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Richard Sharpe : Managing Director
Dave Mullender : Technical Director
Chris Wood : Director of Sales and Marketing
Chris Arnold : Director of Systems
Stewart Lawrence : Finance Director
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Richard Sharpe
Managing Director
Richard and his wife set up their own business, The Compass Computer Group, in 1981. The business grew to revenues of 14 million with 130 employees and was sold to 4Front Group/NCR in 1995. Later, Richard bought back the small Internet business, altoHiway in an MBO from 4Front. Now, seven years later, altoHiway is a successful ISP for UK businesses.
Prior to the Compass Computer Group and altoHiway, Richard worked in the UK Channel market for companies including Jermyn, Rapid Recall and Unitech. Richard has worked for a number of US multi-nationals, including IBM Texas Instruments and Intel. Whilst at Intel, Richard ran the UK Channel and was responsible for 500% sales growth in 2 years
Richard is an experienced business manager and engineer, and is a founder of a number of successful start-up businesses. He studied Engineering at Brunel University, sponsored by IBM, and gained a first degree in Electronics and Production Engineering.
Richard is also a founder of ISPA (the Internet Service Providers Association).
Richard enjoys spending time with his family with hobbies that include sailing, flying and Golf.
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Dave Mullender
Technical Director
Dave was one of the founders of altoHiway in 1994 and holds the position of Technical Director. He is an experienced Technical Consultant with 15 years experience within the IT industry and is now at the forefront of technological development at altoHiway.
With his IP and Unix skills Dave was directly responsible for the development and shape of the original UK wide network at altoHiway and continues to work closely with the network teams in its future development. He was closely involved with the set-up of the second London peering point, LoNAP which challenged the established monopolistic LINX infrastructure at that time.
Prior to altoHiway, Dave ran a successful database development team for five years before recognising the opportunities of the Internet.
Previously, Dave spent turns in providing end-user training as part of a training company and then direct customer support within a solutions provider, Dave moved into software development.
Dave likes to spend his spare time on the driving track, playing golf and diving.
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Chris Wood
Director of Sales and Marketing
Chris joined altoHiway in June 2003. His role includes management of the sales teams and for product development to help maintain altoHiway's position as one of the only ISPs offering its services exclusively to UK businesses.
Previously, Chris spent five years in the Internet services market. During this time, he worked with the server appliance vendor Equiinet as their UK and Ireland Channel Manager. Chris also worked with the managed services vendor intY where he held the position as Head of Business Development.
Prior to his times in the Internet services market, Chris spent nine years in the CAD industry. This period culminated in his appointment as Sales and Marketing Director of independent vendor IDO Systems. His successes include negotiating major commercial contracts and managing relationships with organisations such as British Gas, British Rail, British Coal, IMI Group, Lonhro, RMC and Blue Circle.
Chris moved into the CAD industry from Alcatel Business Systems, where he worked within the Major Accounts team. He became one of the consistent top performers in his national business unit within 6 months. Prior to this, Chris enjoyed a successful management career with Unilever and in retail.
Chris is a keen historian, cricketer and enjoys extensive travel.
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Chris Arnold
Director of Systems
Chris was the first ever employee of altoHiway, being heavily involved in Document Storage Systems and Software Development at Compass Computer Group for many years.
After successfully gaining his degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering in Southampton, Chris started his career as a Service Engineer for an Electronics Company that made equipment for the Oil and Gas industry. This involved a large amount of World Travel and frequent visits to the North Sea platforms. Chris was also involved in the very early days of the microprocessor, designing specialist equipment.
Turning his hand to Product Management, Chris was actively involved in the selling of development equipment geared at the emerging requirement to deploy microprocessors into industry.
This progressed when he joined Compass Computer Group where he was involved with Parallel processing equipment from the likes of Sequent and Culler.
Today Chris is responsible for the company's Software and Integration, and the management of the Domain and Web Hosting provisioning. He leads a team who specialise in using the Internet to integrate/control/display data from disparate sources, typically as would be experienced by a shipping company tracking its shipments around the world or remote equipment requiring frequent updating. Basically projects that need to harness the power of the Internet.
Chris is a self-professed workaholic but relaxes by enjoying Motor Sport, The Countryside and Sailing.
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Stewart Lawrence
Finance Director
Having worked with the founders of altoHiway in his role as Finance Director at Compass Computer Group, Stewart joined the business in September 2001.
Accountancy practice trained and a successful Financial Manager, Stewart has had 20 years experience in IT related Businesses including distribution, maintenance and software.
Previous roles and responsibilities include involvement for 5 years with a London Based software house who provide trading solutions to the major German and Italian banks. This involved much time working with and establishing their Frankfurt operation.
As Director of Finance of altoHiway, Stewart heads up a team of seven and is responsible for all financial aspects of the business.
To relax, Stewart enjoys Horse Racing and is also a follower of the beautiful game, being a keen Southampton supporter.
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