Latest - IT Sector: Software

John Higgins CBE

John Higgins CBE is well known as the leader of influential industry trade associations and advisory bodies in the UK and Europe, which give him a unique perspective of IT in the last 45 years. Currently John is President of the BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

He first worked on computer applications at London Brick, writing payroll and other applications for a Univac mainframe and progressed to Silicon Valley DotCom CEO in the 90’s, before moving into industry advisory roles. In this interview he shares insights into wide ranging issues, including why Europe struggles to compete with the USA building Tech companies and the challenges of public sector IT projects.

Mandy Chessell CBE

Mandy Chessell CBE  is a software engineer, who is recognised with multiple honours for her key role in the technology which is at the heart of business critical operations around the world. She was awarded a CBE for services to engineering and was the first woman to be awarded the Silver Medal of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Mandy was influenced to be an engineer by her father, a naval architect, and was inspired to join IBM by a speaker outlining the excitement of technology visiting her school when she was 14: she has been at IBM for 35 years.

Mandy encourages the entry of other women to IT and, while reluctant to demand special treatment, she does observe and oppose attitudes that still limit their advancement in a male dominated industry.

Tony Storey

Tony Storey is a computer scientist who reluctantly accepts the job description “Software Engineer” and has been responsible for some of the most important software developments of the last 50 years, including the ubiquitous CICS, Java and the message-based system, MQ Series.

He started using computers for his work as an experimental chemist, migrated to realtime systems for Ferranti naval weapons and thence to IBM UK’s scientific centre where he helped develop a pioneering relational database system used by the World Health Organisation, among others. He moved on to Hursley and achieved the accolade of IBM Fellow.

A man with grey hair smiling. He is wearing a blue polo shirt.

Jeremy Brassington

The early experience of rejection gave Jeremy Brassington a drive which led through impressive exam results to studying chemistry at Oxford. Despite a well-received thesis on blood proteins, he found academic research unappealing, and instead qualified as an accountant.   Describing auditing as “the dullest subject on earth” he turned to banking, eventually focusing on tech venture funding and turning around failing businesses such as Oxford Molecular. “It taught me how not to run a business,” he says.

In 2003, Jeremy moved into Assistive Technology, redesigning an assistive listening device for the hard of hearing. Having had learning difficulties himself, he realised could help students with dyslexia, language problems and other disabilities.  “It was the first time I had run a business that was doing good,” he says. He managed it for the next 15 years, launching in 30 markets worldwide.

In 2019, Jeremy founded Habitat Learn, an Edtech group which combines automated note-taking and transcription with a smartphone app that helps disabled students take notes in lectures and is now pioneering digital education for all students. He hopes it will become a unicorn.

Michael van de Weg

MedTech pioneer Michael van de Weg was born in southern Africa and worked with IT majors before he teamed up with a friend in 2015 to form IMMJ in London to develop and sell an electronic document solution for healthcare.

Michael graduated from University of KwaZulu-Natal and joined IBM, where he was soon propelled into a project to recall and fix 10,000 smart card devices for a bank. He was offered an IBM career path but was inclined by his father’s experience and advice to become an entrepreneur.

Andy Phillipps

Andy Phillipps was co-founder of Active Hotels in 1999, a start-up which became the largest online booking company in Europe.  Since then, he has become an angel investor, with many successful ventures and exits and has taught at Insead, the London Business School and Stanford.

Originally a material scientist with a PhD, and evidently formidably bright, Andy shares insights in a modest and charming style, addressing how to select investment opportunities, what CEO’s need from their angels and the difference between making decisions in science and business.

Sean Finnan

Sean Finnan, the son of a welder and a factory worker, joined the IT industry by answering an advert in the company where he was working as a cleaner.  He got into IT at a subsidiary of General Motors whose IT operations was taken over by EDS, the Dallas-based outsourcing company.  He rose after 12 years cycling through jobs in EDS which gave him a broad view of IT and its management.

EDS was taken over by Hewlett-Packard from which he left to join IBM.  This experience gives him an interesting view of the different cultures of IT companies.  He now supports companies trying to help them scale up.