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James Ward, 36, managing director, joined Hammer in 1992 and has held a variety of sales and management positions prior to his most recent appointment in February 2005. His goals are to maintain the company's specialist storage focus and proactive approach to taking solutions to market, maintaining excellence and a strong skills base in tightly defined vertical markets. In his previous position as general manager he was responsible for the company’s strategic development and played a pivotal role in establishing Hammer as the UK’s leading specialist storage distributor. He has also overseen the development of key relationships with vendors, channel partners and customers, together with the company’s sales, marketing, operations and finance functions.

Jason Beeson, 35, director of sales, storage solutions, has been with Hammer for nearly six years and is responsible for managing solutions sales and driving Hammer’s solutions portfolio. Previously as storage solutions sales manager, his role included product and customer relationship management for Hammer’s vendors, together with broader business development for the solutions division. He joined Hammer’s sales team initially as a RAID specialist and has played a key role in developing the company’s fibre channel business. Jason has a BA in Business Administration from the University of Western England and his early career included three years’ sales experience with distributor ADC.

Paul Matravers, 33, director of sales, storage products, has been with Hammer since 1996. He joined the sales team and had a successful career in sales and account management, as the company’s first premier account manager and the first to achieve sales of £1 million in a single month. Subsequently, as storage products sales manager, Paul’s role was to manage sales and drive Hammer’s products portfolio, and support this through the development of strategic vendor relationships. Prior to joining Hammer, he gained seven years’ sales experience with specialist distributor, STC Electrical.

Jason Goddard, 38, director of logistics, joined Hammer in 1997 and has over 15 years’ specialist purchasing and logistics experience. His responsibilities include overall control of the company’s purchasing and operational procedures, including sales order processing, logistics and warehousing. As logistics manager, Jason was successful in developing more proactive stock management processes, increasing efficiencies and saving costs through a new worldwide freight forwarding contract and using long-term vendor relationships to maintain preferential supply and allocation of stock.

Fritz Johnsen, 38, director of finance, joined Hammer’s financial department in 1995 after four years with Top 20 accountancy firm, Haines Watts where he achieved ACCA qualification. Earlier roles with Hammer have included those of finance manager and financial controller and during this period Fritz was successful, in particular, in designing and improving internal day-to-day reporting and management information procedures. He also achieved significant cost savings in the area of foreign exchange procurement.