Nutural World is an artisan producer of nut butters and nut based spreads. All our products are certified Vegan, Sugar Free and Kosher. We sell in about 60 shops in the UK, including food halls like Fortnum and Mason and Fenwick and we also export our products to several countries around the globe.

Responsible for setting and implementing the IT Policy for the Optical Confederation. My role is to oversee the national IT policy at a crucial time for optics and healthcare. The government has prioritised technological integration and ‘paperless’ work flows for the NHS and optical practices must continue to adapt to face future technology challenges and capitalise on opportunities.The role involves working towards:- electronic GOS claims and payments- electronic connectivity between optical practices and the rest of the NHS, and- supporting a viable and integrated primary eye care model that’s ‘plugged in’ to NHS computer systems.Building on the work of the Optical Confederation’s Information and IT Committee, I have the overall responsibility for delivering national IT policy in optics; supporting professionals, practices, and suppliers through implementation; and working with key stakeholders across primary care, secondary care and NHS IT agencies.

InferMed is a leading company in the provision of Decision Support Systems in the health sector. My role was to lead and manage the implementation and continuous integration of the company’s Arezzo Inference Engine in a variety of projects. Among them were some national scale, multimillion projects such as the NHS Direct web site, which is used by tens of thousands of people in the UK on a daily basis, and the NHS 24 Call Centre (the Scottish equivalent to NHS Direct). For the latter, I managed the integration of the Arezzo engine with the SAP system, using bespoke middleware libraries, to SAP-CRM and OpenText. The work required close collaboration and coordination with Capgemini, who were the primary contractors for this project. In addition, I also managed the integration of Arezzo with Sitecore Content Management System (using an offshore development group based in Jordan) and the EMIS Electronic Health Record. All the projects were managed by the AGILE methodology and were successfully delivered on the agreed targets.

As Deputy Head of the IS Department, I represented the IS department at all levels of the Trust, from the Trust Board, NPfIT and Connecting for Health (CfH) to various project boards, finance committees and user groups. Due to an unfortunate accident to the Head of IS, I served as acting Head of IS for more than 6 months, successfully providing full cover for all the responsibilities of this position. The IS department has a Capital Budget of about £2.5m. As Operations and Infrastructure Manager, I managed the provision of superior performance and availability for all the mission critical systems within the Trust, connectivity and inter-operability with third party companies and other NHS Trusts, down to personal assistance for all Trust users on their desktop. Leading the development of IS infrastructure, planning and implementation a modern and sophisticated IS architecture, the IS environment within the Trust has been totally transformed.

Full responsibility for the design, development, implementation and deployment of a new Internet directory (www.gimpsy.com). The site runs on a Linux and Apache based web server, uses the MySQL database and the PHP server-side programming language. The complex site includes e-commerce elements and accepts online payments by Credit Card. Recruited the software development team and the group of Editors that provide the site’s content. The site was launched on Nov 2002 and received raving reviews.

Dixons Store Group (DSG) required the replacement of ageing AS400 platform that supported the Coverplan extended warranty product with a third party application. My role was to embed the application, running on a SUN E10K platform and the SUN Solaris OS, into the existing DSG infrastructure. It included the design and management of the interfaces to the DSG IBM Mainframe, other Unix platforms and NT servers, some of them implemented by the MQ Series middleware. Citrix servers, using a mixture of Winterms and PCs running the Citrix client, handled the front-end. The role required a detailed knowledge and understanding of every aspect of the diverse IT structure within DSG. Following the successful acceptance of the detailed planning document, I delivered the complete working environment for the new application on time and within budget.