Latest - Decades: 1970s

David Southward

David Southward was a co-founder of Cambridge Consultants in 1960 as a fresh graduate from Cambridge: the foundation of CC is considered to be the start of the Cambridge Phenomenon. The first digital computer he saw after working on analogue computers was a Digital Equipment PDP/11. He went on to become technical director of Sinclair Research working closely with Sir Clive Sinclair. There he helped design the screen for Sinclair’s miniature tv, a storage device for the Sinclair microcomputers and a printer for them.

Professor Cliff Jones

Cliff Jones began working in the computing industry immediately after leaving school in 1961.  Cliff worked at LEO, then at IBM, which he left in 1963 to work for a year each at, first Esso, and then Ford where he began his work in programming and development of compilers.  Unusually, Cliff then moved back to IBM in 1965.  Cliff left industry in 1979 to return to education, completing a DPhil at Oxford University under Turing Award winner, Tony Hoare.   Following this, Cliff took a chair in 1981 at Manchester University and continued work on formal aspects of computing until 1996.  Another brief spell in industry at the small software house, Harlequin, followed.  Cliff came to a professorship at Newcastle University in 1999 where he remained until his retirement in the summer of 2018.

John O’Connell

John O’Connell is a high-profile London-based technology entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist. He founded Staffware, one of the then leading software companies in the UK, which he sold in 2004. Since then he has personally invested in fourteen technology businesses, having chaired the vast majority of them. He also chaired and co-owned the professional rugby club then known as London Wasps. At present he is Chairman of Active Navigation, and he is the founder and Chairman of ScaleUp Group,

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.

Professor Brian Randell

Brian has had a long and illustrious career in computing, starting work at English Electrics Atomic Power Division in 1957. Brian worked on various programming tasks, including the ALGOL 60 compiler for the KDF9 machine, which was the subject of his book, Algol 60 Implementation, along with Lawford Russell, one of the first books on compilers.  Brian then joined IBM Research at Yorktown Heights in 1964, where he worked on computer and systems design.  After five years at IBM, Brian became Professor of Computing Science at the Department of Computing Science at Newcastle University, where he has remained since.