I am a practical and hands-on leader experienced in building and growing tech/SaaS businesses, both in the UK and US. With a strong technical and operational background I have particular experience in bridging the gap between technical and commercial domains, maintaining holistic views of business strategy & implementation, and delivering cross-company digital transformation.People are key and I believe strongly in building inclusive company cultures - empowering employees and strengthening engagement. I place a focus on nurturing talent and on developing high performing teams that are aligned to business goals.► BackgroundMy early career was in academia where I developed technologies within the areas of software engineering, cyber security and online child protection. My work in online child protection led to the development of a text analysis solution for identifying adults masquerading as children. This work went on to be widely reported in the national and international press. I went on to commercialise this research and founded Relative Insight, an AI text analytics SaaS company. I built the initial management team, secured seed and follow on funding (£15M+), helped build & commercialise the tech, and grew it to a $5M+ annual revenue company with a global footprint - including having offices in Lancaster, London, New York and Philadelphia.As its founder and COO I built the operational backbone of the company – establishing and growing the HR, Finance, IT, Security & Data Protection, Legal, Data Engineering and Analyst functions. This included setting up Relative Insight’s US subsidiary and the operational framework that came with it.After exiting Relative Insight I've gone on to work as a fractional/fulltime Exec helping companies with their growth and scaleup journeys.I am currently the COO of Ecoveritas where I lead on business and customer operations.