Latest - Decades: 1970s

Sir Peter Rigby

Sir Peter Rigby left school and joined the computer industry working for NCR, Honeywell and the Diebold consultancy. In 1975 with £2,000 of his own money he launched SCR, a recruitment agency for IT staff. Seven years later he sold the company for £1 million. He ploughed the cash back into growing IT enterprises with his eye always on developing a large organisation. He has kept the company privately owned by his family in order to preserve the values he sees as vital in business.

Doron Swade MBE

Doron Swade. He is an engineer, historian, museum professional and scholar who publishes and lectures widely on the history of computing, curatorship and museology. He is the author of more than eighty articles and four books. At the Science Museum in London he was curator of computing and responsible for the national computing collection. He is a leading authority on the works and life of Charles Babbage. During his tenure at the London Science Museum he directed, managed, fund-raised and publicised the construction of the first mechanical calculating engine from original nineteenth century designs by [Charles] Babbage. In 1989 he founded the Computer Conservation Society and in 2009 was awarded an MBE for his services to the history of computing in the New Year’s Honours List.

Peter Kirstein CBE

Peter Kirstein is a British computer scientist. He is often recognised as the father of the European Internet. Professor of Computer Communications Systems at UCL in London. He was appointed Commander of the British Empire in 2003. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, a Fellow of the Institute of Physics. In 2003 he was awarded the Postel Award by the Internet Society, and in 2006 he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Royal Academy of Engineering

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.