“With a highly successful 25-year career in international management positions in IT and financing, Carmen has led the technology lifecycle management company 3 Step IT as CEO since 2015. Since joining the company, Carmen has changed its attitudes towards sustainability, ensuring it’s a consistent theme driving change throughout the business. As a result, she has shaped a sustainable business model which has become 3 Step IT’s competitive differentiator. Carmen is a mentor to others and involved in the UK Leasing Foundation’s diversity and inclusion initiatives.”

HALEY MCPHERSON
Global Marketing Director – AddOn Networks

“Assuming her role as global marketing director, Haley devised a plan which resulted in the successful launch of AddOn in the EMEA region. Through a new brand strategy, she has disrupted the market and brought understanding around third-party optics. The focus was on differentiating the value and creating brand personality with a plan to grow and lead the market. By implementing the tried and tested strategy that worked so well in the US, AddOn saw significant growth in the EMEA region. Haley’s messaging has added a touch of personality in a product-lead industry and as a result, AddOn has become well established in EMEA.”

LINDA HASSALL
Managing Director – Agent42 EMEA

“Linda is the managing director of Agent42 EMEA, a marketing agency which specialises in PR, creative content, staffing and events, with experiential marketing at the heart of every they do. She has a wealth of experience in the technology and entertainment verticals with stints at Warner Bros, Nintendo and Acer UK. Agent42 operate virtually and she empowers her team to work remotely and achieve a great work life balance with flexible working locations and hours. The team embraces the latest technology and cloud solutions to help make this happen and drive success in all they do.”

CHERYL WHEELER
UK Retail Sales Manager for AOC and Philips monitors – AOC / MMD

“Before joining AOC / MMD, Cheryl spent most of her career as business development for displays at distributor Exertis, covering desktop monitors, large format displays, and projectors sales in B2B as well as retail channels. In her position as UK retail sales manager for AOC and Philips monitors, she is working with UK customers in both online and storefront sales, including companies such as Dixons Retail, Amazon, John Lewis, Shop Direct, and ao.com. Having held managerial positions at Exertis for over two decades, Cheryl brought a strong sales background to AOC / MMD.”

JEKATERINA ORLOVA
COO – Augnet

“Jekaterina is an authority in business development and strategy, in particular in setting up early-stage tech companies for success. Following ten years at Skype and Microsoft, Jekaterina worked as a senior technology consultant at Deloitte, specialising in cloud services, connectivity and digital workplace transformation within the financial services industry. Following this, she advised and scaled a number of tech start-ups and SMEs. In 2018 Jekaterina joined Augnet, where her boundless energy and focus have moved the company at a fast pace towards its goals, and have enabled it to push past every milestone ahead of target.”

LISA YATES
Senior Sales Manager – BenQ

“As senior sales manager for BenQ’s corporate product ranges, Lisa is the highest performing sales person across all products, creating £3.4 million revenue in 2018, managing relationships with three accounts in BenQ’s top ten resellers. As a mother and woman, operating in a heavily male industry, she both manages her role in sales as well as developing a team with a supportive and high performing culture. She commands respect from her direct team as well as the wider operational management of the business and is recognised as a vital part of the business as it continues ambitious growth plans in 2020.”

ANTONIA DICKINSON
Senior Business Manager for Desktops and Monitors – Box

“Antonia has an incredible drive and passion for what she does at Box, which rubs off on everybody who meets her, and she is always last in the office to go home due to her dedication in the role. She has successfully grown the monitor category at Box by 30% year-on-year and developed outstanding vendor and supplier relationships. Antonia has also taken on the desktop category, which is already on track to over achieve on 2019 company targets with high expectations for 2020. She has also taken time out of her role to help develop and mentor junior members of the team.”

ALEX DAWSON
Head of Operations – BT Shop

“Alex is a machine. She is a force of nature and a huge reason for BT Shop’s success. Her level of knowledge, passion and commitment to BT and her team is unwavering. She’s been the driving force to support all the CX and logistics for the hugely-successful Gift with Purchase campaigns – where hundreds of thousands of new or retained BT customers have received gifts when taking or keeping a service (such as broadband, TV, Sport and mobile). Alex does all this without shouting from the rooftops, just a head down and ‘get stuff done’ attitude, leading her team in a passionate and enthusiastic way.”

LUCY LINCOLN
Senior Channel Marketing Manager – BullGuard

“Having joined BullGuard in 2013, Lucy is 100% responsible for BullGuard’s global channel marketing. She has built the channel marketing strategy from the ground up, implemented a successful solid tiered partner program, defined and enhanced BullGuard’s channel partnership offering and has actively sought and recruited new partners to deliver incremental revenue to the business. Lucy has a personable, hands-on relationship with BullGuard’s partners, making frequent visits to understand their key business objectives in the current market climate.”

EMMA­-BETH ANTHONY
Head of Sales – Cameo

“Emma-Beth is a highly experienced sales professional with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. Joining Cameo as sales manager in September 2018, in just a year she has already made a transformational impact on the business, with her efforts contributing to a 32% increase in total revenue and driving customer renewal rate to 82%. She has continuously shown her dedication to building and cementing a strong sales arm for the business, and delivering an astounding service as a channel partner to form truly valuable relationships with both new and existing customers.”

SAM LAILEY
HR Director – Centerprise International

“Sam Lailey is a dynamic board executive and a first-class HR professional who stands out as an exemplar on how to drive effective organisational and cultural change. As the appointed board member responsible for the ‘People’ change programme within the company’s strategic growth plan, Sam has demonstrated exceptional leadership qualities in the way she has inspired, mentored and developed her all-female HR team to effect a positive change in culture across the company. She has leveraged her strong network of fellow female professionals across industry to provide specialist input into this extensive change programme.”

TANITH RUSSELL
Senior Sales Manager – CMS Distribution

“Tanith’s team has delivered constantly against the targets set, with 22% YoY growth – £13 million more than the previous year. Having a motivated team is what delivers success and Tanith is a manager who works at gaining her team’s trust and not demanding it. She encourages them to have a voice and get them involved in making a difference. She is a believer in training people and giving them the skills to be awesome. Coaching on a daily basis is a core part of her role.”

VALERIE VACANTE
Founder and Managing Partner – Collabsco

“Over the past year, Collabsco’s founder and managing partner Valerie Vacante has evolved its groundbreaking Connected Play Landscape – now featuring over 250+ companies. She launched TechUp alongside Peter Jenkinson, featured at Wired Live, CES and SXSW. She engineered a partnership with SoSound and Firebolt Games to design revolutionary technology to transform physical and digital connected product experiences, as well as architecting a collaboration between a traditional UK-based gaming company and an immersive technology company to create a new gaming experience (to be announced late autumn 2019).”

CAROLINE HOPE
Consumer Commercial Director – Exertis

“Caroline has recently been promoted to consumer commercial director, which is a testament to the hard work, dedication and ability she has shown in her career. She has played an instrumental role in establishing Exertis as the industry leader in the smart tech category as well as significantly growing the consumer and commodity networking business units. Caroline brings a positive and collaborative approach to her role by maintaining long-lasting and high-value relationships with her vendors, customers and colleagues. She leads from the front, setting an example for her team and inspiring individuals to be the best that they can be.”

HANNAH ZEMZAM
Event Manager – Hikvision UK / EZVIZ UK

“The amount of events involved with Hikvision and EZVIZ are forever increasing and Hannah has demonstrated an amazing ability to show excellent project management skills across the two brands and deliver exceptional events, which are delivering outstanding results for the business. Seeing a project that can last over six months is a hard thing to do when there are several occurring simultaneously, and Hannah seems to take this in her stride and show so much passion and drive to never drop the quality of experience and results to any event no matter how big or small.”

MARIA JACKSON
Director of Marketing – Ingram Micro

“Maria is an inspirational leader. As an exceptional forwarding-thinking marketeer, her direction leads the team to transformative marketing initiatives. She advocates data driven marketing, leading the team to both successful and tangible results, pushing them to think outside the box. The dedication that Maria commits to her team is truly incredible. Individual support, growth and development are a priority for Maria, and her colleagues say it is a joy to work with her and both her positive energy and smile are infectious, making her a true role model.”

ANN KEEFE
Regional Director for UK & Ireland – Kingston Technology

“Ann is responsible for driving the business for Kingston Technology and HyperX, for all product lines within the corporate and public sectors. This year, Ann has been working closely with her team to drive the strategy for the UK and Ireland. 2019 started with a bang – in Q1, Kingston won the PCR Components Vendor of the Year award, and her continued efforts have seen Kingston evolve over the course of the year. There have been several major product launches, enabling the brand to increase its presence in growing market sectors including server, datacenter, encryption and gaming, adding further value to its channel partners.”

TIRENE DOEPEL
Head of Marketing – Network Group

“Tirene says that creating and delivering the marketing and engagement strategy for Network Group can be a balancing act between ensuring that the members have access to the best opportunities ahead of the curve, and making sure vendor partners achieve the best possible traction and buy in. In what has been a year of transformational change for the Group, she and her team have created and delivered over 250 partner campaigns, five large-scale conferences and 22 engagement strategies for some of the channel’s preeminent brands, resulting in an average of 30% growth.”

NICOLA UPE
Vendor Marketing Manager – SCC

“There is no denying that Nicola goes above and beyond in her role as vendor marketing manager at SCC. She sets a fine example to the team on how effort and perseverance pays off in the form of high achievement. In 2017/18, the product revenue for SCC was £572 million (incl services) and this increased the following year by £100 million. This was partly due to the range of new marketing materials introduced by Nicola, and the way in which she improved collaboration between vendor and services business.”

SAMEHRA MALIK
Channel Marketing Manager – Seagate

“Samehra Malik is the manager of Seagate’s channel marketing. She has coordinated product launches for Northern Europe, and has been a leading figure in creative professional focused LaCie marketing. She has also launched official sponsorship with BFI for LaCie in the UK. Furthermore, Samehra has managed the Seagate exhibit at BVE2019, Media Production Show and TPS.”

NICOLE LIN
Managing Director of UK, Ireland and Nordics – Synology

“Over the past 12 months and beyond, Nicole has continued to inspire her staff towards self-improvement in both a professional and personal capacity. This has been achieved via a combination of her exceptional leadership qualities alongside her driven determination. Whilst keeping the team focused on increasing the brand awareness, driving sales, and maintaining a high level of customer service she ensures that all staff members are looked after with her recently introducing well-being sessions, massages and cycle to work scheme to help staff maintain a healthy work/life balance.”

VICKY SIDDALL
Business Development Lead – Technology To Go

“Vicky is the entrepreneurial spirit behind the success of Technology To Go. Established to capitalise on the collaborative advantage of The Network Group’s vendor partnerships and deliver a purchasing service to its members, TTG has now become an essential part of many of its member companies, turning over £1.3 million with a YoY growth of over 20%. With margins tight, fighting for single points at times, creating what is essentially a VAD from the ground up could be considered a daunting challenge – one Vicky meets head on every day.”

JENNIFER COX
Security Engineer EMEA – Tenable

“Jennifer has 14 years of experience in tech and works with customers across EMEA in enabling best practices and cyber exposure prevention. She has worked hard over the years to grow from a junior tech role of primarily admin nature in a company with only males in technical roles, to exceeding the expectations of her management and colleagues. Jennifer is an active member of the National Women’s Council of Ireland, is an advisory board member of the Leaders in Tech Ireland, Women in Technology and Science Ireland, and works hard to ensure diversity and inclusion within her industry.”

ALICIA SHEPHERD
Sales Director – Terra

“Since joining Terra, Alicia has rebuilt the sales team, delivered 300% growth with Network Group, on track to achieve 40% YoY UK company growth in 2019. The UK is now the 2nd largest server territory within the Wortmann Group, driven by the relationship she brokered with Continuum and the BDR offering that they have. As sales director, she is responsible for the sales and admin teams, in conjunction, she also manages a number of reseller accounts so she can lead by example with her team, who know that she will always go the extra mile.”

EMMA LATTIMER
Marketing Manager – TP-Link

“Demand generation for brands with a 100% channel sales model is complex. Using data and insights from social platforms, Emma recently built a business case for a demand generation campaign. For the duration of the campaign, Google Ads drove traffic to a bespoke landing page where visitors were captured by the Facebook Pixel and nurtured through a funnel, driving prospects to participating partners. In the first two weeks there were 21 successful free gift claims demonstrating that with a clearly thought through CTA and targeting, TP-Link can run its own cost effective demand gen activity to support its partners.”

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