Alistair Baker
Founder & Group CEO
As CEO, Alistair leads Cogent Business Group and drives forward its strategic direction. Alistair has an excellent and proven track record in developing businesses at the highest operating level, attracting and developing exceptional talent and leading innovative strategies that drive sustained growth in the businesses he leads.
Before founding Cogent, Alistair worked for Microsoft for eleven years. His last role was Managing Director for Microsoft in the UK and an EMEA Vice President. He was accountable for all of Microsoft's activities in the UK. Microsoft's UK business is the second largest subsidiary in the world. Past roles at Microsoft included board-level positions, running the Small & Mid-Market Solutions & Partners Business group and Microsoft Enterprise Services. He was responsible for much of the global strategy that was implemented as a result of strategic change pioneered in the UK in those areas. Alistair has also held positions at IBM and HP, originally joining IBM as a graduate. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts as well as a member of the Institute of Directors. He has sat on a number of Government-sponsored boards, including the Information Age Partnership and e-Skills, the Government Sector Skills Council.
When not working, Alistair enjoys cooking, cycling, playing the guitar, snowboarding; he is also a keen mycologist (student of fungi).
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