Richard Thompson

Chief Executive Officer ANS Group

Last Reviewed: September 26, 2026

Executive Summary

Richard Thompson is Chief Executive Officer of ANS Group, a Manchester-based provider of cloud, Microsoft and managed technology services with a team of more than 750 people. He came to ANS in 2022 from TalkTalk, where he had spent around two decades and led the wholesale business, and moved from Chief Revenue Officer to chief executive within months of arriving. His career has therefore crossed from telecoms infrastructure into IT services, and under his leadership ANS has positioned itself as a Microsoft-centred AI and cloud partner, including recognition as Microsoft UK Partner of the Year 2025.

Career Highlights

• Chief Executive Officer of ANS Group since 2022; appointed a director of ANS Group Limited on 6 October 2022.
• Joined ANS as Chief Revenue Officer in June 2022 and succeeded Paul Shannon as CEO later that year.
• Former Managing Director of TalkTalk Wholesale, which ANS describes as an infrastructure provider taken from challenger to market leader.
• Most recently Managing Director, Indirect at TalkTalk Business before leaving after about 20 years with the organisation.
• ANS was named Microsoft UK Partner of the Year 2025 and, by his account, became the first Microsoft partner to hold both Frontier Firm accreditations.

Professional Journey

Thompson spent roughly 20 years at TalkTalk, building experience across sales, strategy, commercial and operations. ANS’s biography identifies him as the former Managing Director of TalkTalk Wholesale, the group’s infrastructure business, which it describes as having been taken from challenger to market leader. Trade press reporting at the time of his move gives his most recent TalkTalk role as Managing Director, Indirect at TalkTalk Business.

He joined ANS Group in June 2022 as Chief Revenue Officer. The company, incorporated in 1996 and with its registered office in Manchester, had by then been sold to private equity firm Inflexion and combined with fellow provider UKFast under outgoing chief executive Paul Shannon. In October 2022 Comms Dealer reported that Thompson would step into the CEO role, and Companies House records his appointment as a director of ANS Group Limited on 6 October 2022.

As CEO he sets the company’s strategy and culture, and ANS describes him as focused on building high-performing teams around shared values and a commitment to “stretch the possible”. The business has leaned into its Microsoft partnership: in a July 2026 interview Thompson cited ANS being named Microsoft UK Partner of the Year 2025 and becoming the first Microsoft partner to achieve both Frontier Firm accreditations, and said ANS Academy had in January 2026 become the first apprenticeship provider awarded a “strong” standard across all categories under Ofsted’s framework.

Outside work he lives in Cheshire, follows sport and the outdoors, and has taken on personal challenges including a charity boxing event and climbing Kilimanjaro.

Education

No education record was found in any first-party or press source.