Life in the Channel


individuals and the collective team to do what they need to, to achieve the targets.


How have your views on partner relationships evolved over time? Being out of the channel for nearly eight years while I was travelling meant that many of the relationships I did have had dissolved, mainly as people had moved on, and new players had come in who I didn’t know. I had to restart and regrow those relationships from scratch. Establishing relationships takes time; people don’t


know you, they have no trust and no concept of your commitment to them or your brand. Setting out your stall from day one and making clear your ethical and moral codes as to how you will resolve issues and conflicts in the channel goes a long way to generate that trust, but it takes years to develop, and a few good wins under your belt to establish that you are winners. You need a team of people working with you who understand and support those same codes while building trust. In business, there are three important relationships: first, with your


employer and how they develop themselves, understand the channel and work towards their goals. Second is with your team and how they portray the messages and solutions you can provide, and how they build trust. Ten thirdly is with the customers in your channel, whether that is distributor, VAR or end-user, you and your team will be judged on how you deliver on your promise.


What attracted you to join AOC? I had already taken two startup brands to multi-million, profitable businesses, and I knew I could do it again. Building and developing a team around me, creating the right relationships within the channel and delivering the result for the business and for our customers made that challenge something I wanted to do. I already knew some of the senior team members within the group,


so the decision was easy at the time. Te structure of our company was decisively lean from the start, and this has continued to keep us fluid, dynamic and able to make good planning decisions very quickly without unnecessary overhead or corporate burden to slow us down. In Q4 2025, we smashed all previous records in our market,


shipping over 615,000 monitors in 2025 in the UK and Ireland in both the highly competitive consumer e-tail and retail channels, and the relationship-driven B2B markets at corporate, enterprise and SMB levels in the finance, public sector, education and general business verticals. Te buzz of achievement is what drives the team and me in all


sectors. It’s like a revving engine; it never turns off, but occasionally you get on the throttle and rev as hard as you can to make things happen. It is our customer base who make that happen – without the relationships through our channel partners at all levels, we could not drive the business in the way we do. It’s been exciting to be part of the wider European team over the


past 15 years, to help create the structure and be privy to the new developments on the horizon. I should be planning my succession and retirement in a few years, but I love it and love this business and don’t see that changing any time soon.


50 | March/April 2026


What trends do you believe will have the biggest impact on the channel over the next three to five years?


Te biggest trends – no matter what the politicians say – are still the environmental factors affecting the supply chain, procurement, deployment, and ultimately recycling. Big tenders and small ones alike are carrying ESG or CSA qualifications, and those objectives are becoming more and more important. Our work with external agencies and charities is ensuring our own ESG message grows year on year, not just to meet expectations but to exceed them. Challenging the factors that create those parameters and ensuring we


can provide the proof and evidence to support our messaging is vital and will continue to be for the coming years.


What skills do you think the next generation of channel leaders will need? I would say that my experience across all channels in many business types has helped me vastly. Tese are not things taught in a classroom; they are years of putting into practice what you preach and proving without doubt that the chosen path is the right one. Of course, I’ve made mistakes, had to scrap ideas, move goalposts, and change strategies – these are the practices you learn and are quite normal. Recognising those mistakes and adapting to the change is the challenge needed for any new leader. Te ability to have a helicopter view of your channel and being able to see when and where you need to change are skills any good business leader will need for the future.


Is there a piece of advice you wish you’d been given earlier in your career? Yes, make sure you generate and balance time outside of work for the things that are important to you – be it family, hobbies, personal goals or charitable work. Make sure you have diversified interests that create downtime for you to clear your head. With the pressures of business, it’s all too easy to get to a stage of burnout if you don’t have those outlets to relieve the pressure. For me its riding motorbikes – riding, trips and watching racing –


as well as golf, family and friends. I can’t wait for weekends, and when work does encroach, I get frustrated with myself for not planning my time correctly. Tis is my most important message: make sure you have planned your time, because things can slip away quickly if you don’t. And don’t create anything you might regret in the future.


Would like your legacy to be? I hope the legacy of the team we are developing will continue to evolve, and the succession of the people in the team will carry forward the same values we have set, and the same codes we have established with our network of customers. Te junior team leaders with our customers will be the senior leaders of tomorrow, and building those relationships now will bring rewards for the next 20 years. I want our channel partners to look back and see where we started and remember those values. I want our team to continue to provide those solutions with the same values of trust and integrity beyond my years with the company. Te odd invite to a golf game or two wouldn’t go amiss either!


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