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The stories of the pioneering people behind IT

This expanding database contains more than 200 oral histories recorded by the Archives of IT team. They tell the extraordinary story of how the Tech industry has transformed our lives, in the words of the people who made and are making it happen.

You can filter interviews by subject area below or use the Search button at the top of the page. If you know who you are looking for, use our A-Z list here.

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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.

Professor Liz Bacon

Professor of Software Engineering, champion of women in STEM, Vice-Principal and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at Abertay University in Dundee, BSC President: Liz has many accolades to her name including completing an industrial placement at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, in Geneva, during her sandwich degree in the 1984/85 academic year.

With others she helped change the school curriculum in computing and set-up more than 200 computers at school hubs across the country to train the teachers to deliver it. In 2016 Liz became a Trustee and Director of Bletchley Park Trust, the home of British code breaking.

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David Barker

David Barker was one of the UK’s first internet entrepreneurs in 1994 and spent ten years working with global corporations including Intel, Cisco and Microsoft. In 2004 he became a social entrepreneur to tackle some of the issues facing society such as social mobility, unemployment and poverty.

Since 2005 David has been innovating new social enterprise start-ups using Tech for Good. In 2015 he founded Techcentre, The Social Innovation Agency, to work in partnership with clients to innovate new tech-enabled social enterprise start-ups.

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Iann Barron

Iann Barron nurtured three generations of computer designers in the UK at Elliott Brothers, Computer Technology (CT) and InMos.

He designed a computer at Elliott’s for the RAF and left to form his own company, CT, in 1965, raising private capital to fund it, one of the first to do so in the world.

He was forced out of CT in 1975 and after a spell as a consultant joined the InMos venture of the National Enterprise Board designing the transputer microprocessor and advising Motorola, Texas Instruments and Fairchild and also telling Intel what was wrong with their microprocessors.

Paul Barry-Walsh

Paul Barry-Walsh is an IT entrepreneur and investor. After leaving IBM in 1986 Paul founded Safetynet; then in 1996 Netstore; and in 2001 he founded the Fredericks Foundation, which has become one of the UK’s leading micro finance organisations.

In 2005 alongside Paul & Peter Sedgwick, he founded Frank Investments. This business was established to provide long-term investment management services to a partnership of investors. Paul has made over private 30 investments since 2000 and typically invests between £250-£ 500k each year. 

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.