IT Week's leader profile

What does your job entail?
My job is to clearly map out the IT service targets for the council for the next five years and show how this can be achieved. My role also involves demonstrating how best to utilise new technologies and systems to deliver better, more convenient and cost-effective services.

What was your first job?
Shop assistant in a bicycle shop.

How did you get into IT?
While working on a research project programme in parasitology, I helped create an Access database that was used to hold records of patients on a drug trial in Africa, then I gradually got into database administration and management.

If you weren’t in IT, what would you be doing?
Flying for a commercial airline. I took my first flying lesson when I was 15 and have always wanted to be a commercial pilot.

Which IT qualifications have proved most useful to you?
The Masters of Science programme I received in Information Systems Development – it gave me the foundation for my development in IT.

What is the first web site you check in the mornings?
That’s easy, it’s www.arsenal.com – the official web site of the greatest football club in the world.

Have you got a BlackBerry or similar device, and if so, how often do you check your email?
Every half hour.

Which person do you most admire in the IT industry?
Bill Gates – he revolutionised the computer industry.

Which technology has had the biggest impact on your working life?
I’d have to say email.

Which technology would you most like to have invented?
The internet, because it seems to have brought the world together and made it a really small place.

What keeps you awake at nights?
When Arsenal lose a game, which rarely happens!