Modernising industry Archives - Page 7 of 7

Professor Liz Bacon

Liz Bacon is a Professor of Software Engineering who helped change the school curriculum in computing and set-up more than 200 computers at school hubs across the country. In 2016 Liz became a Trustee and Director of Bletchley Park Trust, the home of British code breaking.

13 December 2018

Lord Kenneth Baker

Lord Kenneth Baker is a politician who has had most influence on the UK IT industry. He was appointed the first minister of IT in 1981 and spent four years promoting IT and the IT industry.

He salvaged International Computers Limited (ICL), the state-owned computer company, twice. He launched IT82, a successful awareness campaign, which coincided with the second year of the BBC Micro and its accompanying BBC TV programmes.

30 October 2018

Eben Upton CBE

Dr Eben Upton is world renowned for inventing the bare-bones computer named Raspberry Pi which is based upon the ARM processor. One of his fondest memories at school was of programming the BBC Micro, and the Raspberry Pi model numbers follow those of the BBC Microcomputer series.

28 July 2017

Victor Basta

Victor Basta is a maestro of mergers and acquisitions in the IT sector. He says he is somebody who helps other people through deals rather than doling deals himself.

In 1986 he came across the IT industry through his activities in mergers and acquisitions working in New York for the General Motors Treasurer’s Office. Between September 1989 and November 2001 he worked at Broadview International an then became Managing Director of Magister, a boutique investment bank based in London and San Francisco. His first deal was selling LoveFilm to Amazon for around $350 million, now Amazon Prime Video.

28 July 2017

Dame Stephanie Shirley

Dame Steve Shirley founded the software house F International initially only using women workers who worked from home. It was in 1962 and she had hit the glass ceiling again in her employment. She had £6 of capital. She was good at finding people who could become high achievers. Having been saved when a million children died in the holocaust she decided to make hers a life worth saving and likes to feel that she has made a difference. Her work gives purpose to her existence.

27 July 2017

Christopher Curry

Chris Curry was a central figure in the Cambridge phenomena which was Sinclair, Acorn and ARM. He started on the production line at PYE, worked for the Royal Radar Establishment and eventually arrived at Sinclair Radionics in 1966. He then helped set up Acorn Computers with its first product the Atom. Acorn was approached by the BBC and devised the BBC Micro, launched in 1980 it sold 3 million.

14 July 2017

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