After 12 years and 10 months, the upcoming festive break feels like the right time to share that I’ve chosen to step down from my role as Director at HM Network.
Martin and I have worked closely for over 15 years both at HM Network and before that at BT. Throughout that time, in business and beyond work, he has been (and remains) a good friend. We’ve been through a lot together.
Many moons ago, we tackled a few Manchester to Blackpool bike rides, and were once talked into entering a “sportive” a 100-mile Polka Dot Challenge. Slight problem: we turned up on mountain bikes, while everyone else was riding multi-thousand-pound carbon road bikes.
Perhaps our lycra was not worn quite as well. But we cracked on anyway.
At one point, we reached Flash, near the Cat and Fiddle in Derbyshire, the highest village in England. The climb felt endless. The descent? Anything but. I clocked us at 58mph, flying downhill over cattle grids, sheep on either side, praying nothing crossed our path. A full set of brake blocks “gone in 60 seconds”
Hairy stuff.
Like any relationship, it hasn’t all been downhill. There have been plenty of climbs too.
We’ve won awards, navigated challenges, and faced a global pandemic together and we’re still here to tell the tale. Sadly, not everyone can say that.
The after-effects of COVID also brought a number of things to the surface for me personally. Alongside business, family life shifted significantly.
My dad lives with Parkinson’s dementia. This time last year, he became seriously unwell with pneumonia, then contracted COVID, and was hospitalised throughout December. We were told to prepare for the worst. Thankfully, he pulled through and we’re incredibly grateful but he’s not the same man he was. I now spend two afternoons a week supporting him. He often wants to say things but struggles to communicate properly which is frustrating.
All of this got my own mind whirring.
Understanding how people operate internally, how they communicate with others, and how things we experience in our lives can create beliefs and patterns that can either limit or liberate us began to fascinate me.
Martin and I once did a workshop on personality and communication styles, learning how to recognise and adapt to one another - and it was enlightening. That spark never left me.
I still love, live and breathe connectivity, and always will.
But I also care deeply about connection, communication, and resilience - not just in networks and infrastructure, but in people.
Recognising that when communication does not happen, in work and personally, outcomes and lives can change. I want to help change that.
Over time, it became clear that I wanted to bring together a number of areas that didn’t quite feel like a natural fit within HM Network. After many open and constructive conversations, I made the decision to step down in order to build something new.
Connection Worx Group Ltd brings together connectivity, communication, resilience, wellness and wellbeing - helping businesses and people thrive from the inside out.
And that still very much includes the internet, wide area network, telephony, cyber security side of things, and so much more too.
The Christmas break feels like the right moment to unplug, reboot, and update - in more ways than one.
To Martin, Janie, loved ones close to me, the team, friends, partners, clients, and everyone I’ve worked with over the years: a sincere thank you.
This is not goodbye by any stretch of the imagination - just the start of a new chapter.
Here’s to a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2026.
- Chris Hunter
Founder, CEO and Director Connection Worx Group Ltd