Tell us a little more about yourself…

Well…what to say? I am a 51-year-old man currently living in York where I was born and raised. You might think, therefore, that I have been there the whole time, but I left when I was 18 to join the Armed Forces and only came back in later life. When not socialising with friends, I am an avid gamer (PS5) but, more so, love to ride my motorbike, which currently is a Ducati Diavel 1260s. When the weather is nice, I’m on the bike, but on rainy days you’ll find me at home playing PlayStation.

How long have you worked at BrightCloud Group?

I started my role as Global Operations Director in June 2023, so still fairly new.

Describe a typical day in your role.

I don’t think, in my role, a typical day exists. As I am heading up the Operational side of the business a lot can be driven by customer requirements, which can be hard to predict. Outside of that we have a lot of improvement projects ongoing to help us mature as a business, and the planning and delivery of those can take up significant periods of time.

What were you doing before working at BrightCloud?

After 6 years serving in the Armed Forces, I decided to re-join the civilian life and started my “new” work life teaching soldiers how to build and maintain computers before I worked as a business Analyst for Northern Foods, who kindly helped me complete my education by achieving a Masters in Business Administration with Nottingham University. In my last role, I was the Director of IT for a large multi-national SaaS solution provider (although we became a bit Americanised so my title was Executive Vice President of IT and Infrastructure – a bit of a mouthful). We started with about 8 people, when I left after nearly 20 years, we had over 500 people worldwide providing systems to Private, Public, non-profit customers delivered out of our Worldwide infrastructure.

What would you say is the most rewarding aspect of your role?

Again, a tough one to answer but, ultimately, knowing that we are well resourced, delivering our customers projects on-time, with happy customers and engineers.

What three words would your colleagues use to describe you?

Diligent, Tenacious, Personable (thanks Abbey)

Tell us the most memorable moment that has happened at BrightCloud Group whilst you’ve been working there?

I think that I have to say that it was pretty much my first week where one of my colleagues brought their dog into work who promptly spent a lot of the day trying to actively climb on my knee.

What’s the most recent piece of tech that you’ve bought and why?

Because I deal with tech all day, I try to de-tech myself at home. Most recently, I bought a new 65″ TV that goes alongside with my PlayStation.

What item could you not live without?

My coffee machine at home, it is a bean to cup machine with a built-in milk carafe that is heavily over-utilised.

What’s the most significant change you’ve witnessed in the industry since you started working in it?

There is so much I could put in this list as, I guess, I am part of the generation where the internet was very much in its infancy, how this has changed over those years is staggering and has moved from “niche” to essential for our modern work to operate.

If there’s one thing you could change about the industry, what would it be?

Rather selfishly, pace of change which means that it can be challenging to stay ahead of the curve. That is not to say that we should stagnate and that there aren’t some great innovations that occur, but the industry tends towards leaping before it looks quite often!

Who or what has most influenced your career and why?

I would have to say I have been very lucky in my career and worked with some very talented people and have had extremely supportive managers. This combination has been instrumental in my career progression, for which I will always be extremely grateful. We all need active support, especially at the beginning of our careers, from senior members who push us forward and help us improve and become more confident. Now as the Global Operations Director, my job is to make sure that everyone in my team receive the same level of support that I have enjoyed throughout my career.