Alan Smith
CEO
Meet the heart of Commtel!
Alan is our golf-loving, CEO who, when not on the golf course, or up on a ski slope, can be found walking his dogs and spending time with his family.
He was a choir boy in his younger days (before his voice broke, of course) and a ball boy at Wimbledon in the really hot summer of 1976! Alan’s expert dad-dancing and sense of humour often entertain the team at the company’s social events too!
When we asked him for a fact about himself, he said that he is “a dyslexic state-school underachiever, who left school with no qualifications” (his words, not ours!), but Alan’s passion, positive outlook and innovative ideas paved the way for telephone-based door entry as we know it today. That very first prototype, born from a passing comment back in 1985, and based on a BT-type handset using speed dial, robotic fingers and a bit of old hoover pipe (seriously!), is the foundation of the Telguard and Optimus intercoms our customers know and love.
Alan is full of wise words and thought-provoking advice, but something his Nan said to him many years ago is something he shares with us often, and that is “I would rather be mad and know it, than mad and not know it.”