Role: CEO, Sumillion
What’s been your business high point of the last 12 months?
Winning the King’s Award for Enterprise for Sustainability has to be the standout moment and the proudest moment in my career. It recognised not just what Sumillion does commercially, but the values we have built the business around for many years.
Name one thing your company is looking to achieve in 2026
I want Sumillion to help change what customers expect from an IT partner. Price and service still matter, of course, but so should waste, carbon, reuse, charity, ethics and the real-world impact of every buying decision.
What keeps you awake at night as a partner leader?
Making sure we keep growing without losing what makes us different. Scale is exciting, but only if the culture, ethics and standards grow with it.
Is AI being over-hyped?
I don’t think so. I believe it represents the single biggest change to our world. However, the real issue is that too many people are just talking about it rather than using it properly to solve specific business problems.
What’s been your most successful internal AI project to date, and why?
Our most successful internal AI project has been the rollout of Tiller, an AI-powered meeting and revenue intelligence platform. It saves 15–30 minutes per meeting across the sales team and roughly over 400 hours annually, while improving data accuracy, client insights, and overall sales effectiveness.
Can you share a surprising prediction about how UK IT channel partners or the UK IT channel will evolve over the next 5 years?
I think customers will start asking much harder moral questions of their IT suppliers. The channel will have to explain not just what it sells and what it costs, but what it wastes, what it saves and what it stands for.
Which tech gizmo (hardware or software) could you not function without?
It has to be my Fitbit (Google Health) My body would feel like I’m missing something if I wasn’t wearing it. Checking in on my steps, workout and sleep quality have become part of my identity.
Which three famous people, dead or alive, would you invite to a dinner party?
Muhammad Ali because of his mindset and reinvention; Ricky Gervais, because he is brutally funny and actually cares about the world and David Attenborough, because his knowledge and experiences is second to none.
If you had a warning label, what would it say?
“Not suitable for people comfortable with how things are.” I can be loud and direct, but it comes from wanting things to be better.
Which tech figurehead has impressed you the most this year, and why?
Sabih Khan at Apple. I like that Apple’s environmental and social initiatives now sit with the person responsible for operations, because sustainability in technology has to be built into supply chains, materials, repair, recovery and real-world execution and not treated as a marketing department project.
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