The 50 leaders shaping the UK technology channel
Vendor, distribution and MSP leaders, and the rising names behind them, recognized for what they’ve built this year, not for their job titles. Chosen and ranked by the VETTDD editorial team from company results, filings and announcements, September 2026.
Dan Scott
Senior Director, IT Nation Community, ConnectWise
Scott co-led IT Nation Connect Europe in London in March 2026, which ConnectWise says sold out for a second year with more than 600 attendees, 28% of them first-timers. He runs ConnectWise’s Evolve peer groups in Europe, which he aimed in 2025 to double from nearly 60 member companies, and chairs GTIA’s UK and Ireland executive council. For UK MSP owners, he helps shape both a vendor-run and a vendor-neutral peer network.
Nicola Saner
CEO, Chorus
Saner says Chorus doubled its channel managed security services revenue in a single year as the Bristol Microsoft specialist sold its 24/7 security operations center through other partners. In April 2026 it added Logicom, a distributor in more than 30 countries, to a roster that already included Infinigate Cloud, Dicker Data and ALSO Group. For UK MSPs without their own security operations center, Chorus offers a Microsoft-native service sold wholesale through the channel.
Chris Clarke
Director of Sales, UK and Ireland, Pax8
Clarke joined Pax8 in February 2026 to run UK and Ireland sales, after selling his Newbury MSP, Create IT, to Equity Networks in 2024. He leads a UK business that grew turnover 58% to £131m and gross profit 71% to £19.5m in 2024, as Pax8 pushes AI services to what it calls managed intelligence providers. A former MSP owner now sets the terms on which UK MSPs buy cloud licenses and AI services.
Hollie Whittles
HR & InfoSec Director, Purple Frog Systems
Whittles was appointed MBE in June 2026 for services to business, female entrepreneurship and skills. As the Federation of Small Businesses’ national skills policy champion she contributed to the Maple Review on barriers to entrepreneurship. As vice chair of GTIA’s UK and Ireland council she helped shape its Data and AI Guidebook, and in July 2026 collected GTIA’s IT service provider of the year award for Purple Frog. She is making the case that the channel’s AI growth depends on small-business skills.
Louise Mahrra
Marketing Director, CloudClevr
Mahrra joined CloudClevr as marketing director in March 2026 after its 18-month integration of four acquired businesses, a period in which the company says revenue grew 146% in FY25. She leads demand generation as the private equity-backed group returns to M&A: in September it bought Flow AI from SCC, adding about £8m of revenue and 90 staff. Her job is to present a group built from five businesses as one proposition.
Chloe Mann
Sales Manager, Elovade UK&I
Mann won GTIA’s 2026 UK & Ireland Future Leader Award after growing Brigantia’s sales team to 15 people and coaching the people in it. She is vice chair of GTIA’s women in technology interest group and is shortlisted for CRN’s 2026 Role Model of the Year (Vendor/Distributor). As Brigantia becomes Elovade UK&I, the people she has built up are the continuity the distributor has promised its MSP partners.
Lynette Slater
Chief Executive, de Novo Solutions
Slater became chief executive of de Novo Solutions, a 150-person Oracle and ServiceNow partner in Newport, in September 2026, taking over from founder Mark Sweeny. She arrives from ICE Tech, where de Novo says she grew professional services revenue to £13m in 2025, and leads what Sweeny calls a “predominantly female executive team”. Sweeny stays on as executive chairman as Slater takes the business into its next stage.
Lauren McManus
Founder and Director, Electric Bloom
McManus left in-house channel marketing to launch Electric Bloom in July 2024, and in June 2026 marked two years of work for comms and IT channel firms, from campaigns and PR to award entries and event video. In 2026 she was shortlisted for Entrepreneur of the Year in CRN’s Women & Diversity in Channel Awards. Her agency sells in-house channel marketing experience to partners too small to employ it themselves.
Silvia Lehnis
Chief AI Officer, UBDS Digital
Lehnis took the chief AI officer title at UBDS Digital by June 2026, having been its consulting director for data and AI. In September UBDS published a Claude deployment for Longmead Capital that the client estimates saves about 20% of catalog review time. She was shortlisted for CRN UK Woman of the Year in July. Her argument that agentic AI fails on skills and operating models gives other services partners a practical test for their own pilots.
Charlotte Shone
Director of Channel Sales, EMEA, Cyera
Shone has built Cyera’s UK partner bench since joining in September 2024, adding Bytes Software Services, which says Cyera named it EMEA partner of the year, and Logicalis UK&I in June 2026. Her remit now has money behind it: Cyera’s $400m (£299m) investment from Goldman Sachs in September is earmarked partly for EMEA growth. She is shortlisted for CRN Woman of the Year 2026. For UK resellers weighing a data security practice, she runs a partner route with fresh capital behind it.