GCS Connect: Leaders

We have Neil Redmond, Director of Cybersecurity in PwC, on the show this week! He speaks with David about the increasing importance of security as a business enabler, the changing face of cybersecurity in our mobile world, and creating a leadership team based on trust and expertise. He also shares some advice for CEOs about listening to your CISO and CRO and predicts cybersecurity skills will likely become a standard requirement for all tech people in the future.

Neil Redmond is a Director of Cybersecurity in PwC, where he focuses on the TMT and Government and Healthcare sectors. Prior to joining PwC, Neil was CSO in Huawei Technologies Ireland and Senior Manager in Deloitte Ireland. Neil has extensive telecom experience from working in Eir and ComReg, so understands the commercial, operational and regulatory aspects of the telecom industry. Neil has 20 years of experience in the security and telecom industries and is a champion of the benefits of 5G and telecommunications in general in supporting a country’s economy.

This week, we got to sit down with Mike Burke, Managing Director of BOE Varitronix European Operations. Mike and David discuss how communication is the most important thing for a leader, running a global sales team, the macro economics of the electronics industry, and innovative technology pushing forward devices. They also talk about how to remain positive in challenging times - which can be difficult.

Mike Burke is Managing Director of BOE VX European Operations, responsible for 6 European Offices. BOE is the World’s largest manufacturer of liquid Crystal Displays and OLED displays, supplying screens for TV, mobile phone, laptop, tablet, monitor, medical, white goods, industrial and automotive applications.

In today's episode, David sits down with Head of Development at doctari, Claus Höfele! 

Claus shares his experience of developing in a high speed, agile way while working in a highly regulated environment, making the transition from programmer to leader, the attractions of working in Berlin and the medtech industry, and producing a product with purpose. They also cover the innovative tech in the healthcare industry and automation within the staffing industry.

Claus is currently the Head of Development at doctari, the German market leader in workforce management for medical professionals. In his role, he supports product teams to deliver outstanding products by promoting participative decision making and servant leadership. Having lived and worked in Japan, Australia, and Germany, he is now based in Berlin with his family.

We have Ewen Mcpherson on our Leaders Series this week! As Senior Director of Application Development at Discover Financial Services, he speaks with David about running a large global team, building a development team that is passionate and diverse, the future of mobile payments, and financial technology.

Ewen has responsibilities for all application development and architecture for Discover Financial Services global payments networks: Discover Network, Diners Club International and Pulse. He is responsible for all BAU development of Switch, Settlement, Disputes and Boarding platforms as well as new green field digital wallet platform development. More recently, he has been overseeing the complete re-architecture of all 3 networks to single green field multi tenant platform.

We've got a special episode this week with two guests on the show from Arabesque! We invite Yasin Rosowsky, co-CEO, and Gemma Chambers, Head of Operations to the Leaders Series where they discuss with David the tech stack used to build an AI product, how AI can promote sustainability in the world of investment, and what it was like leading a software team during a product launch in a remote environment. They also talk about the importance of deep research to create great products.

Yasin Rosowsky is co–CEO of Arabesque AI, a tech company based in London which provides its clients a platform for creating customised, actively managed investment strategies powered by artificial intelligence. Previously, Yasin headed up AI Research at Arabesque Asset Management before he and his team were spun out to form Arabesque AI. Yasin’s research interests are in distributed intelligence and he holds a PhD from University College London in the field of machine learning applied to financial forecasting.

Gemma Chambers is the Head of Operations at Arabesque AI. After starting her career in Change Management Consultancy, Gemma was a Chief of Staff for two years before joining Arabesque in 2020. As Head of Operations Gemma is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the business, working closely with Corporate Functions to oversee HR, Finance, Recruitment, Planning, Strategy and more!

For our episode 7 this week, we welcome Ross Humphrey, Tech Lead at Validus Risk Management, to the show! Ross discusses with David his experience joining a new team as a leader during lockdown, implementing new processes into a remote team, and the importance of strategy and vision in successful software development. They also talk about the differences between large corporate culture and working in a smaller firm and the changing workpace in finance and beyond.

Ross is the Technology Lead at Validus Risk Management. He manages a team of engineers across multiple disciplines. His focus is currently on scaling Validus’ technology offering using Cloud services and standardizing engineering approaches across the firm. He spends his down time with his daughter, playing guitar and doing sim racing.

We welcome Deb Aspinall, Interim Consultant with BBC Studios Ltd., to Episode 6 of the Leaders Series! She discusses the main hiring challenges of the last year, guidance for those struggling to connect with their teams remotely and build engagement, and the staff attraction and retention landscape post-COVID.

Deb has worked as an HR Generalist and Resourcing Leader across Tech, Media and Entertainment for many years. In more recent years her focus has been on talent strategies for freelance populations in the gig economy.

David speaks with Norah Cullen, Senior Solution Engineering Manager at Salesforce, about driving people-based solutions, making sure you are present as a leader with remote teams, delivering solutions to customers who need to adapt quickly, and ensuring that diversity is also inclusive and is led from the top in a natural way. They also touch on the importance of data insights and collaboration to make business decisions and entering the tech industry without a tech background.

Norah Cullen is a Senior Solution Engineering Manager at Salesforce. She has 7 years of experience serving digital transformation to businesses of all sizes but is now passionately focused on helping small businesses to succeed in the cloud. Despite her technical role, Norah comes to the technology space from a decidedly non-technical background, with a belief that technology should serve us all.

David speaks with Norah Cullen, Senior Solution Engineering Manager at Salesforce, about driving people-based solutions, making sure you are present as a leader with remote teams, delivering solutions to customers who need to adapt quickly, and ensuring that diversity is also inclusive and is led from the top in a natural way. They also touch on the importance of data insights and collaboration to make business decisions and entering the tech industry without a tech background.

Norah Cullen is a Senior Solution Engineering Manager at Salesforce. She has 7 years of experience serving digital transformation to businesses of all sizes but is now passionately focused on helping small businesses to succeed in the cloud. Despite her technical role, Norah comes to the technology space from a decidedly non-technical background, with a belief that technology should serve us all.

Ash Gawthorp, Co-founder of Ten10, discusses the strategy behind creating an academy business, the disconnect between computer science and the computing requirements in business, using the academy model to build diversity in the workplace, and training in a virtual environment.

Ash is one of the co-founders of Ten10 and has been with the business since 2008.  He has 23 years experience across a wide range of engineering roles including hardware, software, performance and quality.  Within Ten10 Ash has responsibility for the delivery, development and leadership of Ten10's Graduate Academy since it's creation in 2013.