About me

Hi. I’m Phil. I’m husband to Helen, and father to Charlotte  (Lottie), and William.   I spend far too much time working.  Partly because work pays the bills, but mostly because I work in an environment that fascinates me. Let me explain:

I’ve had an interesting route to where I am. I was born in the ’70s. I was a kid of the ’80s. I rebelled in the ’90s. I grew up in the ’00s. And I’m rebelling again in the ’10s.

Some of my earliest and most fun memories involved computers. My rubber-keyed ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 were my pride and joy as a boy. My dad worked in computers for large companies and he taught me how to code. I still remember the day when I opened up the commodore 64 and started playing. My path through school was not always smooth. Not because I wasn’t bright or couldn’t do the work, more because I was scared of failing and wanting to be one of the cool kids. This led me on a weird journey that meant I left home and school (for 6-months) at the age of 15, until I sorted a few things out. I didn’t return home, but I did return to school and managed to do everything needed to get myself into University to study computer science.

I graduated in 2000 with an upper second class honours degree and joined BT as a graduate.  I spent 8 great years with BT working as a programmer, designer, architect, project manager, delivery manager, business manager, IT Director and chief bag carrier to the CEO of BT Design and the Group CIO (a rite of passage type job).  During the last few years at BT, I studied part time for an MBA. This made me want to run something of my own and I joined a smaller company as Chief Operating Officer. I have worked at Emergn since 2008 and have been building an amazing company that helps large public and private sector businesses around the world change the way they work, adopt new technologies and compete in an increasingly dynamic environment.

I am interested in how things work.  I’m interested in the world around me, what makes people who they are, politics, business, the economy, teams, critical and clear thinking, creativity, innovation, education and society.  My background has given me privileged insight into many facets of our world. I’ve worked in tens of countries and for many of the largest organisations on earth. I’ve worked with people implementing government policy and I’ve worked in some of the biggest brands you know struggling with developing technology and market conditions. And I’ve seen all of this from a technology, business and society affecting viewpoint. As I say, I have been privileged.

The reason why I say that I’m rebelling again in the ’10s, is that I’ve seen a lot. And there is a lot to be done. I now have children and they’ve changed everything for me. I’m also a dreamer and I believe we all have the capacity to shape and build a better future. We now sit on the edge of the information age. A different environment that none of us can fully comprehend, but it could be a massive departure from the past. Powered by the internet and the connected world, the revolutions are happening. Not by the central powers that govern, but by people who want to see change. This is what excites me and the people that I work with.

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