Latest - Business Sector: Public sector

Sir John Chisholm

Sir John Chisholm started his IT career in management roles at early software and systems companies like Scicon, CAP Scientific, and Sema. In 1991 he became Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, later rebranded as QinetiQ. He is perhaps best known for this role in leading QinetiQ to become an internationally successful technology services company, which floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2006. He became Chairman of QinetiQ in the same year.

Ian Watmore

Ian Watmore started his career in the IT industry as a programmer in the consultancy Arthur Anderson in 1980. He was trained by Anderson and mixed systems development with consultancy. He was the youngest equity partner in the consultancy in 1990. His work included fixing problematic public sector systems, helping South Africa develop an effective voting system and managing the UK partners who became the Accenture consultancy. He became the first Government CIO and introduced Direct.gov and helped introduce centralised .gov.uk web services.

Andrew Stott

Andrew is an international thought leader in open data. Most recently, between 2004 and 2010, as Deputy Chief Information Officer and then Director of Digital Engagement at the Cabinet Office, he delivered the globally leading data.gov.uk, in which a large number of government datasets were made available online for the first time. He has led UK Digital Engagement programmes, and is now an expert adviser, speaker and consultant on open data and e-government, both in the UK and worldwide.

Sir Edmund Burton

Sir Edmund Burton is a retired general and an experienced and highly innovative senior executive with extensive experience within the UK defence and security community operating at both ministerial and board level.  He has been a staunch advocate of the importance of treating information as a key business asset and of protecting it accordingly.  Formerly executive chairman of the UK national Police IT Organisation leading a major business improvement programme, a knowledge adviser to the Cabinet Office, other government departments, private sector and academia on information assurance processes and the need for education and training.

Sir Rod Aldridge

Leading social and business entrepreneur and founder of Capita Group

In 1987 Sir Rod Aldridge OBE created Capita as an independent firm (breaking away from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy) running contracts for local authorities and central government. It is now the largest business process outsourcing and professional services company in the UK.

On retirement from Capita in 2006, Rod established the Aldridge Foundation and became one of the first sponsors of the government’s Academy Programme.

The Foundation works in challenging communities and has so far unlocked £300m government funding to build new academies.

Dr Alan Shepherd

Alan has had a long and varied IT career, with a background in research, innovation, technology assessment, and large scale contracting.   He has held senior technology management appointments in both public and private sectors, and recently has specialised in highlighting the growing business impact of emerging technologies.  He has been responsible for many major projects and investment decisions, and has considerable experience of IT-supported and IT-driven business change programmes.  He is very familiar with the difficulty of implementing change that affects workplace culture and tradition, a challenge that’s still very much with us today.  Alan is a Chartered Engineer, and has served as a member of the Advisory Board of the Intel Corporation, and as a Council Member of EURIM and of the Parliamentary IT Committee.