Brian: A First-Class Manager of Stability and Change

Brian has considerable experience in operational and strategic management of the IT service in a range of commercial and not for profit sectors including leisure, IT, retail, logistics, member services, and the public sector. He has managed the IT service in small, medium and large organisations including those with a multi-national spread.

In September 2003 he was awarded "Interim Manager of the Year: Voluntary Sector." Brian also holds an MBA in Technology Management.

• Brian fulfilled a highly successful year-long interim assignment for a retail operation with 2000 points of presence in the UK. The requirement was to ensure that IT (at the core of the organisation's operation) performed to requirements during its three seasonal peaks of activity, and to undertake a strategic review of technology requirements.
• He managed the roll-out of a key new system to 12 European countries including the complete upgrade of the organisation’s Wide Area Network.
• Brian has, on three separate assignments, undertaken the "turnaround" of the IT team and services, including the implementation of "get well" plans for the complete team, specific projects and programmes hitherto in trouble.

Brian's budget responsibility over many years has been at the level of £5 - £6 million per annum, but he has also managed and achieved significant outcomes with much smaller budgets. He has introduced programme and project management methodologies into a number of organisations, large and small, to the board as well as the IT function.

Over most of his IT management career Brian has been a part of a senior management team and hence is adept at managing the board’s expectations and delivering solutions in line with strategic goals.

Vendor management is one of his strongest skills, having managed the relationship with vendors providing outsourced services including a national help desk, UK and pan-European network services, system development and support services and web development and hosting.

Brian managed the development of Web services in an environment in which 0.5 million web orders per annum (highly skewed to three two-day peak periods) for semi-perishable next-day delivery products.

On a recent assignment Brian delivered strong, effective vendor management, introduced project management disciplines, and facilitated clear tactical and strategic goal setting and turning around of a demoralised and de-motivated (non-IT) operational team.