Neil Hall becomes CEO of Focus Group amid leadership reshuffle

The announcement follows a year marked by a staggering number of acquisitions for the company

Neil Hall is taking the helm of British reseller Focus Group, after over 23 years at Computacenter.

As of January, he assumes the position of chief executive officer at Focus Group, after the role was left vacant by Barney Taylor, who became the head of Nottingham-based MSP Air IT in December.

“After 23 incredible years at Computacenter— and a month shy of 25 years of continuous service—tomorrow marks the end of an unforgettable chapter with this fantastic company,” Hall announced on LinkedIn.

“Each year has brought its own unique experiences, with 2024 standing out as a particularly special highlight.”

Hall joined the reseller as account manager in 2001, climbing up the corporate ladder over the years to become MD of UKI in 2017 and president of North America in 2022.

He now joins Focus Group at a very interesting time for the business, as the latter went through a merger fever last year, acquiring no less than 12 companies.

The West Sussex-based reseller has bought out MSPs all around the UK such as Prism and Contact Systems, but also TMAC, Silver Lining, Entropie, Cellular Solutions, Midland Telecom, Datasharp, Pinnacle, and RPM Communications.

This acquisitive drive was fueled by Hg’s investment in April last year, which brought the company to a £1bn valuation.

Since Taylor’s departure, Focus Group has been run by CRO and interim CEO Rhys Bailey.

Bailey recently sat down with CRN to discuss the company’s M&A ambitions, declaring that it will “probably make around six more deals in 2025.”

He then added that “three to four of those will be hosted comms focused, connectivity focused, and then two or three will be more IT focused.”

Hall’s new role will also bring him back to the UK where he will place its entire focus, as the company isn’t planning on expanding outside British borders anytime soon.

“We've got less than one per cent of the UK market, so there's no need for me to go and look across Europe or the US at this point,” Bailey told CRN.

The CEO isn’t the only seasoned leader to join the company in this new year.

To drive the reseller through further growth, he can count on former Content and Cloud CEO Peter Sweetbaum, who steps in as chairman.

Chris Morris, current CEO of Citation, also joins the leadership team as non-executive director.

This article has been updated to reflect the appointments of Peter Sweetbaum and Chris Morris.