PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
PCR celebrates 30 of the most innovative figures in the PC and tech industry aged under 30. Whether they’re a hotshot exec, PR/marketer or a retail master, here are the young guns…
Harry Boughton, 26, Tablets and Computing Junior Buyer,
John Lewis
Two years into his time at John Lewis, following a career which has taken him from Intel to Dixons Retail, Boughton is quickly establishing himself as a titan within the computing industry.
Iain Bristow, 28, PR Manager, AMD
Bristow joined AMD in 2011 as the marketing and PR manager for the UK and the Netherlands. Since then he has risen to the role of PR Manager, EMEA for AMD. This role has seen him own and maintain key technical relationships across his region.
Simon Buckingham, 27, UK Head of Marketing, Prestigio
Buckingham joined Prestigio UK in December 2014 as head of marketing, joining from Hama where he held the position of marketing manager, in which he grew brand awareness and communications in the UK.
David Chorlton, 24, Category Buyer, Maplin
Since Chorlton has been at Maplin, he has led the development of PC gaming online and in-store. He has worked with the industry’s leading hardware manufacturers with significant results.
Matt Clayden, 26, Buyer, Tesco
Since Clayden has held the position of PC buyer at Tesco, he has driven volume and share growth in the UK market and forged great relationships with suppliers. “He’s a credit to his team and his company,” said one account manager.
Joe Cowell, 23, PR, Text 100
Since joining, Cowell has worked with AMD to increase its brand and performance within the UK. During the last few months he has met with all key media for AMD and secured feature opportunities in publications that wouldn’t normally focus on the channel side of things.
Michelle Cross, 29, PR Account Manager, The PR Room
Having joined The PR Room just two years ago, Cross has secured coverage in key UK trade and specialist sectors, plus she has played a vital role in developing successful campaigns for key clients.
Emily Dance, 26, Account Manager, Spire Technology
Dance has been at Spire since June 2011 and has since been the only girl in the sales team. She has developed excellent relationships with her accounts and ensures she understands her customers’ needs.
Alex Phillips, 28, Director of Strategy, Northamber
Phillips began working with Northamber in late 2013, helping lead the IT distributor back to growth. Prior to that, Alex worked in real estate development, consumer healthcare and B2B electronics.
Hal Greenwood, 24,
Channel Marketing Executive, Cooler Master
Greenwood joined Cooler Master in February this year. He is knowledgeable and brings a charisma that makes talking about cases, power supplies and peripherals exciting.
Georgina Groves, 23, Head of Customer Service, Panda Security
Groves has worked in a number of roles at Panda Security, and now works with the retail product development and technical teams to ensure maximum customer satisfaction now and moving forwards.
Nabil Hadi, 26, Business Manager, Ingram Micro
Hadi was one of the first recruits for the newly formed ProAV division at Ingram Micro, initially as a product manager. Within a year he quickly moved to become one of the youngest business managers at Ingram Micro UK.
Lauren White, 23,
PR account manager, Berkeley PR
White joined as a trainee account executive and quickly proved that she had a talent for technology PR, swiftly getting promoted to account executive and then to senior account executive within a year.
Wesley Joyce, 29, Consumer PC Business Development Executive, Tech Data
Joyce joined Tech Data’s sales team in 2011, quickly making an impact on a number of areas, and helping to manage the relationships of a number of key customers.
Billy Knowles, 29, Sales Manager, Synology
Knowles joined Synology in June 2013 as a technical support consultant. He spends most of his time travelling back and forth from UK and Scandinavia and presenting
for Synology at launch events and exhibitions.
Steven Lightfoot JR, 28, Partner, Pudsey Computers
Lightfoot Jr has been with Pudsey Computers since 2002. He manages all retail sales and purchasing through a single retail store as well as multiple e-commerce sites. He also co-founded the Inventory Hub Limited – a supplier platform used to drop ship products direct to consumers.
Steven Levitt, 27, Marketing Specialist, Caseking
Levitt joined the business in 2008 as sales advisor. He quickly started to become recognised on the UK forums via his alias “5UB”, providing excellent customer support, dealing with matters in the most effective manner and building a strong positive reputation for Caseking.
Ben Macintyre, 25, Digital Marketing Manager, the IT Marketing Agency
Macintyre has always been very committed and loyal to The IT Marketing Agency and has gone out of his way to ensure he delivers great results. He is determined to constantly better himself and works hard at his own personal development as well.
Suzanne McNicholas, 27, Marketing Executive, Entatech
McNicholas goes the extra mile for the marketing department, working with the different channel teams and departments to help develop sales and marketing incentives.
She adopts the channel knowledge gained to develop marketing collateral for vendors and Entatech initiatives.
John Medley, 27, Sales and Marketing Manager, PC Specialist
Medley has done a fantastic job developing PC Specialist into a strong retail brand. He has worked diligently to differentiate the channel through a range of exclusive products. Based on this
success, PC Specialist now has products listed in 187 Maplin stores nationwide.
Danny Gaskin, 24,
Account Manager,
Target Components
Gaskin joined Target in August 2013, bringing extensive experience from working at PC World for five years. He soon shone not only in developing relationships with his customers, but also in his strong work ethic at Target. He is apparently a walking phone book and doesn’t need a CRM system.
Mark Purdy, 24,
Marketing Manager,
Overclockers UK
As an avid PC gamer, Purdy joined Overclockers UK in 2010 as its first dedicated graphic designer. With a thirst for learning, he took on various roles at the company including purchasing and marketing, with the latter enabling him to combine his design and product knowledge.
Andrew Robinson, 21, Creative Engineer, Utopia
Robinson started working for Utopia Computers two years ago. He joined the team from a creative background in product design, 3D modeling and graphic design, bringing an array of skills with him to help further Utopia’s growth. He is now working on strengthening the Utopia brand and image.
Stuart Saw, 28, Regional Director, Twitch
Saw has been a staple in the gaming industry and has led the massive growth of Twitch across the UK and EMEA. He’s been influential in its expansion, engaging with big brands in the gaming space, but also in parallel markets and industries that benefit from the 100 million-plus captive audience.
Saad Sultan, 25, Supply Chain Executive, GfK
Sultan joined GfK in April 2013 as a reporting executive. He learnt his role very quickly and showed great commercial promise, analysing trends and building insightful reports. Only a month into the new team he helped build a solid reporting base and signed new clients to the GfK catalogue.
Jess Tyley, 28, Account Manager, Westcoast
Tyley has worked incredibly hard over the last six months to re-brand Westcoast in its entirety. She has worked tirelessly to encompass company values and given incredible support and resources to her team, which in turn has allowed the marketing team to deliver ever-better service to Westcoast customers.
Kieran Vineer, 26, Distribution Account Manager, TP-Link
Since joining TP-LINK in 2013, Vineer has demonstrated his commitment and professionalism in every sales and business review meeting with key accounts. His professional nature ensures great relationships with sales teams, meaning he is the first port of call for queries.
Nicki Wells, 29,
Corporate Marketing Manager, F-Secure
Wells is one of the top marketers in F-Secure globally. She has been involved in campaigns including F-Secure’s SAFE and the “Switched on Families” campaign with Virgin Media, and managed qualitative consumer and corporate studies for global use throughout the company.
Danny Young, 25, Features Editor/
Content Marketing Manager, Ebuyer
Since joining Ebuyer.com in 2013 as the features editor for its blog, Young has progressed to content marketing manager. He is now in charge of working with buyers, manufacturers and agencies to create new articles, videos and features for the Ebuyer.com blog.
Paul Yung, 28, UK Operations and Product Management, Hannspree
Yung joined Hannspree UK headquarters in July 2012 as operations assistant. He quickly proved himself an invaluable asset for Hannspree. Paul was recently promoted to the product management team, which sees him involved with market research and the testing of new products.
