Rising stars: 30 under thirty

PCR takes a look at some of the young stars lighting up the PC and technology industry with their hard work and dedication.

1. Brad Cronwell, Marketing Executive, Entatech
Since joining Entatech in February 2011, Cronwell has been responsible for marketing a number of the distributor’s brands, including Microsoft, Intel, AMD, TP-Link, Netgear and BullGuard, as well as managing its ecommerce website EntaOnline. Cronwell has been described as an innovative marketer, particularly surrounding the launch of Microsoft’s Windows 8 and Server 2012.

2. Joanne Taylor, Sales & Marketing Executive, Synology UK
Taylor joined Synology in August 2011 and took responsibility for all marketing initiatives in the Scandinavian market, later taking on the UK and Ireland in 2012, all of which have shown significant growth throughout the past 12 months. The company says Taylor has developed fantastic client and media relationships and can often be found traveling around the UK and Scandinavia for various exhibitions.

3. Tom Perrigo, Web TV Producer, NoProofNoGlory.com
After attending Southampton Solent University, Perrigo joined NPNG TV Productions, media partner of Veho Global Group, in September 2012 and has worked with numerous professionals worldwide. Perrigo uses professional grade equipment for POV filming and to demonstrate Veho’s MUVI HD cameras and other products.

4. William Linard, Senior Manager, Membership Engagement, CompTIA
After joining CompTIA as an events intern back in 2007, Linard quickly moved up in the company to his current role as senior manager of membership engagement. Additionally serving as manager of CompTIA’s recently established UK Channel Community, Linard has overseen the initiative, which provides an invaluable platform for resellers, distributors and vendors to liaise in order to deliver the best IT services across the UK.

5. Kirsty Redden, Sales Account Manager, Meroncourt
Redden is responsible for looking after some of Meroncourt’s key accounts, as well as developing new business across all of its product ranges. She keeps customers fully up-to-date with the vendor’s new brands and special offers, inviting them to try out Meroncourt products at trade shows and events. Redden is described as one of the nicest sales people in the industry.

6. Mark Laurie, Product Manager, Utopia Computers
Since joining Utopia just over six years ago, Laurie has been instrumental in the growth and success the company has experienced to date. Moving into the role of product manager, Laurie has worked with a number of major distributors and vendors across Europe and even worked to feature Utopia on Channel 5’s The Gadget Show. In addition to his role, Laurie heads up the firm’s marketing, social media branding and web development.

7. Nikki Godwin, PR Executive, Serif (Europe)
Godwin joined Serif one year ago in order to raise the company’s profile in the US. However, a successful six month’s in this role saw her take over PR duties in the UK too and she is now responsible for developing and delivering PR strategies for Serif’s creative software and its corporate brand. In addition to her work here, Godwin manages the press office for sister company Gizoo.

8. Daniel Bennett, Displays Business Manager
After beginning his career in the IT industry with seven years of service at Realtime Distribution, Bennett made the jump to Ingram Micro to manage its displays business. He has been described as a hardworking and driven individual with his history in sales and product management equipping him with a unique skill set.

9. Jamie Blowfield, Retail Account Manager, Panda Security
After joining Panda Security last summer, Blowfield headed up the company’s entire consumer range across the retail sales channel. Blowfield has developed a number of close relationships with key distribution partners and his appointment is said to have provided energy and professionalism for the company’s external retail sales team, as he possesses excellent product knowledge and channel awareness.

10. Iain Bristow, Northern Europe Marketing Manager & Graphics Marketing Lead EMEA, AMD
Bristow single-handedly oversees AMD’s marketing initiatives within the component channel, consumer channel and commercial segments. Managing over 50 accounts across the UK retailer and etailer channels, Bristow has developed strong relationships with brands such as HP, Lenovo and Samsung. Colleagues say he has a real understanding of the channel and is always happy to help in order to give the customer a quality response.

11. Alexandria Ball, Channel Marketing Manager, Distribution, Microsoft
Ball has over nine years experience marketing to the technical and business audience, creating passion for Microsoft products. Whilst having spent just nine months in the channel, Ball has already overseen three product launches and a significant Microsoft branding change. She is said to have a particular flair for making distributors enthusiastic about things they didn’t think possible whilst building strong relationships.

12. Brendan Adams, Marketing & Events Assistant, Gem Distribution
Adams joined Gem Distribution in August last year as marketing & events assistant and immediately introduced his creative flair and energy into new marketing initiatives going on within the department. Adams is described as dedicated, hardworking and a credit to the Gem Creative team.

13. Liam Edwards, Account Manager, Entatech
Edwards has been described as a genuine salesman whose dedication and professionalism readily reflect the business ethos at Entatech. Since joining the distributor in September 2011, Edwards quickly built client relationships whilst broadening partnerships with existing customers and partners.

14. Shane Miller, Sales Account Manager, Kuoda
Miller has been working with Kuoda for just over 18 months having coming straight out of education and accepting an apprenticeship into an unfamiliar industry. However, Miller has gained vast experience over time and now manages Cyberlink OEM in the UK and Ireland in addition to selling Kuoda services surrounding marketing, PR, videos and events.

15. Tom Sumner, European Business Development Manager, Midwich
Sumner joined Midwich as a business management assistant position back in January 2007 after graduating from the University of East Anglia and quickly moved through the ranks to his current role, earning a number of accomplishments on the way. Sumner oversaw the integration of French distributor Sidey and based himself in Lyon for 18 months to oversee the project, which resulted in 40 per cent year-on-year growth rates for the firm.

16. Laura Mardlin, Sales Account Manager, Meroncourt Europe
Mardlin joined Meroncourt straight out of college at the age of 19, taking on a trainee sales role. Since then she had developed her skills and expertise greatly and is now responsible for the development of new accounts in addition to managing major clients including Amazon. Mardlin has been described as a future star of the industry and to have a great understanding of its inner workings in order to support retail partners.

17. Hans Tranberg, Account Executive, Text 100
Since joining Text 100 in 2011 as part of the consumer team, Tranberg has spent the last year creating PR opportunities across a variety of high profile clients including Nokia, SanDisk, foursquare, MTV and American Express. Said to be always networking on the go, Tranberg has built strong relationships with journalists and bloggers across the media.

18. Simon Urquhart, Category Manager of PC and Gaming Peripherals, Dixons Retail
Promoted to his current role at the start of 2012, Urquhart has helped shape the gaming peripherals offer at Currys and PC World. He has used his passion and knowledge of the industry to help make these tech-heavy retailers an appealing destination for gamers. Well liked by his Dixons colleagues and the hardware suppliers he works with, Urquhart has even raised awareness of his stores’ gaming range by arranging sponsorship of hardcore gamer events like the Insomnia LAN parties.

19. Sam Deans, Social Media Manager, Turtle Beach
Deans started out by running a site called Gaming Reviews Live and was eventually approached by Turtle Beach to review its range of headsets. This soon evolved into a trial work period with the firm at GAMEfest in 2011 and eventually led to a permanent role. Deans quickly took former distribution arm Lygo’s Facebook following from 200 to nearly 7,000, whilst also expanding the brand’s YouTube presence with a host of videos showcasing the latest headsets.

20. Duncan Rutherford, Product Manager, Dabs.com
As product manager for Dabs.com, Rutherford has worked with a number of the etailer’s key brands such as Asus and Corsair. Colleagues describe him as having an astute business mind and to be hard working, passionate and reliable. During his time at Dabs.com, Rutherford has achieved outstanding growth and performance for the business.

21. Andrew Muscat, UK Retail Business Development Manager, AMD
Over the past year, Muscat has achieved exceptional growth for AMD in his role as UK retail business development manager, playing a pivotal role in growing the firm’s market share at retail from 18 to 27 per cent. Muscat has been described as ‘probably the most well known sales and marketing person known in the retail space’ and recently accepted the award for AMD at last year’s PCR Awards.

22. Sarah Stallard, District Development Manager, GAME
Stallard began her career at GAME in 2006 as senior sales assistant, and has since helped develop one of the chain’s flagship stores. She helped turn the under performing Birmingham Bullring outfit into one of the chain’s top five in terms of turnover. She was named both Manager of the Year and Pre-Owned Manager of the Year in her region last year. Stallard even helped accommodate staff that had lost their jobs when GAME entered administration in March last year.

23. Will Gask, PR and Exhibitions Manager, Kuoda
Gask joined Kuoda in 2009 after graduating from the University of Leicester and has since managed a variety of high-profile clients including Steelseries, Startech.com and Konnet. More recently, Gask has been involved in the planning and execution of exhibiting at events such as Gadget Show Live, Multiplay and Play Expo.

24. Tom Goldberger, UK Mobile PR Manager, Electronic Arts
Goldberger has worked at EA since March 2010, first serving as publicist for the publisher’s shooters. He was key in getting Battlefield 3 featured at The Gadget Show and arranging for tanks to invade Oxford Street when the game launched. He has also helped launch recent Need for Speed entries Hot Pursuit and The Run, as well as EA partner titles. Goldberger now looks after the company’s growing mobile games portfolio.

25. Aaron Cooper, Social Media Co-ordinator, GAME
Spearheading the retailer’s Twitter and Facebook activity, Cooper works hard to grow GAME’s community of loyal customers and interacts with them on a daily basis. He constantly seeks new ways to connect with fans, not only keeping them informed about the latest releases and GAME’s offers but also getting them to engage with the retailer. Cooper’s success has encouraged individual stores to establish their own Twitter and Facebook presences.

26. Faye Le Duc, PR & Marketing Manager, Gem Distribution
Le Duc started out in the channel spending several years as channel marketing manager of Europe with AMD. Eventually moving to Gem Distribution as national account manager, Le Duc quickly moved up to PR & marketing manager in July 2011. She has been described by colleagues as a motivated leader and dynamic forward thinker who thrives on new concepts to take product to market.

27. Chris Kennedy-Sloane, Senior Account Manager, GfK
Since joining GfK in April 2008, Kennedy has moved up through the business four times to look after the IT peripherals market and team within the UK. Managing the peripherals team on a day-to-day basis as well as GfK clients, Kennedy has become a well-known expert on all aspects of the UK IT marketplace and a familiar face within boardrooms across the country.

28. Hugo Deacon, Junior Account Executive, Harvard PR
Deacon joined Harvard PR as junior account executive in July 2012 after graduating from the University of Liverpool the same year. Whilst only recently entering the industry, Deacon has taken to the role seamlessly having already developed strong relationships with key clients such as NVIDIA and BskyB, in addition to a variety of journalists and publications spanning the technology industry.

29. Ashleigh Johnson, PR and Marketing Executive, Focus Multimedia
Johnson joined Focus Multimedia as PR and marketing executive in October 2011 immediately after leaving college. Whilst one of the youngest entries in this year’s rising stars feature, Johnson immediately found her feet and became a key part of the PR and marketing team. She manages the social media presence for a number of key product lines whilst assisting with media relations and sourcing new media contacts.

30. Jen Andersson, PR Manager Northern Europe, NVIDIA
Andersson joined NVIDIA in March 2011 after holding positions at several B2B and B2C agencies, during which she helped launch Skype into the UK and was instrumental to its growth and success. As PR manager for NVIDIA, Andersson manages the image of the brand within the UK and Ireland. She was responsible for the successful launch of the GeForce GTX 600 Series and has worked closely with games developers and distributors to drive hardware sales.