Judges

David has spent the last decade reporting on and delivering insights for the Business Communications market. With a specialism in channel ecosystems, David is passionate about dynamic and innovative partner businesses.

David started his media career reporting on the algorithmic trading landscape before turning his attention to telecoms in 2012. Since the beginning of his career, he has spent time developing and delivering media propositions for the market which include events, awards and new media formats such as live broadcasts and podcasts.

These days, you will find David hosting industry discussions across the Today Digital brands and using his publishing experience to help push new innovative initiatives for the communications market.

David lives in the Southeast of England with his family.

Jay McBain is one of the most visible and respected thought leaders in the global channel ecosystem. Named 2021 Channel Influencer of the Year by Channel Partners Magazine, Top 40 Under Forty by the Business Review, as well as numerous channel magazines top influencer lists, he is often sought out for industry guidance and future trends.

He has spent his 28-year career in various executive channel sales, marketing, and strategy roles within IBM, Lenovo, Autotask, ChannelEyes, and Forrester. Jay is chief analyst at Canalys – the world’s leading research firm with a distinct focus on channels, partnerships, alliances, and ecosystems.

With over 35 years in the industry, he is the Founder and Chief Global Analyst at Techaisle – a global leader in SMB, Midmarket, and channel partner research and industry analysis. Previous to Techaisle, Anurag headed Gartner’s Worldwide Research Operations. He began his analyst career with IDC, where he launched IDC’s well-known quarterly market share tracker research. Frequently referred to as SMB Guru, Anurag Agrawal is a prominent industry analyst and is one of the top 10 analysts to follow in SMB, Midmarket, and Channel Partner segments. An analytical speaker and blogger, Anurag specializes in developing go-to-market strategies and advises senior executives on the cloud, partner programs, ecosystems, routes-to-market, emerging technologies, and industry dynamics.

Janet Schijns is CEO and Co-Founder of JS Group, a go to market acceleration firm dedicated to achieving results in the Channel Megacosm. She serves on the Board of Directors for AvePoint, and Ninjio and regularly advises top technology firms on their go to market. Janet is a top 10 CEO Disruptor 2021, Top 10 Women in Technology 2020, 2021 (Analytics Insights), Top 50 Technology Influencers 2020, 2021 (Awards Magazine), Top 50 Channel Influencer (Channel Futures) and was named Channel Influencer of the year in 2019 beating out a slate of nominees from the top tech firms in the world, she has been in the top 5 influencers every year for the past decade. She was formerly EVP and CMSO at Office Depot and prior to that, she was the Chief Channel Executive, Chief Marketing Technologist and ran business products for Verizon. Additionally, Janet ran the channel organization for Motorola Enterprise and Government and is a noted and admired channel expert in the industry regularly appearing on the main stage at a variety of events.

Janet has spent the past two decades making a difference in our industry, as an executive and as a consultant and trusted advisor. She is dedicated to the advancement of Women in Technology, co-founding her not for profit “Tech World’s Half” in 2017 to address the issue of women dropping out of technology. She has coached, mentored, and counseled hundreds of Women in the industry to success and is regularly called upon to speak about empowering and advancing Women in the technology industry.

Located in the Boston, MA area, Dan focuses on workplace communications & collaboration technologies, with emphasis on visual collaboration (digital whiteboarding), interactive touch displays, and wireless sharing and presentation solutions. He has a decade’s worth of experience in enterprise hardware and software with roles in business development, partnerships, product growth, strategic planning, and product development.

Adam is a founder and Director of Knight, developing the business alongside Paul from inception to a market leading corporate finance boutique, and personally leads transactions from preparation through to completion. Prior to this he had over 15 years experience in the telecoms and technology sector. He was a founder shareholder of V Networks a reseller which was acquired by Opal Telecom in September 2008 and prior to this he worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers Corporate Finance as lead advisor for telecommunication transactions. Adam is also a Director of Knight R&D, a R&D tax relief consultancy, and Advisory Board member of fund:tmt, a small TMT investment fund.

After starting, growing, and selling my own MSP Business, ‘Not a Business Coach’ was created to help Business Owners of aspiring MSPs reach their goals.

Over the last decade, I built a Managed Services Provider in the UK and took it from £0 in the bank and zero staff through to over £1.2m in turnover, a team of 16 staff, and, of course, everything else that comes with running a business.

‘Not a Business Coach’ came about when I was approached by multiple MSP owners asking for my help and is fuelled by an industry where most ‘Business Coaches’ have never run their own business, let alone know the nuances involved in running an MSP.

I’ve worked in the IT industry for over 20 years and have worked with businesses of all sizes specifically to improve their IT Systems, Processes, and Support.

Throughout my journey of running my business, I began sharing everything I could about how I ran and grew my business via my YouTube channel which has now amassed over 43,000 subscribers.

Husband, Father of 2, Drummer, Ice Hockey player, and multiple Business Owner – I love to meet new people and try to help improve businesses, primarily by using technology – but also in so many areas where business owners aren’t getting the help they need to be successful.

‘Not a Business Coach’, because I’m not a business coach. I’m an MSP owner who likes to help other MSP owners.

Lucy is CEO and Founder of Larato – a business development agency – where she leads her team in collaborating with C-suite Executives and Sales Leaders of European B2B technology companies to put their buyers front-and-centre when developing go-to-market plans. By partnering with our customers, we work together to create bespoke and evidence-based plans that are proven to engage more customers, add buyer-centric value, drive revenue growth, and achieve competitive advantage. Larato works with data, not dogma because success is all about the ROI. Lucy was recognised by Enterprise Nation this year as one of the UK’s top business development advisors, and the only one working in technology.

Scott is a Tech Strategy professional who has worked in the MSP industry for over 20 years.  Working at some of the UK’s largest IT service providers, Scott built and lead the Cloud teams, platforms and commercial models which helped hundreds of clients on their digital journey away from rubbish IT solutions. Helping businesses move to awesome cloud services which actually make a difference to their teams and their customers.

In April 2019, Scott founded Cloud Nexus, a Microsoft 365 and Azure niche-focus consultancy firm in Leeds. Working alongside Microsoft Partners, the business supports the MSP community to develop their offerings around Microsoft 365, Teams and Azure.

Prachi Nema works with Omdia, the technology research division of Informa Tech. She specializes in enterprise communications and collaboration technologies, including videoconferencing equipment and services, and UCaaS. Prachi has over 20 years of telecom industry experience and expertise in service provider strategies, next-generation technologies, and fixed/mobile convergence. She has authored numerous market share and forecast reports, white papers, and service provider and end-user studies on topics across the telecommunications market.

Prachi has worked as a software engineer and telecom analyst with various telecom companies and boutique research firms. She holds an engineering degree in Electronics and Telecommunications from SGSITS, India, and an MBA from Henley Business School, UK.