Duncan Mitchell, UK managing director, Cisco
Duncan Mitchell, 37, is the vice president and managing director for enterprise and small and medium business operations in the UK and Ireland. He manages one of the company's largest market areas and is responsible for its leadership, direction and strategy. Mitchell joined Cisco in 1996 when Cisco acquired StrataCom. His role involved creating a network service provider operation within the UK. In 2000, he was promoted to the position of European vice president for network service provider operations, responsible for the UK and Nordic service provider markets.

Prior to Cisco, Mitchell held sales positions within StrataCom, focussing on both the enterprise and end-user space. He lives in Warwickshire with his wife and four dogs and has an interest in rural issues.

Chris Baker, Oracle vice president, Oracle Corporation UK
Chris Baker is the Oracle vice president responsible for all application and technology products for the UK, Ireland and South Africa. His role involves managing product specialist employees and working with customers to assist their transformation to an e-business. He is also a main board director for Oracle UK. Prior to this role, Baker was the UK director for the 400-strong support organisation within Oracle.

Before joining Oracle, Baker was the UK sales director for the outsourcing division at the Digital Equipment Company. He is a qualified civil engineer and has been in the IT industry for more than 20 years. Baker lives in Wiltshire, is married with two children, and enjoys walking and skiing.

Tony Martin, UK country manager, Computer Associates
Martin is responsible for all Computer Associates divisions in the UK. He joined the company in 1985 as a pre-sales engineer, and has slowly progressed through it in a number of positions. After transferring the from pre-sales engineering department, he held the positions of general manager of sales UK 1992-1994, managing director of both Holland (1994-1996) and Germany (1996-1997), and head of the global accounts division (1998-2000).

Martin's career in IT spans over 25 years and began when he joined Decca in 1976 as an IBM computer operator. He has two teenage daughters, lives in Surrey, and his hobbies include golf, football and reading.

Larry Hirst, general manager and chief executive, IBM UK
Larry Hirst joined IBM in 1977 as a sales trainee in London. Since then, he has progressed through a number of positions, including vice president of the financial services sector, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa); European director of the services industry; executive assistant to IBM's chairman in New York; and general manager of insurance industry, Middle East and Africa, with responsibility for marketing, development and solutions in insurance.

Hirst has been in the IT industry for over 24 years.

Alex Kovach, UK managing director, Lycos
As managing director for Lycos UK & Ireland, Alex Kovach, 35, is responsible for the implementing of Lycos Europe's overall strategy locally. He is directly accountable for advertising sales, overseeing production, editorial direction, managing new business development and forging strategic partnerships. As a result of Lycos Europe's acquisitions, Kovach has overseen a whole host of new products and services being rolled out throughout the Lycos UK network, including free SMS, the search engine Hotbot.co.uk, the love@lycos.co.uk website, and significant enhancements to Lycos' core search product with the introduction of FAST search and filter technology.

Prior to joining Lycos, Alex was a founding partner of internet start-up venture classical.com. He has an MBA degree (with distinction) from business school INSEAD and has just bought a home in Battersea. He likes to keep fit by playing squash and also has an unhealthy obsession with aircraft.

Sir Robin Saxby, executive chairman, ARM Technologies
Robin Saxby is the chairman of Cambridge-based ARM Technologies, which counts the likes of Texas Instruments, Intel, Palm and Microsoft as its clients.

Before starting ARM in 1991, Saxby worked for five years for European Silicon Structures, where he was vice-president of Northern Europe, managing director, and president of its American affiliate US2. From 1984 to 1986, Saxby was chief executive officer of Henderson Security Systems and, before that, spent 11 years with Motorola Semiconductors in a variety of sales, marketing and engineering management roles.

He has received honorary doctorates from both Liverpool University and Loughborough University, and was awarded a knighthood for services to the IT industry in the 2002 New Year Honours.

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