As the Head of Employee Engagement, Diversity & Inclusion at Softcat plc. Anushka is responsible for everything related to maintaining Softcat’s company culture and ensuring employees are engaged in their jobs. Anushka has a huge passion for DEI and has helped progress the company in creating programmes and interventions to improve diversity at Softcat. Anushka joined Softcat 23 years ago with a Maths and Computing degree. After starting a career in Sales, Anushka went on to set up the Learning and Development function to support Softcat’s growth. Anushka as Head Employee Engagement, Diversity & Inclusion and is passionate about company culture whilst ensuring Softcat is an employer of choice by putting their employees first. She also works alongside many organisations in the industry to help evolve the sector to be more diverse. Anushka sits on the advisory board for Technology Channel for Racial Equality (TC4RE) and the advisory board for Women in Channel.

Manpreet is CEO of Bell Integration an IT solution and service provider, leading the company’s global operations from the UK HQ. Previously Manpreet was group CFO, Manpreet started her career in finance. Her financial insights and experience gave her a deep understanding of the drivers for a successful business, and she has been able to combine this with her passion for people in her CEO role. Manpreet also credits the mentoring and coaching she has received from business leaders along the way for her success. She is a strong advocate of equality, diversity and inclusion in business, and promoting a healthy and supportive work environment. Manpreet is mum to two girls and lives with her family in Surrey.

Nicola Hartland is an award winning tech entrepreneur experienced in founding successful start-ups and scaling companies of all sizes. With a focus on driving innovation and growth, Nicola works closely with executive boards and ambitious companies, establishing strategic partnerships, exploring new channels, and securing transformative deals. Nicola has served as a mentor for aspiring women having been selected as a business mentor by Santander. Alongside Nicola’s tech ventures, she has also runs a successful property investment company and consultancy business.

Gina founded her first agency MCC International in her early 20s and grew it to be one of the UK’s largest regional consultancies before moving on to set up a successful PR division at WLM.Digital where she was co-owner and Communications Director for 7 years. Now back into consultancy, she’s working with a great team of freelancers and global partner agencies, offering a wider range of services to clients and drawing on the knowledge she’s built up over the past 30 years. Gina spends a lot of time mentoring and training and her hands on, tell it how it is approach to managing clients’ expectations has never changed. Journalists know what to expect from her and she’s built up some great contacts during her career. Humour and an abhorrence of pretentiousness have always stood her in good stead and she’s currently enjoying her third time round the working wheel.

Donavan Hutchinson is Chief Revenue Officer at Trustmarque and Governor at Barnsley College with over 20 years in the technology industry and has a wealth of experience in overall sales strategy, compliance, mergers and acquisitions and international collaboration programs having worked as a business leader for some of the world largest technology reseller organisations with a key focus on Diversity, Equality and Inclusion. His commitment to driving change across various industries in promoting equality for all has been instrumental in the growth of several organisations he has had the opportunity to lead during his tenure. A CRN Diversity A lister, CRN Channel A Lister, CRN Executive Mentor of the Year finalist 2022 and CRN Mental Health Champion of the Year finalist 2022 , Donavans focus on equality focuses on all demographics as he continues to drive education and awareness programs across the community socially but also through consultative engagements. A member of the LGBTQIA++ community and Pride Life Global Advocate Donavan utilises his own experience in helping to educate others to be the best version of themselves , speaking at several events on the topic of DEI and driving change through education and awareness.

Entrepreneur, parent, speaker, author, mentor. Ian founded the Wick Hill Group, became a director at Nuvias and is now CRO at Asset Logic. Chairs STEM Generations a Not for Profit, and the STEM Generation charity. Both of which are committed to raising the achievements in primary and secondary investigative science. Chairman of Trustees Walk the Walk, the UKs largest grant making breast cancer charity. Advisor on AAT digital advisory panel. Acting chair “more staff for the channel” group. An excellent team and delegation give him time for the “joys” of parenting.

UKI Territory Marketing Leader - Lenovo Infrastructure Solutions Group | CRN Woman of the Year, Winner 2022 Larisa is the UKI Territory Marketing Leader for the Lenovo Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG) in the UK and Ireland and she is focused on driving business and market share growth, increased brand awareness for the Lenovo Data Center business, whilst also enabling excellence for its specialist channel partners and customers. Larisa Lucaciu has joined the Lenovo family in early 2019, after a successful collaboration with BNP Paribas Bank, as their Head of Marketing and Digital Transformational Leader for both the B2B brand and their consumer products. Before BNP Paribas, Larisa has led the UK and the US territory for Original Software, overseeing their Brand Growth, Digital, Biz Dev and Marketing deliveries. Larisa is a multi-award winner and one of of her most significant recognition is the one acknowledged in 2022 by CRN Women & Diversity in Channel Awards - Woman of the Year – the strongest Channel and IT industry credit that a professional of her calibre can aim for. With a career spanning over 15 years in management, Marketing and Business Development senior roles within the IT Software, Hardware and Insurance industry, Larisa has been successful in creating thriving sales, marketing and channel business in large technology organisations including Tech Data, Digital River and Cisco.

Yvonne has had a successful sales and leadership career in the technology industry for over 25 years. Her most recent position was Director of Partners & Marketing at CDW, where she was responsible for their Strategic Partners and Marketing for the UK and internationally. Yvonne has been a member of numerous Partner Advisory Boards and is a champion of initiatives helping young women into IT. She judges the CRN Women in Channel Awards and is featured on CRN’s A-List. Now a Worldwide Association of Business Coaches™ (WABC™) Registered Corporate Coach™ (RCC™), motivated by making a difference, Yvonne founded Coachere, a coaching and consulting business focusing on talent development within the IT channel. In addition, Yvonne founded The Channel Community to connect like-minded people across the IT channel to help individuals reach their full potential through free-of-charge mentoring and offering advice and support on channel-specific issues. Yvonne is also a devoted mother to Alexia, happily married to Rob, and, in her spare time, enjoys running, playing tennis, travelling, and spending time with family and friends.

I have been working as part of the UK and Ireland channel for over 20 years and it is motivating to see the progress made to support a more diverse, inclusive, and equal culture for our industry. This is not a topic, subject or issue in my view. It is a fundamental responsibility for us all to ensure we foster a community that embraces and appreciates everyone. Personally, I am a strong advocate of supporting and promoting the career paths for all in the technology sector. Standing up for what matters when it comes to inclusion, equality, and diversity. With a particular focus in developing and supporting our future talent and leaders. The Women and Diversity in Channel Awards are a great platform to continue to support and raise awareness of our responsibility. But equally to inspire people and communities of how great our channel industry continues to be.

Emma Taylor is head of Learning and Development at Phoenix Software and has a passion for promoting women in technology and improving employee wellbeing. With over 25 years of experience in the technology sector, Emma is an advocate for women in technology and works closely with local schools, colleges and universities to encourage more women to pursue careers in technology. Emma is also committed to improving employee wellbeing. She believes that a healthy and happy workforce is essential for productivity and success and has implemented various initiatives at Phoenix Software to support employee mental and physical health. As a previous CRN Women in Channel award winner, she is thrilled to have the opportunity to be a judge this year.

As the Business CTO for networking and security Colin is focused on gaining an in depth understanding of the real world challenges, business aims and technology change expectations of Computacenter customers. By understanding business now and next it’s possible to develop actionable strategies that enable beneficial user and business outcomes. With 30 plus years in IT strategy & leadership roles working within organisations like Compaq, BT, Morse, HP and Computacenter, Colin has created a reputation as an innovative technology thinker, a future focused strategist and delivers a unique perspective on the IT market, business change, vendors and emerging technology. Colin is a member of the Computacenter Ethnic Diversity EIG and the TC4RE channel community and also has an Executive MBA from Hull University with distinction, is an NLP practitioner and trained as a Situational Leadership Coach.

With over 30 years of experience in the development and execution of innovative sales strategies, Penny leads the CDW UK sales function. She has a keen focus on mentoring high-performing teams and building strong, mutually beneficial partnerships that count. Her drive to create tangible results for CDW customers is unparalleled, with an approach that enables reduced costs, increased productivity and, ultimately, guaranteed value. Besides being a sales leader, Penny is highly engaged in our CDW Women in Tech | Women’s International Network (WIN); she also serves on other key stakeholder forums outside of CDW, in influential roles, such as Vice Chair of techUK Public Services Board (PSB); she leads the Tech Connect initiative for techUK and has been a CRN judge since 2016.