Speakers
Martin Ferguson, Director of Policy & Research, Socitm
Martin leads Socitm’s policy and research work on redesign and digital transformation of public services. His current work covers digital innovation in government, health and social care integration, diversity and digital skills in the workforce, and cyber security. A graduate of the Universities of Wales, Waterloo (Canada) and Birmingham, his local government career spans planning, housing, leisure and recreation, IT and information services. He is a past president of Socitm. He has contributed to the British Council’s e-governance programmes in Brazil and central Asia and served as an associate lecturer for the University of Birmingham’s Public Service MBA in the UK and Hong Kong and for the Open University Business School.
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Sandra Taylor, Head of ICT Services, Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council
Sandra was raised in the English Midlands, and educated at Birmingham’s University of Aston where she gained a first class honours degree in Computer Science & Mathematics. She has been working in IT and business transformation for more than 30 years, with 25 years of them being in the public sector, putting ICT at the heart of business transformation.
As the Head of ICT Services at Dudley MBC, she leads and manages a major information technology service in a large and complex public sector organisation delivering hardware, infrastructure, application support and development, technical training, print services, business technology and information governance.
Sandra has a postgraduate qualification in Management with the Chartered Management Institute and serves as a vice-president for Socitm.
Twitter: @dudleymbc
Jos Creese, Digital Analyst and CEO, CCL
Jos has 30 years’ public-sector experience in various CIO and digital leadership roles. He is a past president of Socitm (2010) and of the Chartered Institute for IT (2015). He has held a variety of non-executive director positions (including chair) for public, private and charity organisations. As CIO and CDO for Hampshire County Council for 13 years, he led a range of awarding winning shared services and IT transformation programmes, including building and selling an IT business. In 2010, he was listed as the ‘most influential and innovative UK CIO’ in the Silicon 50 survey. He is now an independent digital consultant, providing expert advice to public and private sectors, and has been working with over 100 clients since founding CCL in 2015.
Hilary Simpson, Founder, Sleuth the Consultancy Coop
Hilary is a public sector technology super connector - Discerning, Enthusiastic & persistent. Ethical & inventive.
A qualified technology, information sharing & data expert, having won the Information Age – Public Sector Deployment of the Year Award 2015.
This was for delivering the Camden Residents Index (CRI): a Master Data Management solution linking demographic people data from 16 line of business systems, achieved in 3 months. This involved a careful balancing of risks – enabling minimal amounts of personal data to be shared, legally and securely.
The CRI is a cutting edge Local Government big data project - one of 8 exemplar case studies described in Nesta the Innovation Foundation's Wise Councils report
Hilary pioneers the ethical use of data to break down silos, ensuring that joined up information is available to help professionals choose early interventions that make a difference to people’s lives.
Twitter: @simpson_hilary
John Woolley, Head of Technical Sales, Iron Mountain
John is a sales and marketing leader with over 20 years of experience within the IT industry. For the last 10 years, John has been an evangelist for data centre virtualization and data management, working to bring innovative solutions to solve real data issues.
As Head of Technical Sales for Iron Mountain, John defines and drives Iron Mountain’s Cloud Data Management solutions. He also recommends and defines the strategy for Data Management products and services based on customer interactions.
Prior to Iron Mountain, John held several roles as a Sales Manager and, most recently, as a Data Protection Specialist.
Ruby Dixon, BA. Hons, MA, MBA, Exec Dip Digital Business Leadership, Executive Leadership Programme (Ashridge Business School)
Ruby is an experienced consultant and senior manager in LG. She has recently taken up post as a senior policy advisor in the Department for Communities and Local Government, with a remit for efficiency, accountability and leadership. Her understanding of the sector emanates from roles that span the interface of public, private and third sectors e.g. Head of LG Practice (Alpine Ltd); Head of held Services posts, (Efficiency; Community Cohesion; Best Practice and Innovation), Assistant Directorship (Consultancy), Head of Strategy and Development (LG Group); and as a strategic advisor to national charities such as Design Council UK and Tomorrow’s People. Her early career was formed in frontline council services in UK and Italy. Ruby has co-authored national publications for the sector on: Community Cohesion, Innovation, Efficiency, and Modern Leadership. She holds a Director’s MBA (Manchester Business School), a Masters in Gender Equality, an Executive Diploma in Digital Business Leadership and is a graduate of the Ashridge Executive Leadership Programme. She is pro-active member of Socitm’s national Women in IT Group.
Pye Nyunt, Insight Hub Manager & Agilisys Consultant, London Borough of Barking & Dagenham
Pye is the interim manager for the Insight Hub at the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham and a consultant with Agilisys, a public sector transformation partner. He was responsible for setting up this new service and is the data strategist and insight ambassador to the local authority and its partners. The Insight Hub focusses on using data to drive behavioural change projects, forecast future demand and develop ways to measure the social progress of the residents of the borough. The team is made up of qualified behavioural and data scientists. Pye has formally worked across other councils including; Milton Keynes, Middlesbrough, Oldham, Bournemouth and Croydon and has spent time in the UAE helping build local governments in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. His current areas of professional interest and involvement are the economic underpinnings of social innovation, behavioural and systemic change, and the development of tools to measure social progress in communities.
Geoff Connell, Head of IMT, Norfolk County Council
Geoff Connell is a highly experienced local public sector ICT manager who is currently responsible for technology and information management at Norfolk County Council. He has previously led teams in multiple London Boroughs to modernise and optimise ICT infrastructures, as well as delivering digitally enabled transformation programmes to implement new organisational delivery models. This work has led to Geoff being awarded with numerous top CIO and digital leadership awards from various prestigious organisations.
Geoff is active in Local Government programme management, knowledge sharing and policy development through his role as Socitm President and board membership of sub-regional, regional and national groups including Socitm and the Local Public Sector CIO Council.
Justin Massarella-Ferguson, Senior Consultant Information Governance, Iron Mountain
As Senior Consultant, Information Governance Consulting Practice, Justin is responsible for helping Iron Mountain clients achieve their Information Governance goals by establishing himself as their trusted advisor and leveraging internal and partner capabilities.
Justin’s experience in the field encompasses Fortune 500 companies as well as Public Sector. He has driven enterprise-wide strategic initiatives to reduce risk and costs. These include the uptake of technologies, establishing oversight structures, implementing compliance controls, conducting risk assessments and carrying out training and awareness.
Justin has a Master of Science degree from the University of Aberystwyth, UK, with an emphasis on Records and Information Management. He is a current member of ARMA and associate of (ISC)².
Twitter: @IronMountainEUR
Adam Louca, Chief Security Technologist, Softcat
My focus is broken down into three key areas: Our Customers - I am responsible for ensuring that Softcat's solutions are deployed with the correct security models and help customers develop their cyber security posture. Our Partners - Engaging with our partner community to develop closer working relationships and help promote partners' solution messaging within Softcat and our customers. Our Strategy - I help to build solution propositions that reflect the markets we serve. Ensuring we are able to guide and support customers through market changes and opportunities.
Twitter: @softcat