SCC’s new public sector head says tech is “the greatest career” she could have picked as a working Mum, as she vowed that she’s “done hiding”.
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen, Alexandra Wilkinson characterised her move from Microsoft to the Birmingham-based VAR as a “step up”.
She takes the reins of an SCC public sector business that generates around half its £900m-plus UK revenues and counts the DWP among its clients.
Although the 65-strong team under her is roughly the same size as those she ran at Microsoft and Vodafone, Wilkinson said moving from a vendor to a partner will hand her “the ability to enact change quicker”.
“I’ve worked for global conglomerates, and if you want to make a change, it can be a struggle,” she said.
“I’m a really action-orientated person, and now I’ve been given so much empowerment and autonomy to do that.
“I see my role as trying to connect the dots. It could be there’s a social care transformation happening in local government you could replicate for clinicians in a hospital. I try and see the bigger picture of where can cross-pollinate.”
Wilkinson said her focus will be partly around helping central government bodies do more with less via technologies like AI, but also on the tech and cyber opportunities around Local Government Reorganisation (LRG).
“With LGR coming, obviously they’re going to need something like a Microsoft – I’d been working on it at Microsoft for the last 18 months,” she said.
“But it’s the partners that are going to implement those huge changes that are going to shape the way citizen experience progresses over the next few years, when LGR comes in place.”
“I thought my career would be halted by this accent”
After battling what she described as “imposter syndrome” in her 20s, Wilkinson said she’s now “done hiding” as she vowed to take on a more public-facing persona at SCC.
“I’m trying not to let my imposter syndrome stop me from doing interviews like this, or putting my hand up when I get asked to do speeches,” she said.
“That way I can have more impact, both among our customers who see us in the market, but also the people who work for me.”
Characterising herself as “normally the only northerner when I’m in London”, Wilkinson also revealed she once had elocution lessons when she was younger.
“I thought my career would be halted by this accent,” she said.
“I did six months, and even my tutor was like, ‘it’s just not happening for you’. I’ve had to embrace it, and I think it’s helped with my career.”
Wilkinson also branded tech “a great working Mum’s career”.
“I go into sixth forms and do speeches and workshops, and they say, ‘oh, I didn’t know I could do that; I only see men doing that’,” she said.
“However, I actually think it’s the greatest career I could ever have.
“I did a law degree to become a barrister. But if you look at that, you have to be in court at 8am every day.
“I managed to find a career that meant I have flexibility of remote working, and can decide my own agenda and diary. It’s worked out perfectly – and a lot of women don’t see that.
“So I like to speak about that.”
With SCC recently appointing Russell Brown as its new UK MD, Wilkinson claimed “there’s real momentum” behind the NVIDIA, Dell, Microsoft and Cisco partner, which ranked fifth in Oxygen 250 2026.
“The reason I chose SCC is the fact that everyone keeps using terms like ‘breath of fresh air’,” Wilkinson said.
“It’s a step up for me, which comes with nerves but I’m trying not to shrink away.
“I don’t want to shy away from speaking about what it is to be a woman in leadership with two kids under ten and who lives in the north – I don’t tick a lot of boxes.
“I think I can make a cultural impact in the company and wider public sector.”
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
