This résumé lists all major positions I have held since leaving college. Other part-time and temporary positions have been held. Details can be supplied on request.
Overview
| 2006-2008 | CEO / Chair, Wiki Educational Resources Ltd t/a Wikimedia UK
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| 2005 | Consultant, Karmasphere
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2000-on
| Managing Consultant, The Creative Organisation
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| 2003-2005 | Chief Technology Officer, NWUK
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| 2000-2002 | MBA Student, Open Business School
electives: strategy, Financial strategy, marketing in a complex world, and creativity, innovation and change
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| 2000 | Chief Technology Officer, narrateo
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| 1999-2000 | Head of Technology, Capital Radio Group - Interactive Div'n
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| 1997-1999 | Group Internet Program Manager, CHS Electronics Inc
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| 1984-1997 | Business Consultant, The Creative Organisation
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| 1979-1984 | Business & systems Consultant, Sperry Univac
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| 1978-1979 | Sales & Marketing Support / Analyst, British Olivetti
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| 1976-1978 | Computer Systems Programmer, Spillers Group
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Speaker panels and Conferences include:
| July 2008 | International Youth Advisory Congress, London
(Organised by Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre)
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| Mar 2008 | London Business School, London
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| Oct 2007 | The British Library, London
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| Oct 2007 | AOP Online Publishing Conference 2007, London
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| June 2007 | The Dana Centre at the Science Museum, London
"Web 2.0" (spkr)
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| Jun 2007 | Apeldoorn Conference, The Hague
"Facing up to Reality: Choices for a Sustainable World"
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| Oct 2006 | Belgo-British Conference, Brussels
"Globalisation & the Citizen:
Citizens' access to information in a globalised world"
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Chief Executive & Chair
Wiki Educational Resources Ltd t/a Wikimedia UK (Feb 06-Jul 08)
WER has been set up as the UK face of Wikimedia, and will provide a focus for the projects in the UK and raise money to fund operations and other activities. A non-profit company, I was appointed to the position of Chair and Chief Executive in January 2006, with our initial activity being to raise the profile of the organisation in the UK, gain charitable status, and assist the US-based Wikimedia Foundation – which operates the very successful wikipedia online free encyclopedia and other open wiki-based reference services.
This is a voluntary (unpaid) position.
Consultant
Karmasphere (Dec 05)
Providing systems design and implementation consultancy to this California-based start-up, including design of an SQL-based schema to manage the customer billing and user management systems.
An NDA remains in place.
Chief Technology Officer
NWUK Ltd (Dec 03-Mar 05)
Approached to join the start-up of this business seeking to enter the direct sales insurance market in alliance with a nationally-known charitable organisation. Created and developed the back-end support and membership system with an integrated internet/telesales ecommerce offering alongside a public internet site with user interaction and multi-level security features. Originally planned to launch mid-2004, delays in licencing IP rights between external organisations resulted in a Board decision in Spring 2005 not to launch as intended. An NDA remains in place until all outstanding issues are clarified.
I designed the IT systems architecture that the business was to be built upon, including a major database schema to enable the functions of the business and its associated organisations, alongside hardware / software selection and developing protocols for the web and other internet functionality. I also input into the development of the business plan and additional marketing concepts and external relationships. Open Source software was selected as the foundation of these systems; FreeBSD + Apache + PHP + MySQL.
MBA Student
OU Business School (Oct 00-Oct 02)
Whilst studying the course I also undertook a number of short consultancy contracts and some part-time, mostly voluntary, work for various bodies including the Head Office of the Liberal Democrats (which continued until February 2003).
Senior positions in 'New Media' businesses Nov 99-Sep 2000
Between these dates I held three positions in the internet field as a member of the management teams, focused on the technical challenge of meeting the commercial demands but staying very hands-on technically. I resigned from the last post when it became clear that future funding of the company wouldn't materialise and in order to commence my MBA course.
Chief Technology Officer
Narrateo Ltd (Jun-Sep 00)
A board member of this small (£1m t/o) marketing media content company, aiming to bring the information and entertainment techniques of broadcast television to new media. Founded out of Invincible Films, a small television documentary programme maker which has won two Royal Television Society awards and been nominated for a BAFTA, in order to concentrate on web and e-content production for a range of narrowband, broadband, kiosk, WAP, DVD and internet applications. I reviewed and specified new technology infrastructure for new offices and development requirements for new business direction alongside evaluating bid proposals.
I started with the company after attending the June 15 Board meeting and joined the company officially on July 1st, developing a staff and equipment structure for the new development department for web and interactive platforms and working with the Editorial Director in bid submissions. I also re-designed the company's website to use css and meet current coding standards ready for the rebranding.
Head of Technology & Production
Rapido net (Interim Appointment: Mar-May 00)
A short-term position where I was reviewing options for the proposed internet delivery for their product, I also initiated recruitment process for five new staff; upgraded net connectivity; selected replacement e-mail and web servers; reviewed content development process and advised on a change of the development platform from Apple to Windows.
An interim position, I was presented with an opportunity to create a web content service almost from scratch, including selection of hardware and development software, staff recruitment, reviewing network services, developing micro-payments, etc. for this well-known media company. Although a permanent position was discussed I did not stay as I found the company to have insufficient budget available to meet their requirements.
Head of Technology
Capital Interactive,
Capital Radio plc (Nov 99-Feb 00)
Managed the development and support teams for the web and new media activities of this major national radio group; member of the shadow board as the division prepared to be spun off. Technology member of core team analysing new systems requirements, selecting development partners and tools; directly responsible for designing and implementing new internal and external network configurations and developing systems architectures to support the new plans; providing the design department with graphics, HTML and CSS technical assistance; liasing with suppliers and recruiting new staff; specifying, selecting, planning and scheduling new equipment and connectivity to provide best value for money and maintain high service and availability levels (SLAs).
On joining I was responsible for managing the move of the whole department to a single office and also worked with other departments within the group to support their individual internet plans.
Operating in very much a 'hands-on' mode due to early recruiting restrictions, I was also involved in registering many new domain names as part of our name protection project, and designed the initial site for Capital's first national station 'Life' which was one of the early digital broadcast (DAB) services.
We also installed new Sun Solaris servers for additional web services and an Oracle 8 database; moved to MS Exchange from Novell Groupwise for e-mail; selected software from OpenMarket, eHNC and Engage; installing 2.5Tb of HD/Tape storage for serving streamed music radio; installed Win2000 for domain, network and file/print services and I designed the architecture for additional streamed services and functionality.
Additionally, I was present onsite over the millennium eve night to confirm all our systems and services continued to operate into the new year (as well as to take advantage of the view from our boardroom of the celebrations on the Thames as we were supplying the music for the fireworks!)
Group Internet Program Manager
CHS Electronics Inc (1997-99)
Responsible for managing the development and implementation of the e-commerce and all internet-related activities of this Fortune 500 (#320 in '98, #189 in '99) Miami-based $12+bn t/o multinational computer distributor and analysing the systems and business processes from existing ERP and local solutions that could be leveraged into the group deliverable to the internal clients - the MD's of the (effectively autonomous) subsidiary companies. I created and developed the technical architecture of the CICERO e-commerce service, systems security and infrastructure components and I was responsible for the contract with and management of external software developers in the UK, Norway and Sri Lanka. When keeping to a schedule became critical I also coded a couple of the HTML and VB modules.
As the senior person in the group for internet matters I reported to the group CIO and also travelled extensively to the European subsidiaries and suppliers, meeting with relevant managers to promote the business benefits of the e-commerce service and advising on how best to market the advantages that the additional sales channel would produce, in addition to co-ordinating the technical aspects of implementing the service in their subsidiary. A world-wide roll-out of the system to some 50+ countries was scheduled with early pilots running in the UK, Belgium and Germany and the first live sites in Estonia, Sweden and The Netherlands.
Responsibilities also included other concurrent projects and the co-ordination of development teams from various countries together with budget responsibility and scheduling the installation of the facility in each of the group's companies. MS Project was used to track the (approx.) £1.4m main project which included the full development lifecycle from requirements gathering (inc. integration, interface & infrastructure issues), project planning (inc. dependencies & scheduling), build tracking and testing, issue management and change management. I also attended various conferences on e-commerce, including the first CyberChannels in 1998 in San Francisco where I was the only UK practitioner.
My responsibilities also included the co-ordination of development teams from various countries together with budget responsibility and scheduling the installation of the facility in the group's CHS, DNS, Karma, Metrologie, Frank & Walter, ISI and other subsidiaries. MS Project was used to track these activities. As part of this I travelled extensively to the European subsidiaries; promoting to their management the business benefits of an e-commerce service and advising on how best to market the advantages that this additional sales channel will produce.
Each subsidiary ran their own site and version of the software to enable local buy-in to the project and enable local-based stock control, pricing, advertising, and sales taxes together with locally-determined product ranges and pricing and this was successfully implemented on a rolling basis.
Because of the need for the system to run on local equipment sourced at each location and with local and remote support capabilities then Intel-based kit was chosen running MS Windows NT4 and MS SQL. It was recognised that this would not present the best possible throughput on the system but resources would be available in most countries rather than the problems that resourcing Sun, AIX, unix or solaris skills might represent. The roadmap for the project did however include alternate arrangements as the rollout reached the full subsidiary network and an overlay structure could be implemented.
The DCOM/ActiveX-based system interfaced with ERP systems from Scala, JBA & SAP and operated in a range of languages and cultures across West and East Europe to provide registered customers with real-time and customer-based pricing, stock availability and ordering, together with allied account information and support services.
Business & Internet Consultant
The Creative Organisation (1995-97,2000-present)
Growing out of earlier solo work, providing general consultancy, training and support services, including value-added hardware sales and network installation, plus design of and advice on web (internet & e-services) sites by providing a source of best practice.
Subsequent projects have included advising a US-based CRM company on how to make multi-lingual and multi-cultural websites; a major start-up during the launch of their web news and e-purchasing service; planning an e-finance start-up and designing an integrated security framework for a ASP-model web stockbroker.
More recently, clients have included two candidates for the UK Parliament, and campaign groups.
Other current projects include Brightsquare (photographing London) and MyIdent (online personal identity service).
Freelance Business Consultant
(1984-95)
Major projects included design and development of a real-time financial futures & commodities trading system; software analyst on project for on-line ship insurance; consultant and designer for the computerisation of direct marketing operations for a life assurance company; a monthly periodical; a prospective restaurant chain; a cable television channel; research and development of an on-line retrieval system for a book for a financial publishing house and support for a film scriptwriter. This freelance work, rebranded, became The Creative Organisation, detailed above where I continued to deliver to schedule and budget.
Other projects included: Support Analyst-Programmer for the Metropolitan Police's METCAD X25 computer network & supplier and, working through agency on contract to various clients.
Business & Systems Consultant
Sperry Univac (1979-84)
Pre- and post- sales consultancy, analysis and support, including customer and prospect liaison with lead responsibility on behalf of the company up to board level. Full project life-cycle from conception to final installation, including developing and writing of proposals, reports and presentations; responding to tenders; liasing with developers; software testing; auditing and solving customer problems; teaching programming, analysis and system procedures; confirming financial specification of proposed systems; analysis and bespoke programming and technical sign-off on bids.
In Finance division 79-81 and 82-84 where I was primarily involved with banking and insurance companies, with the intervening period in the Government & Special Industries division, which included MoD and the utility companies. the position entailed recognizing the appropriate solution from the company's broad product portfolio range, designing and evaluating the prototype solution, responding to and documenting the customer-facing proposal and presenting the results, and contributing QA and support during the development cycle.
Work performed solo and in teams, as member and as manager on projects valued between £50k and £10.5m. UK specialist for Mapper product - a 4GL - from arrival of product in 4/81, which included periods as systems co-ordinator for Sperry's International Division, as UK liaison to USA and on pre-release QA of new software. Also Health & Safety Officer.
Sales & Marketing Support Analyst
British Olivetti (1978-79)
Member of business and technical sales support team, including customer liaison, presentations and demonstrations, writing proposals and marketing documents, help desk, writing bespoke software (including datacom handlers, order entry systems, office automation products and the UK's first screen-based word processor), producing and presenting courses and creating documentation, managing customer marketing & sales events, providing technical pre-sales support to sales team and direct to prospects & customers, from initial meetings through to education and final installation. First Aid Officer.
Developed prototype screen-based word processor on DE700 series equipment for demonstration to Lloyds of London, prior to availability of dedicated machines. This was believed to be the UKs first screen-based word processor when otherwise only 16-character on-keyboard displays were available.
Other fields covered included the design and implementation of communications protocols, developing on-line real-time systems for Finance, Insurance (data recording & quotations), Office Automation and various order entry/stock control services including Bill of Materials processing and Estate Agency
Computer Systems Programmer
Spillers (1976-78)
Supporting UK data communications network and allied systems software on a 120-node UK network. Designer of new communications network (protocols, network configuration and control software, based on Burroughs B80 series) for Foods division and led of implementation team. First Aid Officer. Based at the group's head office, supporting UK data communications network (star-spur configuration, around 180 nodes) and allied systems software using structured methods and reverse engineering as applicable.
The team operated primarily in a 'fire-fighting' mode which required the tracing of faults in software, firmware, networking and hardware with the use of line monitoring tools although my first task on joining the team was to spend three months discovering how the main communications program worked as all the patching over the years had made the documenting totally out of date!
A major project was the planning, design and specification of new communications network and protocol for Spiller's Foods Division, including the software and node network layout, which was based on Burroughs' B25 minis communicating to the Head Office's dual mainframe; designed block protocols and wrote the mainframe communications handler (MCS) program; supervised the programmer of the B25 end.
Freelance Tour & Production Manager
(p/t 1989-94)
An occasional tour/company manager, responsible for liasing with venue management and local technicians. In early 1994, I was one of the directors (and Chief Engineer) of Brazen Radio Ltd - the first London (2nd in UK) Women's FM radio station. [more]
organisation charts
Narrateo Organisation Chart
Chairman
|
CEO
___|______________________________
| | | |
Editorial Operations Technical Financial
Director Director Director Director
& company |
founder IT Support Mgr
& Production Leaders
Capital Interactive Organisation Chart
Main plc Board
___|_________________________
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(Radio) (Advertising) MD, Interactive
_______________________|__________
| | | | | | |
HoD's: Mktg | Sales Tech Design Radio Retail
Editorial |
Perm: 2 prog, 1 dba, 3 ops
Contract: 2+ prog, 2 others
plus additional staff from
suppliers
Rapido Net Organisation Chart
MD
________________|_____
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HoD's: Finance Editorial Tech&Prod
|
Designer & Asst Designer
Programmer & Jnr Programmer
Operations Assistant
CHS Electronics Inc Organisation Chart
Main Board in Miami, USA
____|_________________________
| | | | | | | | | | | <IS function
(Regional&National Subs) CIO <based in UK
________________|___________
International | | | |
Program JBA Scala Internet EDI
Managers (ERP) (ERP) |
No direct reports, although
recruitment was an option.
Outsourced development to
companies in UK, Norway and
Sri Lanka; staff from each
of which worked for me
alongside local site staff at
each test and rollout location
