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Latest - Area of Interest: Modernising industry

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Tom Ilube CBE

Tom Ilube CBE is a serial entrepreneur, philanthropist and was named as the most influential British person of African-Caribbean origin by the Powerlist 2017.  After working for big consultancy companies, he was CIO of the innovative Internet bank Egg and founded a series of companies in personal identity and cybersecurity. In 2005 Tom launched a project to found the Hammersmith Academy, focusing on tech and creative skills, and he is the founder of the African Gifted Foundation, a UK education charity focused on science and technology in Africa.

Nicholas (Nic) Birtles

Nic Birtles left university after a boring year for more exciting work in the emerging IT industry.  He programmed a LEO machine; successor to the first business computer.  Like many who led the growth of the 20th century industry, he soon moved into sales and thence senior management with some of the iconic names of the early industry, including Burroughs in Canada and then ComShare, selling its computer power over telephone lines.

He was headhunted by Ingres, the innovative relational database competitor to Oracle.  He was in Silicon Valley for the dotcom boom and bust.  Since 2002, Nic has held a portfolio of non-executive roles with growth companies, most recently fundraising for an innovative aircraft design from Aeralis.  Nic is a Past Master of the City of London IT Livery Company (WCIT) , where he actively supports their charitable initiatives.

Cyril Hilsum CBE

Cyril Hilsum is a British physicist and material scientist, who carried out research on infra-red devices and semi-conductors, and played a key role in the development of flat-panel liquid crystal displays. He was awarded numerous prizes from several institutions: he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and an honorary member of the American National Academy of Engineering. He was awarded the Max Born Prize in 1987 and the Faraday Medal in 1988. He was awarded the CBE in 1990 for services to the Electrical and Electronics Industry. In 2007 he was awarded the Royal Society’s Royal Medal for his many outstanding contributions and for continuing to use his prodigious talents on behalf of industry, government and academia to this day

Sir Desmond Pitcher

Sir Desmond Pitcher has worked on all sides of the IT industry. He has implemented computer systems for Sperry Univac and became a senior executive. In 1974/5 he delivered the Faraday lecture series for the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers in which he predicted many of the developments of the IT industry. He has run the computerised switching systems for the telecommunications company Plessey when it was developing and building System X. He has introduced computerisation in large organisations including Littlewoods, the football pools and retailing company based on Merseyside. He later chaired the Merseyside Development Corporation.

Edwina Dunn OBE

Edwina Dunn OBE has spent her 40 years in the IT industry analysing great globs of data and turning it into useful business information to guide businesses. We call that today the analysis of big data. She started at the US CACI company which used census data to help customers such as banks and building societies. She left with her husband after nine years and they formed their own consultancy focusing on analysing customer data. Their big breakthrough was launching the Clubcard customer service for Tesco which catapulted Tesco to the front rank of UK grocery marketing. They sold the business to Tesco and formed another company. She is concerned about the ethics of using data and about the role of women in IT.

Maurice Perks

Maurice Perks worked on the implementation of large complex IT systems from his start at IBM in 1968. He helped build one of Europe’s first interactive applications for Dunlop in the early 1970s. He worked in the USA on the design of future computer systems within the heart of IBM. He became a Fellow of IBM working on the implementation of applications for customers. He is concerned that there is a continuing gap between what the IT industry can deliver and what organisations, both private and public, need.