September 21, 2021

ConnectIT 2021 partners: Introducing this year’s speakers

Home/News/ConnectIT 2021 partners: Introducing this year’s speakers

Who are you looking forward to hearing from?

ConnectIT 2021 is coming to your screens next month with unprecedented access to some of our leading vendors. From Tuesday 19 until Friday 22 October, our ConnectIT expert speakers will be deep-diving into innovation, automation and acceleration as the world continues to adapt to remote working.

We’re delighted to share our 2021 speaker line-up which is looking stronger than ever before with expert presentations coming from some of the leading players in the industry, including; Vast – Bamboo, Proofpoint, Turbonomic, Kasten by Veeam, Veritas, Check Point, VMware Tanzu, IBM, Dell EMC, Sophos, McAfee, Acutest, LogPoint and VMware.

But who are the speakers behind the topics? We’d like to introduce you to some of the experts and industry leaders behind our jam-packed ConnectIT agenda.

Alec Kemp, Field CTO & VP of Technical Services EMEA & APAC - Turbonomic
Alec Kemp, Field CTO & VP of Technical Services EMEA & APAC - TurbonomicSession: Tuesday 19 October 11:00 – 11:45: Assure application performance with automated IT operations
Alec is the Field CTO and VP of Technical Services for EMEA and APAC. He is the go-to technical authority in the region and leads engagement with strategic partners including IBM, Cisco, AWS and Microsoft (Azure), as well as providing strategic advice to Turbonomic’s largest clients.
Matt Fordham, UK & Ireland IBM Storage Technical Leader
Matt Fordham, UK & Ireland IBM Storage Technical Leader Session: Tuesday 19 October, 15:00–15:45: IBM FlashSystem Data Resilience. Protection from failures, disasters and cyber attacks
Matt leads the team of storage technical experts and specialists who support IBM’s clients and business partners across UK and Ireland.

Matt and his team provide technical advice and guidance on all aspects of clients storage solutions, focussing on helping clients to modernise and transform their storage infrastructure, to enable them to unlock value from their data.

Antonis Yacoumis - Cloud Security Business Lead for EMEA - McAfee
Antonis Yacoumis - Cloud Security Business Lead for EMEA - McAfeeSession: Tuesday 19 October, 16:00–17:00: Cheese and wine tasting: Take away the illusion and achieve success with McAfee
Antonis currently leads the cloud security business for EMEA focussing on the strategy and growth in this area. His objective has always been to work with customers on meaningful success delivering positive business outcomes.

Neil Hammet - Email Fraud Defence Solutions Director - Proofpoint
Neil Hammet - Email Fraud Defence Solutions Director - Proofpoint(SOLD OUT) Session: Wednesday 20 October, 10:00–10:45: Proofpoint breakfast briefing: Defending Against Email Fraud; Protecting your employees, customers and partners
**Due to demand we have had to close registrations for this session. The recording will be made available after ConnectIT**

Neil is the Solutions Director for Proofpoint’s Email Fraud Defence portfolio, leading the technical conversation with clients and partners around the world, providing expertise on key challenges facing organisations today when it comes to email-borne cyber threats.

Michael Cade - Senior Technologist - Kasten by Veeam
Michael Cade - Senior Technologist - Kasten by VeeamSession: Wednesday 20 October, 11:00–11:45: 7 Key considerations for Kubernetes backup
A community first technologist for Kasten by Veeam Software. Based in the UK with over 16 years of industry experience with a key focus on technologies such as cloud native, automation & data management.
Ian Wood - Head of United Kingdom & Ireland Technical Sales and Services - Veritas
Ian Wood - Head of United Kingdom & Ireland Technical Sales and Services - VeritasSession: Wednesday 20 October, 13:00–13:45: Data Management for Hybrid and Multi-Cloud
Ian is responsible for the technical strategy, presales and services for the UK and Ireland. Ian and his team partner with organisations to help them accelerate their digital transformation using new ways to manage data complexity, across both the cloud and on-premises.
Humza Ismaiel , SASE Security Architect for Check Point
Humza Ismaiel , SASE Security Architect for Check Point Session: Wednesday 20 October, 14:00–14:45: Introduction to SASE with Check Point
Humza Ismaiel is a SASE Security Architect for Check Point covering the EMEA region. Humza has 5+ years in Cyber Security and is a focal point for Check Point as a thought leader in the SASE market since Gartner derived the term.

Ian Harris, VMWare Tanzu Labs – Modern Application Solution Leader
Ian Harris, VMWare Tanzu Labs – Modern Application Solution LeaderSession: Thursday 21 October, 11:00 - 12:00: The Tanzu approach to application excellence in a hybrid, multi-cloud world.
Ian is a cloud and open-source “evangelist” who is recognized both as an innovator and application transformation specialist, with in-depth experience of cloud platform, containerization, automation, DevOps and CI/CD solutions/services. Ian has over 25 years’ experience of strategic sales to Public Sector, Enterprise and Telecommunications clients.
Jonathan Hope, Cybersecurity Evangelist at Sophos
Jonathan Hope, Cybersecurity Evangelist at Sophos Session: Thursday 21 October, 13:00 - 14:00: Undercover Hackventure Workshop with Sophos
Jon has enjoyed numerous roles at Sophos over the last 7 years, and is now Senior Sales Engineer, looking after the Strategic Partner base in the UK and Ireland. He joined Sophos as part of the acquisition of Astaro, where he was Channel Manager for the UK and Ireland. Originally a self-confessed firewall man, when not presenting (mostly online these days), you’ll find him training and educating those partner on the whole range of Sophos Solutions.
Leigh Sunter, Cyber Security Consultant at Sophos
Leigh Sunter, Cyber Security Consultant at SophosSession: Thursday 21 October, 13:00 - 14:00: Undercover Hackventure Workshop with Sophos
Leigh is a highly skilled Cyber Security Consultant at Sophos holding a number of industry certifications including GIAC GPEN, CCNA R&S, Security, Cyber Ops, CompTIA Pentest+, CompTIA CyCa+, eJPT and has recently been studying at the SANS Institute (Advanced Penetration Testing)
With over seven years of experience at Sophos, Leigh has an intricate knowledge of how Sophos technology can be used to protect customers from attack.
Lisa Clark - EMEA Microsoft Hybrid Cloud Strategist - Dell Technologies
Lisa Clark - EMEA Microsoft Hybrid Cloud Strategist - Dell TechnologiesSession: Thursday 21 October, 15:00–15:45: Realise your Azure Hybrid dreams with Azure Stack HCI and Dell Technologies
Based in Dundee Scotland, Lisa has been in the IT industry for 10 years and is passionate about enabling businesses to harness the power of hybrid cloud and the intelligent edge. In 2020 Lisa kicked off her own podcast ‘Lisa at the Edge’ and was awarded Microsoft MVP for her contributions to the Microsoft Community. In her role at Dell Technologies Lisa is responsible for driving the Azure Stack business across EMEA supporting Partners and Customers to realise hybrid success.
Nilesh Mapara, Sales Engineer at LogPoint
Nilesh Mapara, Sales Engineer at LogPoint (SOLD OUT) VIP session: Thursday 21 October, 16:00 - 17:00: LogPoint Beer Tasting: Faster Detection and Response with MITRE ATT&CK
**Due to demand we have had to close registrations for this session. The recording will be made available after ConnectIT**

Nilesh Mapara is Sales Engineer at LogPoint UK. Nilesh works with organisations to provide modern SIEM and UEBA, providing advanced analytics and ML driven automation capabilities to enable customers to securely build, manage and effectively transform their business. Nilesh has over 20 years experience as an Information Architect, specializing in cyber security, Network Analysis and Network Visibility. Prior to LogPoint, Nilesh was Information Architect at Firemon. Nilesh is ITIL V3 (foundation), PRINCE2 & CCNA certified.

Jeff Denworth, CMO at VAST Data
Jeff Denworth, CMO at VAST DataSession: Friday 22 October, 11:00–12:30: Delivering the next generation data centre with Vast and Bamboo
Jeff has over a decade of experience with big data and cloud storage technologies. Prior to VAST, he served as VP of marketing at DataDirect Networks, where he oversaw marketing, business and corporate development during a time of massive growth in annual sales. Before DDN, Denworth held sales roles at Cluster File Ssytems, Inc. and Dataram Corporation.
Andy Hill - VP of Sales and PreSales - Bamboo
Andy Hill - VP of Sales and PreSales - BambooSession: Friday 22 October, 11:00–12:30: Delivering the next generation data centre with Vast and Bamboo
Andy brings over 20 years of experience building and leading sales organizations and channel relationships, delivering growth in businesses from the start-up level to the >$100M revenue range. He has held senior leadership positions previously at Komprise, Nexsan, Sungard Availability Services and VERITAS
Barry Daniels - COO – Droplet Computing
Barry Daniels - COO – Droplet ComputingSession: Friday 22 October, 14:00–14:45: Droplet Computing’s NeverTrust Model for Legacy and Modern Applications
With over 20 years of experience in IT, Barry’s technology career started with IBM and he went on to design and implement a number of innovations. One of his most significant achievements is the development of a Zoom technology source code, which is used by smart phones including Apple iPhones. The combination of a technical brain with commercial acumen allows him to qualify technology solutions that can make a difference and lead to business outcomes that are profitable.

What are you waiting for?

Join us and our expert speakers during four days of thought-provoking content where we’ll highlight the latest technologies enabling us to work smarter, in the modern workplace.

Whatever they are, we are in IT together.