CRN MSP Transform

Alex Ford has been a leader in the IT channel for the best part of a decade, only pausing to spend a year in Chile teaching English in 2010. Alex has built a considerable network and has a wealth of experience, having been an integral part of building the EMEA Channel at Datto before IT Glue. A highly knowledgeable and passionate channel expert, Alex has been part of IT Glue EMEA since its inception and continues to lead the team in his capacity as Sales Director EMEA.

Amyn is a proven and experienced architect and technical design authority who has an in-depth understanding of end-user requirements and experience in a wide range of transformative technologies. He joined Ultima in 2013 and has been responsible for establishing and building its Intelligent Automation Practice to provide Ultima’s customer-base with services to digitally transform their businesses including RPA, Data Analytics and IoT services.

Chad Jones has spent the last 10 years building Park Place Technologies’ Channel division in their global headquarters in Cleveland, US. He oversaw multimillion dollar revenue increases, and pioneered industry-leading programs that highlighted collaboration between direct and indirect sales teams.



As of January 2020, Chad has relocated to London, UK for a 3-year assignment with the intent of bringing those same Channel strategies to the UK channel market. Chad is joined in the UK with his wife and 8-year old son. When he’s not working, Chad enjoys spending time with his family. They have fallen in love with London and are taking the opportunity to experience all it has to offer.

Prior to setting up government procurement consultancy Advice Cloud in 2014, Chris had been involved in Public Sector procurement for over 20 years in sales, management and consultancy roles. He has worked for the likes of DEFRA and The Metropolitan Police Service. Chris has extensive experience in local government working with Brighton and Hove City Council, East Sussex County Council, Croydon Council and many more.

Fiona Challis is a global channel enablement and sales expert and a highly sought after speaker and trainer on partner & sales transformation, driving predictable and profitable growth and selling change, not products. Fiona has earned many accolades from the best leaders in the technology world like HPE, Microsoft, Google, Cisco, TechData, Mc Afee and many Top VARS and MSP’s globally. She is praised for her leading edge training programs, her market knowledge and ability to see several steps ahead, her unique and innovative approach to sales transformation, her passion for helping sales people of today to succeed in a rapidly changing market and her infectious enthusiasm!



Fiona won the 2018 CRN Award for Best Partner Training Initiative for her partner transformation program, The Mentori Program and Next Gen Sales Academy. Fiona’s mission for the partners that she works with is to help them create a MSP business that investors love and competitors envy.

Marian is a reporter at CRN, a role she has held since April 2018. She has covered a wide array of topics concerning the channel, including the skills shortage, digital transformation and private equity acquisitions. She spearheads the Big Interview series on CRN, speaking with CEOs of some of the biggest companies in the channel.

Mark is the founder of Wisecurve, which brings together a number of his ventures. He is the author of the books, MSP Secrets Revealed and Helpdesk Habits, as well as being the creator of the online customer service video program of the same name. He is a regular conference speaker on the subject of customer service and the power of habits. He runs TechTestimonials.com – the only video / written testimonial service dedicated to the tech industry.

Mehul is a partner and leads tech investing at August Equity, sitting on the investment committee.



He is on the Board and involved in the investment of Charterhouse Voice and Data and recently exited cyber security provider SecureData to Orange Cyber Defence.



His other investments in tech and tech related businesses include Wax Digital (SaaS e-procurement), Zenergi (Energy services in education) British Assessment Bureau (ISO Compliance and e-learning) and Planit Holdings (CAD CAM software) which was exited to Vero Software.



He is a chartered accountant by background, qualifying at PricewaterhouseCoopers and completed an Economics degree at the University of London.

Pradip is an experienced investment banker within the technology, media and telecommunications sector. He is responsible for a wide range of advisory work and has managed over 70 assignments at Regent in the areas of acquisition, divestment and sale of businesses, funding, valuation and strategy consulting. Assignments include the recent sale of InfoFlex (software that supports free-flow of patient information in the UK) to Civica, divestment of AIControl Point (crisis and incident management software business) from Access Intellience Plc. to the Norwegian company, OneVoice, the sale of Widget (a European wearable technology distributer) to CMS Distribution, divestment of Due North (strategic sourcing software company), from Access Intelligence Plc. to Proactis Plc; sale of Crimsonwing Plc (ERP and eCommerce solutions specialising in Microsoft Dyanamics, Magento and Intershop) to KPMG; sale of Oasis Medical Solutions (EPR and PAS Software company) to Allscripts Medical Solutions Inc; sale of Altimate (enterprise systems distributor) to Arrow Electronics, sale of PSCAL (financial management software company) to Civica; sale of Codework (security software distributor) to Altimate Group; divestment of IQ-Sys (virtualisation and network management distributor) from QA IQ to SCD, sale of Talisman Software S.A (IT resourcing) to Vedior, acquisition of Logan Orviss International (Telecoms Consulting) on behalf of Patni Computer Systems (now i-Gate), sale of Centia and AKS, (both pan European distributors of Network infrastructure products) to DNSint.com AG, and the reverse sale of Data Technology Group Plc (IT Services) into Innovise Plc.

Phil Godfrey has over 20 years’ experience in the IT industry since having graduated in Computer Science from the University of York. His current role working as a Solution Architect within the Managed Services team at Park Place Technologies allows him to enjoy the perfect balance of customer interaction and technical working. Prior to his role at Park Place Technologies, Phil worked in various technical and managerial roles within IT environments.

Richard Tubb is one of the best-known experts within the global IT Managed Service Provider (MSP) community. He launched and sold his own MSP business before creating a leading MSP media and consultancy practice. Richard helps IT business owner’s take back control by freeing up their time and building a business that can run without them. He’s the author of the book “The IT Business Owner’s Survival Guide” and writer of the award-winning blog www.tubblog.co.uk

Rick is recognised as leading a go-to-market specialist for the MSP software and IT services sector. Recently joining Axcient as Managing Director - EMEA, he was formerly the Founder and Managing Director of MSP dedicated software distributor Zedsphere, which was acquired by the QBS Technology Group in April 2020. Prior to this, Rick was a Sales and Marketing Director and a founding member of cyber security VAD, Distology.



Rick has a history of consistently matching MSPs with new technologies and regularly contributes his insight via industry panels and events.

Rob Buckton is UK Sales Director at Redstor and is responsible for the UK sales strategy and customer engagement. He has 20 years of experience in the IT, networking and telecoms sectors, leading high performing sales teams in companies such as Rackspace, Interroute/Easynet, TalkTalk Business and MTI. Throughout his career, Rob has worked in organisations providing managed services to both end customers and partners across all sectors.

Scott’s 33 years’ experience in the IT industry includes senior positions in EMEA and the UK with VMWare, Microsoft, Acer and Compaq before joining Ultima in October 2015. His breadth of experience spans all customer segments, from the largest global enterprises to mid-market and SMBs. He has a passion for helping clients improve their business productivity and efficiency through automation and digital transformation.

Tom Wright is managing editor at CRN, a position he has held since January. Tom joined CRN as a reporter in May 2016, having previously covered the specialist finance market for various publications. Prior to this, Tom graduated in Journalism from the University of Winchester.

Tony is the most recent addition to the RingCentral Channel Leadership group joining the business in July 2020 as Regional Vice President Channel Sales UKI. Having almost 20 years of Channel experience Tony joins RingCentral having spent the previous 8 years at Tech Data, holding many roles across Networking, Communications & Security, most recently holding the position of Director, Business Development. Tony has vast experience in working with a variety of established and start-up Vendors looking to maximise Channel go-to-market.



Tony comments: “Channel partnerships are passion of mine. I enjoy building and enabling high performing teams to assist our Partners to thrive. The aim is to gain an intimate knowledge of our Partners, building mutual goals which are intrinsically linked to helping our Partners meet and exceed their aspirations. We have a desire to have trusted and transparent partnerships with a shared purpose to delight our mutual customers.”