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ITC Entrepreneurs' Forum |
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Find a mentor |
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| List of mentors | |||||||||||||||
| Tom Abram | |||||||||||||||
Tom Abram has spent over 20 years managing professional services businesses in the high technology sector. After research for a doctorate in digital electronics, Tom started his career in defence technology before moving into consulting in the private sector with a leading software house. He took roles in sales, operations and general management, gaining an MBA along the way. As Managing Director in the early 90's, Tom was responsible for founding and building a new Business Consulting Group for EDS, operating across Europe and growing from six to 250 staff in less than three years . Tom moved on to join a small software company in the mid nineties and, as a key shareholder and CEO, re-shaped it into a business services company. After doubling turnover in a two year period, Tom led the sale of the company to the consulting division of a major plc. Tom supported the integration of the businesses with interim spells as Managing Director, Sales Director and Strategic Advisor before recently exiting the company. As a business leader, Tom places particular emphasis on the sales message, marketing and sales process and the use of metrics that enable effective management of those aspects of the business. Tom has himself used a variety of advisors and mentors in his business in different ways and has a strong sense of how external advice and support can be of help. Tom is a member of the IET and BCS; a Chartered Engineer and Chartered IT Professional and a Liveryman of the Information Technology Company |
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| Nic Birtles | |||||||||||||||
Nic has been in the IT industry for over 40 years, about 30 of which he has been involved in Sales, Marketing and Management of Enterprise Software. Nic started his career initially as a programmer and analyst for several years. Nic then moved into Sales and Sales Management running European Operations for companies such as Comshare, Ingres and GUPTA. During this time he grew the International Operations of Ingres (Major competitor to Oracle at the time) from revenues of zero as a start-up to over £100 million pa. Nic was then appointed Head of Worldwide Sales & Operations for GUPTA (a leading supplier of Client/Server Development Tools) and moved to California's Silicon Valley for about 8 years, He went on to become Chief Executive of Constellar a UK/US Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) Software Company, which was sold in 2000 to DataMirror Corp. Nic has been a Council Member of Intellect and its US equivalent the
IT Association of America. Nic is Chairman of Konetic, which provides
Internet based recruitment services, Chairman of PTC Software, a provider
of Enterprise Systems Management software, Chairman of Agena, an early
stage company that provides risk assessment software and Chairman of Newfield
IT which provides document and printing management software. |
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| John Colley | |||||||||||||||
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John has extensive experience advising companies on strategy, corporate finance, M&A and raising money from Private Equity. More recently he has worked in business development, using his extensive network to create business synapses - links between companies. He also advises on Social Media and has recently launched his own blog, The Six Minute Strategist. John has been involved in the setting up of two Corporate Finance boutiques and has advised a wide range of businesses from start ups to multi-national IT businesses. He focuses on Technology companies; IT Services, Software, Infrastructure, Telecoms Services and Outsourcing and is passionate about technology and helping businesses grow and develop. John has an MA from Cambridge University, an MBA with Distinction from Cass Business School and is a graduate of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. For more information please visit his page at LinkedIn. |
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| Peter Cordery | |||||||||||||||
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For more information and a list of references please see Peter's page on Linkedin. Peter is passionate about helping people improve both their business and personal performance and will work with you to achieve these goals and objectives. He believes everyone has the answers within and he uses a variety of psychology based coaching tools and techniques to help individuals achieve their full potential. |
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| Atul Devani | |||||||||||||||
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As an individual, Atul is extremely determined and very ambitious – someone who thinks on his feet and doesn't know the meaning of the word 'impossible'! He’s also a tenacious and highly effective negotiator. Some career highlights to date include:
In 2008, Atul set up Equity Plus Partners (EPP), an investment management firm, with the objective to invest in or acquire, and then provide management assistance to, established or new start-up businesses in the UK and beyond. He has significant expertise in operating in publicly quoted markets, in both principal and advisory capacities. Atul’s operational experience in areas such as sales, marketing and financial management, coupled with his skills as a business entrepreneur, make him a potentially the ideal mentor for any business that is looking to grow and develop - and to ultimately create the potential for substantial returns for all concerned. |
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| Peter Dudley | |||||||||||||||
| Peter is an experienced business adviser and coach currently working mostly with small and medium sized businesses. Peter's background is telecoms and IT and spans 30 years. He started as a programmer and moved into telecoms systems design and then network engineering, progressing through operations, sales and marketing and general management. He has extensive experience and skills in strategic planning and management, organisation design, change programmes and business operations. He has run both small and large businesses and served on the boards of companies in the far east and USA. Working for some of the largest global corporations in the telecoms, energy and insurance sectors, he has delivered several large change programmes and built a solid reputation for focus and results. In 2007 Peter founded Jetstream Profit, specifically to provide affordable advice and services to small and medium sized businesses. Passionate about the benefits that good planning can bring to a business, he is an advocate of business modelling and exponent of interactive dashboards. Peter has a BSc in Electronics from the University of London. |
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| Paul Finch | |||||||||||||||
Paul Finch is a Business and IT Professional who has held a successful career in IT & Business for 35 years. He is a results orientated and pragmatic entrepreneur who thrives on new challenges. In 1995, he co-founded and led a highly respected IT Contract Recruitment Consultancy - KeyPower Consultants, which grew to 3 offices across the UK with revenues of £12-15m. The business was successfully sold in Dec 2007. Since then Paul has held a number of Non Exec positions helping companies achieve high growth, he has also run a transformation programme for a Trade Distribution business to create the building blocks for next stage growth of £5m – £10m. He launched a successful ecommerce business in 2010 which is now achieving revenues of over £2m. In Jan 2012, Paul has been appointed the Managing Director of Konetic, an ASP / SaaS technology business specialising in the provision of eRecruitment Software to corporates. He is currently organising the ten year old business into next stage growth with current revenues of £1.5m. Paul is a well-respected addition to any boardroom and provides executive and management consultancy advice to SME organisations hoping to achieve successful growth and /or exit. His particular specialisations include Business Management & Development, Board Room Discipline, Contract Management, Project Management, Mergers and Acquisitions, Sales & Marketing, Management Development, Business Strategy and Planning. For more information and a list of written references, please see Paul's page on LinkedIn. He is a chairman of the Essex Branch Committee of the IOD (Institute of Directors), and an active member of the Worshipful Company for Information Technologists in the City of London where he sits on the Entrepreneurs Panel and Chairs the Employment Panel. |
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| Barry Fludgate | |||||||||||||||
Barry Fludgate has 35 years of management, financial and information technology experience. He has a Masters Degree in Business Administration. He was Management Auditor at Abbey before joining BIS where he designed and lead the development and installation of Midas. He was appointed as head of banking and a full director of Banking Systems in 1977. He moved to New York and established BIS Inc, where he was president. In 1980 he left to start-up Management Technologies Inc. (MTI) in New York, where he was Chief Executive Officer. The company went public on NASDAQ in 1987 and had offices in New York, London, Sydney, Singapore and Toronto. He left MTI in 1994 as Chairman to establish Lancer Corporation, a consultancy company. Lancer Corporation specialises in offering business advice to small and medium size companies. The company raises capital, assists in mergers and acquisition, and advised on business strategies for its clients. This included taking companies to market in the US and UK. He held a number of non-executive Directorships in both the US and UK
and has held executive positions for short periods as President, Chief
Financial Officer and Technical Officer for his clients. He also has both
a UK and a US passport. |
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| Graham French | |||||||||||||||
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| Alistair Fulton | |||||||||||||||
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| Colin Gallick | |||||||||||||||
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Colin has been a member of the executive board of three high growth software companies, each of which achieved a successful exit. Between 2001 and 2006, Colin was SVP Europe and then CEO of GuardedNet Inc, the Security Information Management vendor, where he led the sale of the company to MicroMuse Inc, itself soon acquired by IBM. Colin sits on the advisory boards of several high growth technology businesses. |
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| Roger Graham | |||||||||||||||
Roger Graham has been involved with the IT, Communications and Marketing Services industries for over forty years, and until late 2001, as a Director of Close Brothers Corporate Finance Ltd. For 24 years, as Chairman and CEO, he built the BIS Group from start-up to a firm of 1800 employees operating globally. BIS four divisions provided the world's leading international banking software, IT consulting and training, IT global market research, and direct marketing and customer management services and all continue to be leaders in their operations. As an active private investor having placed over £2.5million in 21 companies over the past 18 years, he has served generally as Chairman, and exited 11 investments with a total return of some 10x cash invested. For these companies, he has also raised over £4m. from other angels and completed some £16m. investment from venture capital and private equity firms and one IPO. His non-executive support is focused on management and organisation development, marketing and sales policies and strategies and financial reporting and capital access. His current investments include web and internet marketing
services and software for Confirmed
Purchaser Reviews, Advanced
Water Pressure Management, Job
Candidate Sharing and Search as well as Web
Self-Service and Personalised
Gaming Software |
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| Susan Hallam | |||||||||||||||
Susan Hallam is Managing Director of Hallam Internet Ltd, a specialist Internet agency that helps businesses to grow and develop their business using Internet technologies. She has specialist expertise in search engine optimisation, social media marketing, email marketing, online advertising, and developing internet marketing strategies. Susan is a senior influencer in the Internet marketing world, and is the search marketing editor of .Net magazine, a regular speaker at industry conferences including SMX, SES and The Conversion Conference, and she has been invited to contribute her views to the Sunday Times, BBC Radio 4, as well as publishing a range of articles in the Internet press. She is a Google Accredited Partner, qualified in both Google AdWords and Google Analytics, and speaks on Social Media and Selling Online at Vistage, the world leading organisation of chief executives. Prior to setting up Hallam Internet Ltd in 1999, Susan held senior Internet marketing roles at British Telecom and Capital One. Susan’s initial interest in the Internet and electronic commerce arose from her teaching and research role as a Senior Lecturer in Information Technology at The Nottingham Trent University, where she continues to guest lecture. |
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| Kelvin Harrison | |||||||||||||||
Kelvin is a Chartered Engineer with strong commercial skills and a proven track record of achieving profits growth. He has experience as CEO and non-executive director of private, private equity-backed and public technology companies operating in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia. This experience goes from start-up through to exit by trade sale and flotation, embracing fundraisings, acquisitions and disposals. He has also trained and practices as a corporate coach. He is founder and chairman of Maxima Holdings plc, an enterprise software solutions and managed services business with some 500 staff and 2009 revenues of £56M and EBITDA of £8.9M. He began creating Maxima in 1999 by merging three enterprise software companies prior to floating on AIM in 2004. Maxima has subsequently grown organically and through a series of 11 carefully integrated acquisitions. He is also chairman of IP Green Technologies Ltd, which commercially develops proven ‘green’ innovations which improve energy efficiency, reduce waste and greenhouse gases or decrease dependency on fossil fuels. IP Green Technologies Ltd is a member of the Innovation Partnerships (IP) Group which capture the potential and rapidly escalate the value of small innovative companies by developing a growth strategy, helping raise investment, expand channels of distribution and preparing for an appropriate exit. Kelvin is also a member of the advisory board of Warwick Ventures, which works to commercialise the research of the University of Warwick through technology licensing and the creation of spin-out companies. Warwick University has one of the largest research bases in the UK and specialises in physical and life sciences, computing and engineering. He is also a non-executive director of UBC Media Group plc, a leading player in the rapidly emerging digital and internet radio marketplace and Jee Ltd, a specialist consultancy in design and operation of undersea pipelines and cables for the oil and gas and offshore power generation sectors. He was previously CEO of Symbionics Ltd, a Cambridge-based wireless design house and Vega Group plc, a software and consultancy group operating in the aerospace and defence markets, which he joined almost at start up and grew to some 250 staff, receiving a ‘Holway Award’ for 10 years of uninterrupted profits growth. He was also a non-executive director of Axon Group plc, an SAP implementation consultancy and chairman of IGG Component Technology Ltd, a specialist electronic component engineering and test house. |
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| Sam Jacobs | |||||||||||||||
Sam has worked in the IT industry since 1983. He has worked for BT, built up several software practices and international distribution networks of reseller/distributors around the world. This has been for software companies such as Cullinet, Trinzic and Constellar. Sam has particular expertise in working with global systems integrators. He is a businessman with a practical and pragmatic approach to the job. He has experience of working in different EMEA countries. Sam would be happy to help rising star and start up companies on a mentoring basis rollout their products and services. |
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| Geoff Morris | |||||||||||||||
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Management roles included Chairman, President and CEO, Board director, Non-Executive and mentor. I have raised private, corporate and venture capital for both start ups and established businesses and executed mergers and trade sales. I have a network of contacts in sales, marketing and production in the Pacific Region, Middle East, Japan, Europe and North America. I read Mechanical Engineering at Stockholm's Tekniska Institut and Computer Science at Coventry (RCET) University am a member of the Chartered Institute of Management and a Liveryman at the Information Technology Company. Current privately held business interests include
iSport
International, Morris
Scholes Production and Instant
Memories. Once engaged in a business I work tirelessly to accomplish
success for that business. |
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| Geoffrey McMullen | |||||||||||||||
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My training includes the usual technical stuff, plus marketing, sales, finance, HR and a variety of general management courses at LBS and Ashridge. I have been director of customer support for UNIVAC, CIO of Shell UK, Chairman and CEO of Janet - the quango that runs the Universities' internet - and a self employed consultant. I have a full set of general management capabilities, being particularly strong on overall strategy, finance and HR. I am a skilful creator of effective teams and still see many of my former colleagues socially. The skills deployed to build and sustain teams are, in my view:
I feel I have been of most use to organisations trying to grow into maturity. |
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| John O'Connell | |||||||||||||||
John is a Technology entrepreneur, with investments in a number of technology businesses. He is currently Chairman of 2 UK software companies, operating in the Enterprise sector - Columba Systems Ltd, specializing in Calendaring Software and Content and Mtivity Ltd, offering a suite of print and marketing management software. As Chairman, he led the sale in 2009 of InforSense Ltd a Business Analytics Software provider, concluding a successful turnaround following his appointment 12 months previously. He has also served as Chairman of 3 other software businesses since he led the sale of Staffware plc, five years ago. John founded Staffware plc, in the eighties. Staffware was a pioneer of the workflow/BPM software industry. Staffware listed on AIM in London in 1996 and then went onto the main LSE market in 2000. As Chairman and CEO he led the sale to Tibco Software Inc. for $260 million in June 2004, which represented a 46% premium over the share price- pre announcement. Staffware had grown, profitably, more than 10 fold in 8 years, representing a compound annual rate of 40% with offices in 20+ countries, employing approx. 400 staff with more than 500 clients and multiple partner relationships, internationally. John co-founded the Technology Leadership Group within The Prince's Trust, a high profile UK charity and networking body, of which he is a Patron, helping to raise £10 million by the end of 2010. He is City Liveryman and an active member of the Entrepreneurship Panel of the City of London livery company, The Company of Information Technologists. The Panel is mentoring approx 30 technology companies at various stages of maturity. He was recognized as a Master of Information Technology by the US based Trade Association, AIM International and is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants. He has co-authored a book entitled 'Mastering Your Organization's Processes', published by Cambridge University Press. He is also past Chairman/co-owner of London Wasps Rugby Club Holdings Ltd, where he is still a board member. |
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| Karen Slatford | |||||||||||||||
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Karen is Chairman of several software companies in various industry sectors and is also on the Board of Microfocus International PLC and Volex PLC. In addition she is a Member of the Advisory Board of Pentech Ventures, an early stage technology investor. Karen has a wide porfolio of business interests in companies of differing sizes and a wide network of contacts. She has a joint honours degree in French and Spanish from the University of Bath. |
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| Jonathan Soar BSc (Hons) MBCS | |||||||||||||||
Originally a software engineer by training, Jonathan has spent over twenty years in the IT industry at director level, mostly involved with technologies in the banking sector. He has hands-on experience of sales, operations, finance and management, particularly in the context of running an SME. Between 1990 and 2003, he had his own software company in the City of London which specialised in consultancy and software development services for banks. Clients included Standard Chartered, Standard Chartered Grindlays, NatWest, WestLB, Citigroup and J P Morgan Chase. Since 2003, Jonathan has provided consultancy services on a freelance basis and is also an Associate of St. Andrews Management Institute (SAMI) Consulting. He has completed assignments as part of a SAMI team for Nationwide Building Society and the Corporation of London. Additionally, he has qualified as an Executive Coach and is an Associate Director of Professional Coaching International who offer high quality coaching and mentoring services to senior executives and teams. Jonathan has a BSc. (Honours) in Philosophy and Economics from City University,
London. He is the Senior Warden of the Worshipful Company of Information
Technologists. He is an Associate member of APECS (the Association for
Professional Executive Coaching and Supervision) and a Member of the British
Computer Society. He is also fluent in French. |
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| Philip Standing | |||||||||||||||
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Key skills include:
Track record includes; company turnaround valued around $28M; entre/ intra-preneuring a software engineering start up from zero to around $2M per year within 12 months (twice); developing and launching a desktop archive product in 15 months to first customer instrallation. I am always very interested in the emergence and development
of new companies with ground breaking ideas to solve persistent business
problems with innovative solutions. I enjoy playing my part in breaking
moulds and setting new standards. I think being an entrepreneur should
be fun as well as being hard work. |
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| Lance Walker | |||||||||||||||
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He has a strong sales and business development slant to the mentoring he provides. The mentees range from early start-ups to established SMEs. CAREER SUMMARY PRODUCTIVITY4YOU (eLearning consultancy & software) 2004 to current: Managing Director, Responsible for all aspects of the business including business development, mentoring, course development and operations. P4You provides strategic growth and sales consultancy, bespoke eLearning content development, software tools and consultancy to the corporate and SME markets, NHS, central and local government. CARREKER (provides payments software to retail banks internationally) 2001 - 2004: Senior Vice President, Global Payments Technology, International. Responsible for the International P&L for all of the technology lines of business: Risk & Payments processing. FUTUREMEDIA Plc (eLearning consultancy & software vendor) 2000 - 2001: Chief Operating Officer. Turned the organisation around to focus on the learner and the customer. Responsible for all operations departments including consulting, IT, support and project management. The company delivered many courses and course content to both companies and individuals. GASPER CORPORATION (ATM management software) 1998 - 2000: Managing Director, EMEA, Re-packaged the product set and tripled the value of the company in 18 months. Prior to 1998, worked for a number of corporations in IT in the Financial Services Sector. EDUCATION: BSc (Hons) Computer Science, University of London, Queen Mary College. Miscellaneous: Trustee of the New Engineering Foundation (a Charity focused on the Further Education Sector); Trustee and Founding Member of the Institute of Innovation and Knowledge Exchange. |
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| Michael Webster | |||||||||||||||
Michael is a long-term supporter of new technology businesses as a mentor, investor and legal adviser. His experience, largely derived from his focus on corporate finance and commercial transactions for growth companies in the IT sector, is focused on their:
Michael's metier is acting for early stage companies in relation to their financing and structuring including advising on term-sheets, investment and shareholders' agreements. Having built up a portfolio of companies in the hardware, software and IT services business sector, Michael became 3i's London Panel legal adviser. He headed up a dedicated 3i team of 10 people at his then law firm, Rowe & Maw (now Mayer Brown). Michael and his team acted on some 150 financings of SMEs. In parallel with his corporate finance work, Michael developed his practice as an IT lawyer concentrating on computer law, software development, licensing, distribution and outsourcing. He was an early member of the educational body, The Society of Computers and the Law and a founder member of The Computer Law Group. After retiring from the City law firm of K&L Gates
LLP in January 2009, Michael now practises through the regional law firm
SA Law LLP based in St. Albans, providing legal services to the IT business
community. |
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| Simon Williams BSc FBCS CITP | |||||||||||||||
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Simon has trained as a coach with Performance Consultants and works as
a mentor with Finance South East, part of SEEDA. He is an active business
angel and invests in early stage software and internet companies. |
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| Rob Wirszycz MBA CITP | |||||||||||||||
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