Richard Sparrow - Managing Director

Richard Sparrow is a Shropshire lad who started his working life with a Saturday job selling fishing tackle alongside the River Severn in Shrewsbury.  He then cast his net wider and has spent the past 35 years working in IT, moving from systems administration into sales and company ownership.  In the 90s, he was at the forefront of the laptop revolution, enjoying a successful sales career and rising to the boardroom as sales director of Basilica (now BT Ignite).   In 2004, he “did a Victor Kyam” – he liked dataplex so much, he bought the company.  The acquisition has given Richard the opportunity to put into practice his personal business ethics and beliefs.  He lives in the Cotswolds with wife, Jo, and their three young children.

Surprising Fact About Richard:  As a boy he won a writing competition on the classic ITV children’s programme “Magpie”.   He appeared on the show with Susan Stranks and had his story published in the Magpie storybook. Back to directors

David Robertson - Financial Director

Being born in the brewing town of Warrington, it was inevitable that Dave would begin his working life in beer.   As a 17-year-old, he joined the accounts department at the Greenall Whitley brewery and worked his way up to become an accountant.   He then moved into the computer industry, working for Fujitsu in Manchester.  Dave has been with dataplex since 2001 and heads the financial and administration side of the business.   He is married with two young children and met his wife Suzanne, who is also an accountant, over the balance sheets at Greenall’s. Dave is a keen rugby league supporter.  He’s played the game himself and is now a season ticket holder at Warrington Wolves.

Something You May Not Know About Dave: In the summer of 2010, Dave has completed“The Three Peaks Challenge” – climbing Ben Nevis, Snowdon and Scarfell Pike in under 24 hours.  He raised money for the St Rocco’s Hospice in Warrington. Back to directors

Oliver Donnellan - Sales Development Director

Oliver has worked his way up in the IT industry from telesales to the boardroom. He started his IT career on the phone, selling discs, tapes and ribbons.  From tele-sales, Oliver rapidly progressed through the sales ranks and joined dataplex in 2004. Oliver is known for his experience, drive and enthusiasm.  His move to dataplex sparked his most successful spell in sales and he was promoted to Sales Development Director.  Away from work, Oliver’s a football fan and being a Bolton-born lad, he supports Bolton Wanderers.  He’s married to Jane and they have two young children.
 
A Fascinating Fact About Oliver:  Oliver loves travel and beach holidays but once won a prize in a competition at his secondary school for wearing the worst Bermuda shorts!

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Jamie Marshall - Technical Director

Jamie Marshall is the James Bond of dataplex.  He worked in Army intelligence until 1999 and has taken part in just about every adventure and extreme sport.    Jamie worked at IBM after his military career and joined dataplex in 2001.  He became technical director in 2005 and likens his rise to the boardroom to his ascents of Great Britain’s four highest mountains, “rapid and hard work”.   To relax, Jamie loves the great outdoors and goes camping, hill walking, para-kiting and off-piste skiing.  He also owns a Triumph Daytona sports motorbike.   Jamie lives in Preston with his wife, Karen, a head teacher, their two daughters, several marine fish and a Dalmatian called Daisy.

Jamie’s Extreme Dream: Climbing all 5,199m (17,057ft) of Africa’s second highest mountain, Mount Kenya, is just not high enough for Jamie.  His next goal is to take to the sky and master the art of free-fall parachuting. Back to directors

Charles Barratt - Business Development & Marketing Director

Charles has been with dataplex for six years, working his way up from the role of solutions architect.  He’s from Poynton, near Stockport and studied computing and business at Cardiff University.  He lives in Poynton with wife Melanie, an accountant, and son Harvey.  Charles played under 18s tennis for Cheshire, has parachuted and supports Manchester United.

Charles Barratt’s Who Do You Think You Are?  His great-grandfather was legendary flat race jockey, Steve Donoghue, who was 10 times champion jockey between 1914 and 1923 and who won the Epson Derby six times. The punters described him as “dashing”, just like Charles but at 6ft 5ins, he was too tall to follow his ancestor into the saddle.

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Louise Saleri - Sales Director

Louise was born in the Yorkshire town of Wakefield and it was her love of horses that led her into the IT industry.  While working for a company making jodhpurs, she helped develop an app for selling equestrian products.  She enjoyed it so much that she made IT her work and kept the horses as a hobby.   Unsurprisingly for an animal lover, her first customers were the RSPCA and the Cats Protection League.  Louise eventually joined Lynx, later BT Engage IT, working her way up from account manager to regional sales director.   She passionately believes that IT has the capacity to improve people's lives and loves team work.

Louise's secret life: Louise is a dressage rider who has three horses in training Wickett, Waikiki and Party - Party may be talented enough to represent Team GB one day.  Louise is also training to be a British Dressage judge and has ridden 75 miles around Cotopaxi in Ecuador, one of the highest active volcanoes in the world. Back to directors