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Geoff Squire OBE

Geoff Squire OBE spent 50 years in the UK IT industry, from machine code to $Bn companies.  Geoff learnt arithmetic and the value of pounds, shillings and pence at an early age doing sums upside down over his father’s shoulder.  University was never an option but interest in numbers led on to jobs in programming and thence to growing roles in ICL.

He is perhaps most famous for establishing Oracle in the UK with an opportunistic pitch to Larry Ellison.  Subsequently Geoff led Veritas to a Y2K $75Bn market cap.  In recent years Geoff has focused, with his wife Fiona, on their grant giving charity and he serves as Chairman of Give as You Live Ltd, a technology company dedicated to raising money for UK charities.

Professor Tom Crick MBE

Professor Tom Crick is a computer scientist who brings his knowledge to bear on the big questions for Wales of education and industrial policy, including intelligent systems, smart cities, digital transformation, skills and infrastructure.  Tom’s generation was the first to have university education and he credits his secondary school and teachers with his stimulating his interest in technology.

He was at the heart of reform of the computing curriculum in schools and was appointed MBE in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours for “services to computer science and the promotion of computer science education”.  He believes it is important that the pioneering role of the UK and its scientists in the IT industry is understood.

Peter Morgan MBE

Peter Morgan MBE joined IBM as a new graduate in 1959, when transistors were just replacing vacuum tubes, and stayed for 30 years, leaving as Director of the UK subsidiary.  In this interview, he talks about the benefits the US company brought to British customers, IBM vs ICL and why the US is more successful at growing IT giants.  After leaving IBM, he became Director General of the Institute of Directors and has been chair of or a board member of many companies, six of which are in the IT sector.

He was a master of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists. As a youth, he aspired to succeed and cites the Cambridge tutorial approach to studying History and National Service as key development activities.

Dr Steve Garnett

Dr Steve Garnett is the son of a Liverpool docker and a cleaner. A maths teacher inspired a love of maths and started a career out of Liverpool. He earned his doctorate in theoretical physics and decided to become a programmer. He worked at Logica, then contributed though technical and then executive posts to the growth of Oracle, Siebel and Salesforce.com, helping each to become the success they were. He is now an advocate of software as a service: software in the cloud rented by users which puts the customer back in charge.

Professor John Tucker

Professor John Tucker is one of the select few academic computer scientists who are also passionate about the history of computing; being a noted authority on both.  After studying maths at the newly opened University of Warwick in the ‘70’s John was captivated by interests in mathematical logic and computability and pursued studies in the UK and internationally before returning to Wales.

At Swansea, his course on the history of computing teaches undergraduate students the skills essential to the workplace, of how to learn about and communicate on unfamiliar subjects. Furthermore, it extends our understanding of “invention and innovation in Computing” and nurtures his fascination for the subject.  He has expanded his work to include the collection of hardware and documents in the Swansea Computing Collection and the study of the role of science and technology in the industry and society of South Wales.

Dr Timothy Walker CB

Dr Timothy Walker managed the Alvey Programme from 1987 to 89, which researched advanced computing technologies.  Alvey paralleled Japan’s 5th Generation project and aimed to improve the UK’s performance / competitiveness in Information Technology. 

Dr Walker was a formidable academic over-achiever in his formative years.  After an early spell in university teaching and research he held top level posts, managing transformation in areas such as Industry (Alvey), Nuclear Energy and Immigration.  He advocates closer working between industry and universities and strong leadership in managing Government driven change.

Since retiring from the Civil Service he has remained busy with voluntary and charitable roles and uncovering local history. 

Sir David Brown

Sir David Brown got hooked on electronic engineering when his father took him to a Faraday Lecture at the age of 14. His first job was with Plessey, which had sponsored him through sixth form and university. At Plessey he worked on the UK’s first digital telephone exchanges and Ptarmigan a landmark tactical mobile cryptographic telecommunications system for the British army. He is a firm believer in the power of teamwork and went on to senior roles at STC, ICL, Northern Telecom and Motorola.

More recently, Sir David has focused on non-executive roles in technologies that are “edgy and fun”, such as hydrogen fuel cells and printing sciences. As chairman of the board of trustees at Bletchley Park, home of British World War II code-breaking, he is a passionate about encouraging young people to become engineers. With four honorary doctorates, a visiting fellowship at Oxford University and a knighthood, he continues to be an eminent figure in the telecoms and electronics industries.

Colin Knight

Colin Knight learned the value of failsafe technology early in his career, developing algorithms for the release of munitions from RAF “V Bombers”. This focus on non-stop reliability has remained his priority through a wide-ranging career spanning financial trading in the City post Big Bang, the revolution in mobile communications, predictive modelling of networks and risk management. Colin has worked extensively across Europe, Asia Pacific and the US, including a spell in Moscow during the height of the Cold War. Given his time again, he says he would favour roles at US-based companies because they are more innovative, entrepreneurial and financially rewarding.

Colin is a past Master of the Information Technologists Livery Company. But his proudest achievement has been his charitable activities deploying IT to improve the lives of sick and disabled children and their families. Work must be fun, he insists — you will never get a successful team with unhappy members.

Portrait photograph of a man in a suit jacket and tie wearing glasses

Tom Ilube CBE

Tom Ilube CBE is a serial entrepreneur, philanthropist and was named as the most influential British person of African-Caribbean origin by the Powerlist 2017.  After working for big consultancy companies, he was CIO of the innovative Internet bank Egg and founded a series of companies in personal identity and cybersecurity. In 2005 Tom launched a project to found the Hammersmith Academy, focusing on tech and creative skills, and he is the founder of the African Gifted Foundation, a UK education charity focused on science and technology in Africa.

Nicholas (Nic) Birtles

Nic Birtles left university after a boring year for more exciting work in the emerging IT industry.  He programmed a LEO machine; successor to the first business computer.  Like many who led the growth of the 20th century industry, he soon moved into sales and thence senior management with some of the iconic names of the early industry, including Burroughs in Canada and then ComShare, selling its computer power over telephone lines.

He was headhunted by Ingres, the innovative relational database competitor to Oracle.  He was in Silicon Valley for the dotcom boom and bust.  Since 2002, Nic has held a portfolio of non-executive roles with growth companies, most recently fundraising for an innovative aircraft design from Aeralis.  Nic is a Past Master of the City of London IT Livery Company (WCIT) , where he actively supports their charitable initiatives.