Industrial advisory board

Richard Pone FRGS FBCS

Richard Pone’s mission is to make himself redundant. Perhaps this does not seem like the most lofty or laudable of goals. But in more than 35 years of experience as an IT leader and CTO, he has developed a vision that by making IT easy to use, simple to manage, and cheaper to run, large organizations will one day have no technology operations.

Aligned to that vision Richard continues to advise leading global firms on optimizing their Cloud and IT Infrastructure strategy and transformation initiatives. And he is passionate about creating new opportunities for others through education. He is Chair of the Industrial Advisory Board at the Open University School of Computing, Trustee of The Oaks Specialist College, Trustee of the WCIT Charity and Chair of Charitable Operations, and was Vice-Chair of Governors and Chair of Finance at Lilian Baylis Technology School. Richard is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a Fellow of BCS The Chartered Institute for IT, and a liveryman of the Company of Information Technologists, a City of London Livery Company.

Areas of Expertise: Computing & IT; Cloud, Web & Mobile Technologies

Focus Areas: External Engagement; School Development

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Gillian Arnold FBCS 

LinkedIn Profile

Gillian is an award winning activist for women in technology, a published author and business leader working with companies to attract and retain more diverse teams in their technology and STEM workforces. With a long career in technology working for IBM, Gillian is currently president of the BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

Areas of Expertise: Computing & IT; Ethics, Technology & Society

Focus Areas: Enterprise & Knowledge Exchange activities; Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

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Mary Asante FCIPD, FIoL, APHRi, CISM

Mary Asante is the CEO and founder of Maysante Consultancy providing executive coaching, leadership training and development and business consulting services. She has over 20 years of industry experience in advising and coaching businesses on leadership development, people management, strategy needs, Information Security and Cyber Security Governance. Mary is also a director of HR Independents Ltd (HRi), the UK body for Independent HR and People Professionals.

Mary is a Board Level Certified Senior Information Security and IT service management professional with extensive experience in providing Data Protection, Information Assurance and Cyber Security solutions for critical business systems.

She is a Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) and a member of ISACA. She is also an ISO/IEC 27001:2013 Information Security Management Systems lead auditor.

Mary is a Chartered Fellow of CIPD, a Fellow member of The Institute of Leadership and Management, an accredited Platinum member of HRi and a licensed EBW (Emotions and Behaviours at Work) Partner and advanced facilitator.

Mary is currently pursuing a Postgraduate Research in Cyber Engineering (PhD) at WMG, University of Warwick. Her research interests include the area of distributed ledger technologies, supply chain security management, industry 4.0, cyber resilience, data trustworthiness and related areas.

Areas of Expertise: Cyber Security; Ethics, Technology & Society; Data Science

Focus Areas: Enterprise & Knowledge Exchange activities; Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

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Sarah Burnett BSc MSc FBCS

Sarah Burnett FBCS is an internationally recognised industry analyst and author in the field of intelligent automation. Her thought-provoking book “The Autonomous Enterprise – Powered by AI” was published by BCS, the British Chartered Institute for IT, in February 2022 to wide acclaim. Sarah holds a number of roles including Chief Technology Evangelist at KYP.ai, a process intelligence technology company. Prior to that she was executive VP and distinguished analyst at the US-based industry analysis firm, Everest Group. Her previous roles have included software development in financial services, food manufacturing automation, and e-Government programme management.

Sarah is a strong advocate for women in technology. She was chair of BCS Women, the women’s group of BCS, and founded and ran AI Accelerator for four years. The AI Accelerator was an internationally recognised programme focused on increasing diversity in the AI industry.

Having ranked Sarah as one of the most influential women in the UK technology sector for many years, Computer Weekly added her to its Women in Technology Hall of Fame in 2021.

Areas of Expertise: Computing & IT; Artificial Intelligence; Ethics, Technology & Society

Focus Areas: Enterprise & Knowledge Exchange Activities; External Engagement

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Mark Butcher BSc (Hons), MBCS, PHF

LinkedIn Profile

Mark Butcher has 38 years of experience working for IBM, covering almost all development related roles, including project and people management. Ultimately working as COO for IBM's Automation Unit, managing the business' finances and driving transformation initiatives, such as the introduction of Net Promoter Score (NPS). Having left IBM in June, 2023, he is now beginning a new freelance career using my skills for the benefit of local organisations in Winchester, starting with two charities, where he will be taking the lead on definiing their IT and Sustainability strategies. Mark has been a member of the Advisory Board for over 3 years now, having agreed to stay on, for at least one more year.

Areas of Expertise: Computing & IT; Software Engineering

Focus Areas: Curriculum development (including Work based learning and Employability); School Development

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John Court

LinkedIn Profile

John is an established board advisor, digital supply chain leader and portfolio executive who has operated extensively in a range of FTSE 250 plc's and private equity held entities, primarily in the supply chain, B2B and technology sectors.

Following University studies in business and technology, he enjoyed a career in the retail, technology and logistics industries, serving as an executive director of several major multinational companies, including TNT Logistics, Ceva Logistics and Eddie Stobart Group plc, directing technology teams of 1,000+ professionals, multi-million £ budgets and delivering advanced solutions to many of the world's best-known brands.

In recent years he has worked with a small number of companies in an advisory, consultancy and non-executive capacity.

Areas of Expertise: Computing & IT; Software Engineering, Cloud, Web & Mobile Technologies; Data Science

Focus Areas: Curriculum development (including Work based learning and Employability); External Engagement

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Elizabeth Barr

LinkedIn Profile

Elizabeth leads the Cisco Networking Academy programme in the UK & Ireland. The Cisco Networking Academy is Cisco’s largest and longest running CSR programme, having reached over 20 million learners in 190 countries since programme inception in 1997. In her role, Elizabeth manages an ecosystem of 350+ organisations, including schools, charities, and prisons, to drive high performance standards and grow the programme by exploring untapped market opportunities.

Elizabeth is passionate about making the tech industry a more diverse and inclusive space. She is a Board Member for Women of Cisco, where she leads the STEM outreach pillar, and previously sat of on the Board for the Global Women’s Leadership Programme at Bayes Business School. She also regularly volunteers on programmes that inspire students to pursue STEM subjects and careers and is spearheading a number of related initiatives through the Cisco Networking Academy.

Elizabeth holds a BA in Modern Languages from Durham University and an MSc in Management from Bayes Business School. Prior to joining Cisco UKI in 2020, she held various Business Development roles in Barcelona, Paris, and Madrid.

Areas of Expertise: Computing & IT; Cyber security; Educational Technologies

Focus Areas: External Engagement; Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

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Mark Large FBCS FIOD FCMI FRAS FIAM

Mark has over 40 years experience in IT in a mix of private and poublic sector roles. As well as leading large consulting practices in Oracle UK, Mark has also worked in the NHS as IT Director/CIO, appearing on the CIO 100 list 4 years in a row. After a spell consulting, Mark is now a Non Executive Director in the NHS.

Areas of Expertise: Computing & IT

Focus Areas: School Development; Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

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Ana Simion

Ana Simion is the Chief Executive Officer of INRO London, a Product Design company in London and the Director of INRO’s in-house research institute, The Simion Institute of Innovation. She has a decade-long track record in Data and Analytics and has published work in areas including the use of Artificial Intelligence in Retail, Digital Transformation Strategy and Data Governance. Her expertise is frequently called upon at major conferences and podcasts including the likes of the Computer Vision festival and the State of AI in Retail. In amongst this, she’s delivered Guest Lectures in Digital Transformation and Change to leading universities including University of Oxford’s Said Business School. Outside of these activities, Ana provides strategic advice in Data Science across numerous advisory boards including the AI Accelerator Institute’s Global Advisory Council. Aside of work, Ana is an avid photographer specialising in black and white industrial imagery.

Areas of Expertise: Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing, Ethics, Technology & Society, Data Science

Focus Areas: Curriculum development (including Work based learning and Employability), Enterprise & Knowledge Exchange activities

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James Thomas

LinkedIn Profile

Having been a CIO for 20 years in the NHS and Medical Research, James has worked in Private, public and not-for-profit sectors.

Much of his career has been in heavily regulated sectors as part of the national critical infrastructure, focusing on security availability and risk management.

James gained significant benefits from consulting as part of large technology organisations such as Oracle and Atos, which have assisted him in the role of CIO and leveraging the opportunities of Digital and Technology in business.

As an executive of a £ 30 billion plus organisation, James has brought Digital Transformation to many different lines of business through building an Executive vision and understanding of the opportunity.

He is now also a non-executive Trustee for London’s Air Ambulance service, sitting on the Board of Trustees, Audit committee and chairing the Risk committee. This complements my experience as an executive and gives exciting insight into the governance and operation of Boards.

Areas of Expertise: Computing & IT; Cyber Security; Ethics, Technology & Society, Data Science

Focus Areas: Research activities; Enterprise & Knowledge Exchange activities

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Haiyan Wu

Haiyan joined UCL in 2018, having previously managed disease-specific National Digital Transformation Programmes at Bart’s and The Royal London Medicine School, Queen Mary University of London and Public Health England, Department of Health, where she worked on national data migration, access and linkage using civilian and non-civilian datasets for primary and secondary purposes providing health intelligence and analytics to Civil Service departments and to the wider research community.

Haiyan managed the operations and research programmes in Health Data Research UK five London Universities incl. UCL, KCL, QMUL, LSHTM and ICL, HDR UK National Initiatives in 6 research themes on Understanding Causes of Disease, Public Health, Clinical Trials, Applied Analytics, Human Phenomics and Better Care and the relevant industrial partnerships.

Haiyan’s team was nominated for the One Award 2020 – Working Together Team Award.

In July 2020, Haiyan joined the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) as the Operations Manager at UCL The Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources (BSEER) to look after the operations and research programmes in 11 research themes across 20 partner organisations in the UK. The research programmes range from Energy Data Centre, Energy Modelling Hub, Technology and Policy Assessment, Industrial Decarbonisation, Energy Systems for Heat, Energy for Mobility, Energy Infrastructure Transitions, Energy, Environment and Landscapes, Local and Regional Energy Systems, UK Energy in Global Content, ADVENT and Integrating Projects.

In Aug 2020, Haiyan received the Public Relations Award from the Communications Management Association.

Haiyan was the BCS Council Vice Chair (2016/17 - 2018/19) and the Chair for the BCS Young Professionals Group (2015/16 - 2018/19). She currently serves on a number of BCS committees including IT Leaders Forum, CMA, Quality Management and DevSecOps, She is also involved in a number of national and international committees, networks and think tanks in Healthcare, Technology, Finance, Energy, Trading, International Relations and Arts and is keen to promote BAME's in STEMM.

Haiyan’s current research interests are social network analysis and GIS in translational health tech research and sustainable energy and international transformation programmes in healthcare and energy and resource management in developed and low-middle income countries.

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Dor Zakai

LinkedIn Profile

Dor Zakai is the Senior Director of Solutions Engineering at F5 EMEA Focusing on Security and SaaS . With over 15 years of experience in security, applications, mobility and enterprise IT consultancy, Zakai leads a team of experts responsible for accelerating companies digitalisation journey and helping them in the ongoing battle against cybercrime and fraud.

Prior to joining F5, Zakai led Different Solutions Engineering and a Business Development teams focusing on Enterprise Mobility, Security, Cloud and Internet of Things (IoT). Alongside his expertise in the fields of cloud and security, Zakai is a regular speaker at industry tech events, academic circles and motivational sales trainings.

Areas of Expertise: Computing & IT; Cyber Security; Networking & Communications Systems; Cloud, Web & Mobile Technologies

Focus Areas: Enterprise & Knowledge Exchange Activities; External Engagement

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Arosha Bandara

Arosha is a Professor of Software Engineering at the Open University and acdemic lead to the board. Between Jan 2018 - Mar 2021, Arosha was the Head of the School of Computing and Communications. Arosha’s research and teaching focuses on software engineering for adaptive systems. He has a particular interest in techniques for building adaptive security and privacy mechanisms for ubiquitous, Internet of Things systems. Arosha’s expertise in engineering adaptive systems has been developed as an investigator across a number of security and privacy projects funded by EPSRC (PRiMMA and Privacy Dynamics), ERC (Adaptive Security and Privacy – ASAP) and the Qatar National Research Fund (Adaptive Information Security in the Cloud). His work on adaptive user interfaces and quantitative metrics for privacy risks in social networks won best paper awards at EICS 2013 and TrustCom 2014 respectively. He is also the lead educator for the OU’s successful “Introduction to Cyber Security” MOOC. He completed his PhD at Imperial College London, UK in 2005, prior to which he worked as a software engineer at Sapient Corporation, USA.

Arosha is also a governor of a primary school and enjoys volunteering with his local music and performing arts trust, where he (occasionally) plays the ukulele.

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John Woodthorpe

John is a senior lecturer who is Head of the School of Computing and Communications, prior to which he was Director of Teaching. He first worked for the Open University on residential Summer Schools in 1984 before becoming a part-time tutor on a range of Engineering, Technology, Computing and Arts modules. One of those modules regularly attracted 10-15,000 students per year and was the largest wholly-online module in the University. He took on a variety of consultancy roles with the OU's commercial and licensing activities, and supported groups of part-time tutors as the number of online modules and students increased. Most of this was while working as a materials scientist for the R&D centre of a multinational automotive and aerospace component manufacture.

In 2004 he took up a full-time lectureship with the OU, working on the production and presentation of a range of new modules. From 2014 to 2019 he provided the link between the School's student support team and its curriculum, while the University made two major reorganisations of its student support activities. In that role, he increased the integration between the curriculum and student support areas, and is working to improve that even further as Director of Teaching. He is no longer a part-time tutor for the OU, and so has a bit more time to spend with his ever-expanding collection of Raspberry Pi projects and grandchildren, and in listening to music, and playing bass guitar.

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Mark Slaymaker

Mark Slaymaker is Director of Teaching, in the School of Computing and Communications in the STEM Faculty at the Open University.

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Jon Hall

An independent thinker, Jon is an academic at The Open University (OU) where his teaching has touched the lives of around 10,000 students.

Jon is a Consultant Complex Problem Solver, with his research having been used in large corporates including Bank of America, General Dynamics UK, BAESystems, and many others. Current projects with Siemens and Webasto extend these tools to change- and project management. Jon has just been appointed a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at KMi, the OU’s research centre, where he’s researching the Title Licensure of Software Engineers (without having to stop the industry for 5 years to achieve it).

He is a Court Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists (and chair of the WCIT Education and Training Committee), a Fellow of BCS, The Chartered Institute for Information Technology, where he shares responsibility for upholding the professional standards of Information Technologists, Scientists and Engineers; and has recently been appointed as an ambassador for the Chartered Institute for Educational Assessors. Until recently, he was an elected representative to BCS Council and chaired the IT Leadership Forum (BCS ELITE) consisting of more than 3500 board level and senior IT professionals.

Finally, Jon runs a small business as a registered exercise professional (REPS) as a specialist Indoor Cycling Instructor (aka Spinning).

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Karen Kear

Karen Kear is a Professor of Online Education in the School of Computing and Communications of the Open University. She joined the Open University in 1994 as an educational software designer, and became a lecturer in IT two years later. She was an Open University tutor for several years, teaching on modules which pioneered the use of online communication with students. Karen has previously worked as, a scientific software developer for BP Exploration and a theoretical physicist for the UK Atomic Energy Authority.

Karen's undergraduate study was at Cambridge University UK, where she gained a BA (and subsequently an MA) in theoretical physics. She also has an MSc in Information Technology from Keele University UK (where she gained Best Dissertation award from the BCS) and a PhD from the Open University (studied part-time while working for the OU). Karen’s PhD investigated the design of online communication systems, researched from the perspectives of students and teachers.

Karen has more than 20 years’ experience of creating and presenting distance learning modules for the Open University. All of these involved online communication, together with a variety of other modes of technology enhanced learning.

Karen is a Senior Fellow of the UK's Higher Education Academy, and is an active researcher in the field of e-learning. She is the author of Online and Social Networking Communities: a best practice guide for educators, and co-editor of Online Communication and Collaboration: A Reader, both books published by Routledge.

Further information can be found at https://www.open.ac.uk/people/klk2.

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Michael Bowkis

Michael is an experienced self-motivated senior business leader and consultant with significant and wide-ranging successes across industry, commerce, academia and H.M. Government. He has over 30 years’ experience delivering complex business strategies, developing and leading large cross-functional teams, and ultimately delivering substantial projects across diverse business areas. 

He has held high-level responsibilities as a strategy consultant to Microsoft in the USA and Europe for a $400+ million global business unit. Previously Michael was a senior Vice President for an international consulting organisation and was seconded as a CIO for two organisations where he was responsible for strategic and operational portfolios. He is recognised across industry and within government departments as having an enviable and substantial track-record within physical security and business leadership. 

He was invited as a member of the UK Government committee examining the future of the UK’s digital based economy. Michael is a confident, articulate communicator and influencer of high integrity able to motivate others and build trust exemplified by work with international ‘blue-chip’ companies, governments, and regulatory bodies. 

Latterly, Michael has constructed and delivered world-leading physical security solutions that have transformed the security landscape for international major events including the Olympic Games (London 2012), Commonwealth Games (2014), the aviation sector, military & government contracts and the largest global security technology companies.

Michael is a Chartered Scientist, a Fellow of the BCS (The Chartered Institute for Information Technology), and a member of the Institute of Science and Technology. He is Staff Tutor within the School of Computing and Communications and the External and Public Engagement lead.

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