The Team

Business Services Team

Wayne Henty

Department: Business Services Team
How I help our customers:I manage and monitor our customers systems, as well as carrying out event management to ensure our clients are always up and running.
Hobbies: Football
Favourite technology: Sadly, it’s my iPhone!

Technical Specialist

David Sharp

Department: Technical Specialist
How I help our customers: I help clients with their data storage and security.
Hobbies: Motorbikes and snow leopards
Favourite technology: VMWare and NetApp

Service Operations

Gurmeet Jabbal

Department: Services Operations
How I help our customers: Working hand in hand with the customer to maintain their infrastructure environment, this includes projects and major incidents to provide technical governance.
Hobbies: Football and Gym
Favourite technology: PS4 and Spotify

Service Desk

Lenny Hopkins

Department:Service Desk
How I help our customers:I help our clients with technical issues surrounding our Private Cloud offering, either remotely or face-to-face.
Favourite technology:Smart home technology and drones.

Sales

Steven Jevons

Department: Sales
How I help our customers: I enjoy bringing our clients the latest technology innovations that I think might help them achieve their business goals.
Favourite technology: Office 365 and Microsoft’s Cloud, Azure.

The Tech Centre

Satyam Patel

Department: The Tech Centre
How I help our customers: I help our clients by delivering technical solutions with an emphasis on quality and collaboration.
Favourite technology: Microsoft’s Cloud, Azure.

The Tech Centre

Mark Summers

Department: The Tech Centre
How I help our customers: I work with customers to implement high quality solutions and projects, to improve the IT within businesses for all end users.
Favourite technology: Microsoft’s Cloud, Azure.

Human Resources & Payroll

Julie May

Department: Human Resources & Payroll
How I help our customers: I try to deliver the best customer service to our internal customers. Keeping them happy and paid on time!
Favourite technology: The technology that runs smart phones always blows me away!

AI Infrastructure Services

Rob Murphy

Department: AI Infrastructure Services
How I help our customers: By helping design and implement our customers physical IT infrastructure.
Hobbies: Swimming, dog walking and hockey.
Favourite technology: My iPhone

Project Management

Carina Brown

Department: Project Management

How I help our Customers: By delivering projects in time and on budget, with clear communication and setting expectations.

Hobbies: Cooking, spending time with my friends and family, and gaming.

Favourite Technology: Original games like the Gameboy and SNES.

Service Operations

Paul Meader

Department: Service Operations
How I help our customers:I support a team and the technology our clients use, to enable them to do what they do best.
Hobbies:Cricket, films and music
Favourite technology:Microsoft Exchange

CEO Office

Tanya Bird

Department: CEO Office
How I help our customers: I liaise with the CEO so that he never misses a meeting with our customers.
Hobbies: Baking, socialising and keeping fit
Favourite technology: Microsoft Teams

Sales

Matthew Barclay

Department: Client Team
How I help our customers: I help our clients support their strategic business objectives through the integration of innovative and effective IT solutions and services
Hobbies: Football, Formula 1, Golf, Music and spending time with my family and the dog!
Favourite technology: MS Office 365 & Azure

Resourcing Team Leader

Nandita Mandal

Department: Recruitment

How I help our Customers: Hiring the right talent pool for continuous support to our customers.

Hobbies: Dancing and travelling

Favourite Technology: My Macbook 

Marketing Executive

Amber Warren

Department: Marketing

How I help our Customers: Enhancing user experience across a variety of marketing channels

Hobbies: Travelling, fitness, and cooking

Favourite Technology: Apple Watch

Chairman

Richard Atkins

Richard Atkins brings an abundance of knowledge and experience to Acora, having spent the majority of his career within the IT services industry.

Previously, he was a Director at Data Sciences where he led its MBO from Thorn EMI in 1991 and then managed its successful sale to IBM in 1996. His final role at IBM was as General Manager for IBM Global Services Northern Europe, where he was also a member of the IBM worldwide Senior Leadership Team. Since leaving IBM in 2005 he has acted as a non-executive director for several public and private equity backed companies including Compel, Message Labs, Morse and Easynet.

As well as being Chairman at Entanet and Miles 33 and a non-executive director at MicroFocus plc and Aon in the UK, we are proud to have him as Chairman of Acora.

Chief Operations Officer

James Karp

As our Chief Operations Officer, James leads the support desk, making sure customers receive the best possible support. He’s committed to delivering customer satisfaction by making strategic improvements in our operational approach to customer care.

Since joining the company James has gained a lot of experiencing working in the IT arena in both technical, commercial and leadership roles.

As part of the original MBO team, he has been influential in building a strong base of loyal clients and has helped Acora meet its objectives to date.

Chief Financial Officer

Gary Page

As our Chief Financial Officer, Gary has been instrumental in the company transformation that began in 2006. He brings strong leadership and financial acumen, keeping Acora on course to achieve our company vision.

Through his excellent leadership, the business has become a robust partner for our clients; we have increased profits year on year even as many businesses around us have continued to suffer the effects of recession.

He is committed to the values of the business he has helped to build, and looks forward to its continued evolution and success over the next few years.

Chief Executive Officer

David Rabson

David leads Acora with the vision, drive and commitment he expects from every member of the business. He believes in being accessible to both staff and clients in equal measure, leading by example and challenging himself to constant improvement every day.

Since leading the MBO in 2006, he has been committed to building a high performance, values-led culture with people at its heart. David’s vision has always been to create a game-changing company that redefines the value of service in the industry. Through his singular commitment to client focus, he has driven change through every level of our business to transform our culture, processes and service delivery.

The board he has handpicked to accompany him on his journey are testament to the quality Acora will pioneer and the standards we will set as we continue to challenge expectation and deliver excellence for the most dynamic and ambitious businesses in the mid-market today.

Chief People Officer

Anna Cornwallis

Anna is an independent, external senior HR executive who runs Stratton HR, a boutique HR consultancy which specialises in helping management teams of growth businesses to operate more effectively in the way in which they recruit, retain, develop and manage their people. Anna’s key areas of focus are talent acquisition, talent evaluation, leadership development and organisational change.

At Acora, Anna operates as the business’ CPO supporting the leadership team and driving the people strategy and plan for the organisation.

Having started her career at Robert Walters Associates in London, Anna then spent 8 years in a variety of HR roles at Accenture ultimately managing a team of 20 supporting 2400 staff across the UK.

Outside of Acora, Anna loves history and her family’s in particular! Charles Cornwallis, her great great great great uncle, surrendered at the Battle of Yorktown in the US war of independence so in essence, her family ‘lost’ America. Anna has two working cocker spaniels who need a big walk on the Quantock hills every day and she is a fan of Hotpod yoga. 

Chief Acquisitions Officer

David Hemmings

David brings 25 years of business expertise to Acora. Initially between 2008 and 2012, alongside the rest of the board (as Non-Executive Director), he helped drive the company’s early transformation – providing perspective, objectivity and guidance.

Joining the Board in an Executive capacity in May 2012, he now focuses on our acquisition growth strategy.

With a background in Corporate Finance, Banking and business Consultancy, David spent over 20 years helping businesses like Acora create and implement their plans. Having been involved with many dynamic businesses, he is well placed to support Acora to succeed with its plans.

Chief information officer

Lee Ganly

As our chief technology strategist at Acora, Lee sets the standards for the technology we deliver to our customers and continually supports the board in shaping the strategy of our business.

His experience, understanding and business focus mean that our services remain in tune with the most significant market developments and technical innovations. Because of this, Acora’s range of services and mix of technologies are the right fit for the ever-changing needs of the dynamic mid-market.

As the pace of change in the IT industry continues to accelerate, Lee’s skill in mediating between the latest technology trends and the business-focussed IT services we deliver to our customers has proven invaluable.  His passion for the potential of technology to transform businesses, ensures that as we grow, he will continue to be a driving force, both within Acora and the industry as a whole.

Lead Technical Systems Engineer

Richard Smith

Director, Managed Services

Matt Wood

Matt has spent the last 15 years’ working with technology, in a range of roles, including technical support, project management, enterprise architecture and business development which has enabled him to have an experienced, holistic view of how technology should, and must work within an organisation.

Within his current role, he’s responsible for all sales and activities relating to outsourced and managed services. As a strategic thinker, he’s developed strategies and services that deliver strong, positive outcomes for his clients.

In his spare time Matt enjoys spending time with his family and keeping fit.

CTO Office

David Murphy

Department:  CTO Office
How I help our customers:  I help customers create and deliver scalable and available IT solutions that meet and exceed business-driven requirements.
Hobbies:  Cars, Films and Family
Favourite Technology:  Virtualisation – Server and Desktop, Cloud and Storage

Head of Marketing

Joanne Douglas

Head of Project & Support Services

Ben Whitehead

Ben joined the Acora team as Head of Project and Support Services, following the acquisition of Plan-Net in 2019.

An ITIL expert with over 15 years’ experience within the IT industry, Ben is accountable for the delivery of ‘Best Practice’ Services across a client base encompassing all market sectors, bringing experience, significant market, and industry-leading knowledge, with a history of working amongst some of the most prestigious organisations in the UK.

Ben enjoys travelling, most sports, and enjoys spending his free time away from City life.

SUPPORT SERVICES DIRECTOR

Pete Canavan

Pete Canavan joined the Acora team following the acquisition of Plan-Net in 2019. Pete is an accredited ITIL Service Manager, he has a proven track record in IT with special expertise in the Legal & Financial Services industries.

With over two decades in the IT field, Pete has acquired extensive experience in business relationship development, service transformation, project and people management, training, and client/supplier relations.

Pete’s other passions, besides Acora, of course, are his family and football.

Head of M&A Integration

Andrew Robey

Andrew is a highly experienced IT practitioner and programme leader, who brings strong commercial acumen, analytical thinking, and technical understanding of Acora’s corporate development team.

A key member of the senior management team instrumental in reshaping Acora’s business around managed services following the MBO in 2006, Andrew later went on the establish the Advisory Services practice. Having held several senior industry positions, Andrew brings a wealth of programme management and business transformation experience.

NON-EXEC DIRECTOR

Tony Dickin

Tony enjoys building relationships with management teams on new investment opportunities and then supporting them to deliver their strategy post-investment. He is a member of the Palatine Investment Committee and is Head of the London office.

Tony has been a private equity investor for nearly twenty years. As a partner, his role is to lead the team responsible for securing a new deal, ensure it is completed in a timely fashion, and then work with the team as a Non-Exec director.

NON-EXEC DIRECTOR

Andy Strickland

Andy strives to ensure that all management teams work in an environment that provides them with all the tools they need to succeed and allows its employees to develop, flourish, and most importantly enjoy their jobs.

Andy believes that people’s strategy of a business is the key to successful growth. As a Senior Investment Director, Andy has seen the challenges high growth businesses face in implementing a successful people strategy and has the experience to assist in supporting organisations by sharing his experiences and knowledge with other teams.