The channel has spoken.
IT Channel Oxygen can today unveil the 25 women and men who made the cut for the third annual edition of our crowdsourced (anti) power list, Oxygen Influencers 2026.
Over the summer, we asked as many people as possible to tell us who they felt was driving positive industry change, but from outside the boardroom.
From the names they put forward, we selected the 25 we felt best embodied the Oxygen Influencers ideal.
Created in association with Nebula Global Services, Oxygen Influencers is designed to highlight those pushing the boundaries in areas such as DEI, ESG, schools outreach or emerging business models. It also singles out a few up-and-coming leaders of tomorrow, and those who have achieved something above and beyond the norm.
Download the report here.
Cream of the channel crop
This year’s crop includes a former bus driver who founded Microsoft’s UK Social Mobility Network, a women in cyber champion who has been Cyber Citizen of the Year, and a former UK Asian Bollywood choreographer turned AI solutions lead.
With the UK IT channel still facing a skills shortage, how can the industry make itself more attractive to the next generation of talent, we asked our quarter century of power players?
“I think the next generation is fascinated by the power of AI,” responded Jonathan Bridge, Head of Managed Services at Techary, who made the cut partly on the strength of his reputation for mentoring colleagues.
“We need to inspire people to use it for good and share stories about the power of technology and how it can be used for the better,” he added.
Oxygen Influencers now has its own momentum, as alumni from the 2024 and 2025 editions (see here and here) continue to build ties with each other.
This includes Pax8 AI ace Andy Readman, who joined us for a podcast this summer to talk through how his inclusion in the first year’s edition of Oxygen Influencers inspired him to return to his old school to promote the IT sector.
And new bonds were forged when 24 of the 50 Influencers joined us for (virtual) clay pigeon shoot and networking last November (see here).
Those represented this year work for vendors and including Microsoft, Softcat, Natilik, CDW, Bechtle, Computacenter, Bell Integration and Trustmarque Ultima.
Who made the cut for this year’s report? See here.
