>>> Curriculum Vitae
>> Experience and achievements:Very experienced in the management of and strategy for IT, software and product development and infrastructure/services. Recent areas of focus and achievements include: > Strategic skills:
> Management skills:
> Technology skills:
>> Personal summaryDamian has a background working in and managing technology strategy and teams in various sectors, and has worked with web-facing software applications since the early nineties when he worked in electronic publishing, adopting very early many of the web-based tools that businesses take for granted across the enterprise today. From 1996 Damian's work involved managing databases, data migration, data integration and the web-enabling of data-centric applications, after which he built an internet design and development company before joining Yell in 2001 as Head of Technical Development for yell.com, yellmobile.com and yelldirect.com. At Yell Damian was responsible for implementing and continuously improving a sustainable, resilient and scalable technology strategy and architecture that served over 80 million page impressions per month. Subsequently he joined vielife as CTO specifically both to refresh the technology platform that provides their product portfolio, and to represent the company's technology to clients and to potential investors. After he implemented the necessary technological changes and helped take the company through an intensive investment round that lasted for much of the year, vielife was bought by CIGNA, a large, US-based healthcare provider, at the end of 2006. Since then Damian has worked as a technology consultant for the publisher of the Times Educational Supplement, before joining the Lawton Communication Group, which includes the digital agencies Five By Five and Headstream, as Group Technology Director. He holds a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in history from the University of Leeds. >> Current EmploymentApril 2009 - present: Group Technology Director, Lawton Communications Group I am responsible for the technology and project management teams that deliver the product for all the digital agencies within the group, including Five By Five, ensuring that the organisation makes the right technology and project decisions to deliver to its demanding standards solutions that combine creative flair and technological innovation and solidity. >> Previous ExperienceOctober 2008 - January 2009: Technology Consultant, TSL Education At TSL Education I was responsible for helping the company shape the technology strategy and team that produces its various web publications, including www.tes.co.uk and www.timeshighereducation.co.uk, which are becoming strategically and financially vital components of TSL's product portfolio. November 2007 - October 2008: career break While away from work I played the role of Solanio in the Merchant of Venice, which was staged at Winchester's Theatre Royal from 9th to 12th January 2008, after which I spent some time travelling in India, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. After returning from Cambodia I built the web site for the Association Co-operation for Economic Development, a non-governmental organization working for social justice in rural areas in Cambodia. January 2006 - November 2007: Chief Technology Officer, vielife vielife provides health and well-being assessment tools, on-line, to a global market. I was responsible for the technology that powered this fast-growing, entrepreneurial company. I was recruited as CTO specifically both to refresh the technology platform that provides the product portfolio, and to represent the company's technology to clients and to potential buyers of the company. Having helped take the company through an intensive investment round that lasted for much of the year, vielife was bought by CIGNA, a large, US-based healthcare provider, at the end of 2006. March 2001 - December 2005: Head of Technical Development, Yell.com I was responsible for managing Technical Development - the team of J2EE developers that builds Yell.com and Yell Direct, as well as co-ordinating that team's relationship with, and response to the needs of, Yell's New Media business. Yell.com is a profit-making, top-ten UK web site. I was responsible for implementing and continuously improving a sustainable, resilient and scalable technology strategy and architecture that serves the needs of a very large volume of users per month, and enables the sale, fulfilment and servicing of a portfolio of advertiser products via field, telesales and on-line (e-commerce) sales channels. July 2000 - March 2001: General Manager, Pulse Web Design Pulse was a start-up web design company that combined high quality design with the provision for clients of on-line applications providing functions such as e-commerce, customer relationship management, dynamic content update utilities and bespoke functionality and database integration. My role was split between managing the company's staff and public profile, setting up the company's technology infrastructure, developing new business, and hands-on programming, database design and web site design. March 1998 - July 2000: Director - Information & Technical Services, HCIMA The Hotel & Catering International Management Association (HCIMA) is the professional body for the hospitality industry. Information & Technical Services (ITS) is responsible for the Association's information technology strategy and infrastructure, as well as providing an information service to the Association's Members via its web site and library. My job was both to manage the ITS department internally and to represent it to our Members, clients and other contacts within the industry. Under my direction the Association at this time invested significantly in IT, by consolidating and replacing the databases and client software that managed its membership, contact, examinations and bibliographical data, and setting up a web site to provide information services on-line to members. January 1997 - March 1998: Information & Database Officer, CBA The Centre for Information on Beverage Alcohol (CBA) is an international trade association to the global alcoholic beverage industry, providing its members with timely on-line information about events and available information resources world-wide. My role was to manage the current affairs and research database, which makes available to remote users around 40,000 full-text records, to plan the Centre's internet strategy, to edit several hard copy publications and to manage its LAN infrastructure. August 1995 - December 1996: Managing Editor, Chadwyck-Healey in association with The British Library The Nineteenth Century programme, a publishing and research programme based at the British Library, makes available to libraries world-wide primary source nineteenth-century monographs. Originally a microfiche collection indexed using on-line and CD-ROM databases, by mid-1996 The Nineteenth Century had developed under my management a pilot programme to provide electronically both detailed bibliographic indexes and fully text-retrievable data. 1992 - August 1995: Editorial Researcher for The Nineteenth Century. October 1990 - 1992: Editorial Assistant for The Nineteenth Century. >> Education
>> Published WorkWeb sites developed, or for which I have managed the development, infrastructure and support include:
Other publications: 'The role of the private sector and other non-IGO organisations - Chadwyck-Healey' in Peter I. Hajnal, International information: documents, publications and electronic information of international government organisations (2nd ed.), Toronto, 1997. >> InterestsReading; music; mountaineering; travel; cricket; theatre; family & friends. Print or save this CV: PDF format | Word format |