Our Board

Patrick joined Bytes Technology Group plc as Chair in 2020. Patrick has significant knowledge of international markets and information technology, and experience as a non-executive in diverse industry sectors. He spent 23 years at Microsoft during which time he founded the Benelux subsidiaries, led the development of its Western European business and served as Chair of Microsoft for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Since leaving Microsoft in 2006, Patrick has served on the boards of a number of European public and private companies. He previously held Non-Executive Director positions at Victrex plc, Morgan Sindall plc, Anite plc, KCOM Group plc, PageGroup plc and EMIS Group plc.

Sam brings over 20 years’ experience in leadership positions to the position of Interim CEO at BTG. She joined Phoenix Software Limited in November 2003, having previously held senior roles at WordPerfect, Novell Inc. and Trustmarque Solutions. Sam became MD of Phoenix in 2014, overseeing a period of significant growth during which Phoenix has won numerous awards, including Microsoft UK Partner of the Year 2021. In October 2020, Sam won the Women in Channel ‘Industry Achievement Award’ from IT reseller magazine CRN. Two years earlier, she was named ‘2018 Business Leader of the Year’ at the Women in IT awards. Sam was appointed to the BTG Board as an Executive Director in July 2023 and held this role alongside her role as Managing Director of Phoenix Software Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bytes Technology Group.

Andrew joined Bytes as COO on 1 June 2021 from JSE-listed technology company, Altron Limited, Bytes’ former parent company, from which it demerged in 2020. Andrew has extensive financial and operational experience in the ICT sector, having spent more than 27 years at Altron, the last 15 years in various senior leadership roles. His most recent position was that of COO which he held for five years, including a period where he held both the COO and CFO roles simultaneously. Combined with his strong financial and commercial acumen, Andrew has a proven record of delivering insights into strategy implementation and executive decision-making.

Erika brings over 25 years' experience in senior leadership positions to the board of directors of Bytes. During her executive career, Erika spent more than 18 years working in Silicon Valley and held senior professional services roles with Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Erika earned a PhD in Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University and in 1994 began her executive career with IBM. She went on to hold roles at REL Consultancy Group, Computer Science Corporation and Symantec Corporation. During her tenure at Symantec, Erika led the team responsible for M&A in its Sales & Services division, completing 16 acquisitions including the $13.5bn merger between Symantec and Veritas. Since then, Erika has further built her transaction experience at Ernst & Young, where she led the firm's technology M&A Advisory Services (OTS) for the Americas, and more recently with PwC, where she was the UK Leader for M&A Integration Services and TMT M&A Advisory (DDV) Services. Erika is currently a Non-Executive Director of FTSE 250-listed JTC plc, where she is also Chair of the nomination committee. Other current directorships include Non-Executive Director at AIM-listed Aferian plc (formerly Amino Technologies) and private equity backed BluJay Topco Limited.

Shruthi has more than 20 years’ experience across the technology, SaaS and adtech industries. She was most recently an Executive Managing Director at the advertising group Criteo, where she led EMEA and Global Indirect Channels. She has also held a number of senior commercial roles at Oracle and LinkedIn, with responsibility for markets across APAC, EMEA and the Americas. She is currently a Non-Executive Director of Access Group, a leading provider of business management software to small and mid-sized organisations in the UK, Ireland and APAC.