| Date of birth |
28 October 1956
|
| Age |
50
|
| Nationality |
British
|
University of Glasgow 1974-1979
University of Strathclyde 1983-1984 and part-time 1987-1988
The Medical Defence Union provides defence services and insurance for medical practitioners and dentists. I serviced a number of committees, including the Council.
I joined Shearer Brothers, a small family business, at a time when it was preparing to transfer to a new site and needed help in organising the transition. My duties varied considerably in the time I was there. The company faced significant financial strain at this time which combined with recession and continuing decline in the engineering industry in Scotland was eventually bought out by an English company. After leaving Shearer Brothers I returned to full-time study at the Strathclyde Business School.
I carried out a two-year research project into the implementation of office information systems in a number of organisations, using interviews and questionnaires.
I undertook some teaching on the BA Business Studies and BA Languages and Business degree programmes. I performed the semi-official role of liaison with the Computer Centre and ran three staff seminars.
I attended the Salzburg Seminar on telecommunications.
I taught on the following courses:
I undertook research in office information systems and in business applications of IT, particularly in strategic applications. I was the co-organiser of workshops of the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management on business strategy and information technology.
As a user representative, I was project manager of an assessment funded by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to determine the applicability of Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) to the Polytechnic. The project involved employing and liaising with EOSYS, a firm of IT consultants, as well as working closely with staff from the Computer Centre and colleagues across the Polytechnic. The cost of the project was £30,000, involving a total of 200 person-days.
I devised and taught new programmes in business applications of IT for the first and second year students of the BA European Business course. These involved lectures and practical classes (word processing, database and spreadsheet software). I was also responsible for the purchase of a laboratory of computers and accompanying software. I helped prepare the successful validation of that course by the University of Surrey.
I became a member of the International Telecommunications Users Group (INTUG). Research into national telecommunications policies involved visits to Moscow, Sofia, Warsaw and Budapest. I prepared a case study on the French Minitel system.
Data derived from applications to the Universities Central Committee on Applications (UCCA) were analysed in collaboration with Mark Gabbott (Department of Marketing, University of Stirling). Approximately 6,000 records for each of six years were made available to identify demographic, locational and competitor patterns.
I began work on an analysis of the IT industry in Scotland, to examine how changes in the global IT industry were affecting the industry in Scotland.
In conjunction with Professor John Beaumont and Hugh MacDonald of ICL development work was carried out to produce teaching material for an executive course called Pathways to the Future. This was based on the Management in the Nineties Program (MIT90s) Program undertaken at MIT's Sloan School of Management in conjunction with a number of sponsors, including ICL. ICL ran this course for both staff and clients. I was occasionally invited to speak on ICL's Senior Executive Programme.
I taught and coordinated some of the large business undergraduate classes in the first two years of the BA Business Studies degree. This involved lecturing on general business topics, devising and conducting tutorials and seminars together with practical computer classes. I was involved in curriculum development for Parts I and II of the undergraduate programme in Business Studies and a new degree programme in business computing. I also supervised undergraduate dissertations and coordinated Business Studies and Marketing dissertations.
One of my largest teaching commitments was the MBA Management Information Systems, which I redesigned. It comprised:
I examined coursework (essays, reports and presentations), examination scripts and dissertations on a number of undergraduate courses in Business Studies and Marketing together with MBA and MSc courses.
I was responsible for admissions to the BA Business Studies, BA Human Resources Management and related courses. I represented the Business Studies Department on the Computer Users' Committee and served on the Procurement and Implementation Committees in the final stages of the computer procurement round.
During the academic year 1996-97 I was seconded to have responsibility for a special programme across the University known as Information Skills for All. This involved me in designing and teaching material on the use of information technology at all levels, both technically and organisationally. The aim was to ensure that everyone in the University was making reasonable use of information technology. Part of that work involved encouraging and supporting teaching staff to make their own web pages. Subsequently, there was training work for postgraduate students.
From 1992 to 1996 I taught modules on the business and social aspects of information technology and telecommunications. In particular I taught elective modules:
I devised and taught a module The Information Society for first year students fully documenting it on the World Wide Web. I developed case studies for teaching on the World Wide Web and evaluated their use.
I examined essays, reports, presentations, dissertations and examination scripts for BA (Honours) in Informatics at all levels.
I was involved in developing the first institutional and departmental World Wide Web pages for Lampeter (1995-97). I was also involved in the selection and implementation of the student records system, in particular the postgraduate records.
I was responsible for coordination of Part II (i.e. years 2 and 3) of the joint honours Informatics degree scheme and for the Information Society module in Part I. I also performed a number of administrative roles in the Centre for Informatics and have served on University committees, including the Academic Computing Service Committee (1992-1994) and the Management and Administrative Computing Committee (1995-1996).
My research interests continued to be in the business applications of telecommunications and information technology, looking at strategic, social and organisational issues rather than technical considerations.
An important area of my work looked at the transformation in provision of telecommunications services necessitated by political, social and technological changes, together with the changes in the global industry and the strategies being pursued by global telecommunications operators. I have analysed these issues in the United Kingdom and more generally in Europe. With Professor Bill Martin I undertook work on telecommunications in the Republic of Ireland. I was an active member of INTUG and regularly attended telecommunication policy conferences.
I spent the Lent Term of 1995-1996 on study leave, part of which was
spent in Australia at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)
with the Business Faculty.
I was one of the officers of the University of Wales, Lampeter. I was a member of Senate, the Policy & Resources Committee, Estates Committee, Information Services Committee and attended the Executive Board and Council. I chaired the Board of the Faculty of Arts, the Educational Policy Committee, the Postgraduate Studies Committee, the Student Welfare Committee and the Advisory Committee on Admissions and Recruitment.
I represented the University on the Council of University Deans of Arts and Humanities and on the IT Working Group of the Mid-Wales Partnership.
I saw all applications for admission to the University, both undergraduate and postgraduate, and approved all offers made to applicants. I approved all changes of degree scheme and many others matters concerning student progress.
I had general oversight of and responsibility for quality matters, including
approval of new degree schemes, through the Educational Policy Committee.
I taught the Information Technology and Business Strategy module (MGMT 550) to three of the four sections of the MBA class of 1996. This was a second year course taught using case studies with some lectures and a few hands-on classes. I developed case study and course material on the World Wide Web for the module. I graded the assignments.
I followed development in US telecommunications policy.
I drafted and edited position papers for INTUG to be presented to the European Union, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and other bodies. I tracked the European Union's 2002 legislative package and the complaints concerning international mobile roaming and leased lines.
I represented INTUG in formal and informal meetings with the European Commission, European Parliament, OECD, ITU and a variety of industry groupings. I presented papers on behalf of INTUG at a number of conferences (academic, commercial and governmental).
I wrote articles independently and on behalf of INTUG and users of telecommunications in Communications Week International, Business Communications Review International, InterMedia and other publications.
I reported directly to the Chairman of the Council. I worked closely with the Executive Committee which comprised telecommunications user representatives from Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific and Africa.
Prior to taking up the post of Executive Director, I had been an individual
member of the International Telecommunications Users Group (INTUG) since
1990. I had also maintained web pages on behalf of INTUG.
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