Directors

Peter MacLean

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Peter MacLean

Peter has more than 40 years experience of the IT software and services industry. As chief executive of Guardian iT plc, he built the company from a turnover of less than £0.5 million to more than £110 million with EBIT of over £17 million and operations in 12 countries. Peter led Guardian through a management buyout in 1994 and a very successful flotation on the London Stock Exchange’s Official List in 1998. Prior to Guardian, Peter was a main board director of Sherwood International plc, a listed IT software and services group, and was managing director of their Lloyd’s and London market insurance, financial services and local government subsidiaries.

David Hearn

Group Finance Director

David is a Chartered Accountant qualifying with Pannell Kerr Forster and has been involved in fast-growing technology lead businesses since 1993.  He has experience of fund-raising for privately owned and listed companies, both AIM and fully listed, and headed up the finance team in two flotations.  He has also been involved in a number of acquisitions. He previously held head of finance positions at: Appian Technology plc, a specialist provider of number plate recognition systems using neural networks; LinkGuard Limited, a VC backed internet start-up, providing solutions to the broken link issue on the web; Modular Technology Plc, a manufacturer and supplier of PC add-ons; and Photobition Group Plc a supplier to the media and technology industry.

Derek King

Non Executive Director

Derek is a fund principal of the South East Growth Fund, the £30million DTi backed regional venture capital fund managed by West Midlands Enterprise Limited. Operational for two years, SEGF has to date invested in 26 companies, including 365 iT, at all stages of development from start-up to MBO, making the fund one of the most active in the UK at present. Derek was previously with Midland Bank plc where his career spanned a variety of roles, including lending and commercial insolvency, before joining HSBC Ventures (formerly Midland Growth Capital), part of HSBC Bank plc in 1996 and then West Midlands Enterprise Limited in 2000.

Richard Gourlay

Non Executive Director

Richard is managing director of Sussex Place Ventures, the seed and early stage venture capital fund management company owned by London Business School. He was previously an investment director, Top Technology Ltd from 1996 to 2004, providing early stage venture capital for British technology companies. Richard previously spent 10 years with the Financial Times, initially in Asia as a foreign correspondent based in Manila. He subsequently wrote extensively about the venture capital and private equity markets in the UK and Europe before becoming a practicing venture capital investor in 1996. He started his career at Citibank NA after gaining an Economics degree at London University.  He sits on the board of nCipher, which is quoted in the main market of the London Stock Exchange.

Pieter Hooft

Non Executive Director

Pieter Hooft is Managing Director of UK Investments for LMS Capital plc, the LSE listed international investment group.  He has over 15 years’ investment experience in management buyouts and development capital in the UK and across Europe.  Pieter previously worked at Apax Partners and JPMorgan Partners. Since joining LMS Capital in November 2006, Pieter has joined the boards of Updata Infrastructure Holdings Ltd, Entuity Ltd, Kizoom Ltd, ITS Engineered Systems Inc and First Index Inc.  Pieter is a Dutch national and is fluent in French and German. He was educated in The Netherlands and at HEC Paris.

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  Business Continuity and Data Backup 

Garry Growns

Managing Director

Garry has 30 years experience in IT services and telecommunications, including the Internet, disaster recovery and data management services. His previous position was as a main board director for Guardian iT plc where he had specific responsibility for group sales. He was also chief operating officer with responsibility for the group’s day to day disaster recovery and data back up businesses. Previously Garry worked at COLT Internet as international sales director and BT as a general manager in the data networking and Internet sectors.

Unified Communications

Peter Howells

5i Managing Director

Peter graduated from Cardiff University with an honours degree in Economics. He joined the IT industry selling accountancy applications to the SMB sector. In the subsequent 25 years he has held various senior sales and general management roles including General Manager of Spider Networks and Worldwide Services VP for the Shiva Corporation based in the States. Peter has led 5i since its formation in 2002.

Richard Brown

5i Sales Director

Richard is one of the founders of 5i and has been responsible for the company's rapid sales growth and for introducing innovative new solutions into the portfolio. A qualified mechanical engineer, Richard has over 15 years IT and Telecommunications experience.

Keith Allan

5i Technical Director

Keith has over 20 years experience of the IT industry with over 15 years focused on Cisco technologies in technical support, design and advisory roles. As a CCIE since 1994, Keith was involved in the first Cisco Call Manager deployments within the UK. A founding member of 5i, Keith is responsible for researching and introducing new complimentary and leading edge technologies to the company.

Virtualisation and Infrastructure

Eddy Alejos

Managing Director

Eddy, who is 41, has a formal technical background in Electronic Engineering and is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. During his career he has held the position of technical manager in various IT companies where he was responsible for group strategy and technical development. Eddy has acquired extensive management skills through being part of senior management teams. As part of his achievements, he has set the technical direction and strategies for various high profile companies in the computer industry. He has also founded a start-up  electronic distribution business as well as a wireless networking business.