Evaluation Centre About Us People

Our People

Tim Ring: Evaluation Centre Publishing Director

Tim is publishing director of Evaluation Centre and Conspectus, a bi-monthly corporate business and technology report with 20,000 readers. He is also editorial and operations director of the NCC. He was previously editor of PC Magazine, launch editor of PC Dealer and news editor of the weekly newspaper Computing at VNU. He was also pilot editor of EMAP’s LAN Magazine, and launch editor of Outsourcing Today. He has written for the technology press, Observer Magazine, Daily Telegraph and Guardian. Tim started his career as editorial assistant of two monthly youth work titles, Youth Services Scene and Youth in Society. He has a degree in English from Cambridge University.

Cliff Mills: Evaluation Centre Research Manager

Cliff manages the research and consultancy services for NCC's enterprise programmes. He has over 20 years' experience in the IT and telecoms industry including stints with major IT suppliers such as Hewlett-Packard and NCR. During this time he has held management positions in marketing, business development and consultancy services. Cliff has also worked in the financial sector for a major retail bank with responsibility for the development and marketing of their IT products and services.

Caroline Ring: Evaluation Centre Content Manager

Caroline is an IT specialist as well as working in magazine/website production and design for Evaluation Centre publisher NCC. She was previously PC systems manager at VNU Business Publications, where she was responsible for the support and installation of all computer systems throughout the company. Prior to that she was a management accountant for VNU, which involved the day-to-day running and control of the management accounts department. Caroline has a Law degree from Leeds University and gained a scholarship to Nottingham Girls’ High School.

Kirsty Braines: Supply Chain & Manufacturing Software Expert

Kirsty is an associate of supply chain and manufacturing specialist consultancy, Oliver Wight. She works with a wide range of organisations, including the heavy engineering sector, the chemical industry and distribution & logistics companies. She sees her role as facilitating businesses on their journey to excellence by building inhouse expertise throughout a whole cross-section of the organisation. Kirsty's first engineering role was as a control engineer with British Steel, where she led several continuous improvement projects delivering high productivity targets. Her experience at British Steel enabled her to become a full member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers and a Chartered Engineer. In 1998 Kirsty joined Perkins Engines, a subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc, as a team coach before becoming a Six Sigma Black Belt. In 2003 Kirsty joined Caterpillar Logistics Services as global logistics implementation manager, managing the SAP logistics implementation in three separate locations in the US simultaneously. Kirsty has an honours degree in Manufacturing Engineering from Birmingham University.

Rob Brickle: CRM Software, Contact Centre & Marketing Expert

Rob Brickle is co-founder and managing director of CRM specialist consultancy Bsquared. Bsquared was established in 2003 when the team exited a UK-based plc. Rob has spent more than 20 years as a management consultant advising on change, business turnaround, strategy, technology and systems integration. He has spent a significant part of this time at director level in private and publicly quoted companies in the development, growth, acquisition and integration of service oriented and advisory businesses. At Bsquared, Rob focuses on the direction and development of the company generally, taking the lead on managing customer relationships, marketing and proposition development. His clients are all large blue-chip organisations and include companies like BAE Systems who he has worked with on an international basis to deliver customer-focused improvements and develop its relationships across the business. Other clients include the UK MoD, Philips, EADS, Marsh, BT, Global Crossing, Defence Aviation Repair Agency and Degussa. Before becoming a consultant, Rob's formative career was spent in IT and the oil sector. Outside work, his main ambition is to sail the Atlantic.

John Donoghue: Data Warehousing, BI & CPM Expert

John works for Steria, the international business process and IT services company, where he is a principal consultant. For over 10 years he has provided consultancy to a number of multinational organisations around the globe. At an early stage in his career, John specialised in the area of information management and has worked on a range of projects, from business intelligence through to large-scale enterprise data warehouses. Prior to joining Steria, he spent two years in a client role in the customer service management industry where he built a number of data marts for the business. John has a degree in Manufacturing Computing from Heriot-Watt University.

Marc Fresko: Document/Content Management & BPM Expert

Marc is the founder of Inforesight Ltd, an independent consultancy specialising in information management. He has provided consultancy and advice since 1979. Since 1992, he has specialised solely in electronic document management and electronic records management. He is recognised as an authority on electronic document and records management systems (EDRMS). He has contributed significantly to the UK National Archives (formerly Public Record Office) Functional Requirements for ERMS - the de facto standard for ERMS in the public sector - and was the project leader and architect of the European Commission’s influential MoReq Specification (Model Requirements for ERMS). Marc has an international background, being fluent in French and having worked in over a dozen countries in Europe and the rest of the world. He holds a degree in Engineering Science and Economics from Oxford University, and has experience of many aspects of multinational EC-funded projects. He is a Certified Management Consultant, a Chartered Engineer, a Member of the British Computer Society, the Records Management Society and of AIIM International. He also serves on various national and international standards committees in this domain.

Andy Hall: Accounting & Financial Reporting Software Expert

Andy is the helpdesk and services manager at business software and services company m-hance (a merger of TouchstoneGP, Calyx and Trinity Computers) and author of the 'In touch with Dynamics (GP)' blog for the Microsoft Dynamics GP finance/ERP solution. He has over 11 years' experience as a consultant within the financial solutions area, working for Microsoft Gold partners from both the technical and applications side of the products. m-hance clients range across multiple verticals, from charities and hospitality to sporting and leisure, as well as educational organisations and government departments, giving Andy an insight into technology issues within finance across a wide spectrum of organisation types with their own unique requirements. As part of his role, Andy has been constantly using new technologies to enhance and integrate finance solutions and empower users and management through reporting technologies and business intelligence.

Andrew Holmes: Project Management Software & PSA Expert

Andrew Holmes is the managing partner of Paricint LLP. He has been working and researching within the project and programme management arena for the past 20 years. During this time he has delivered major business and technology projects and has advised companies on the delivery of transformation and business-critical projects/programmes. As well as programme and project management, Andrew is an experienced consultant in the areas of operationalising strategy, information systems, finance function effectiveness and risk management. Prior to Paricint, Andrew spent 10 years with Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers and has consulted with a wide range of multinational corporations. He has written 13 books across a spectrum of business topics, including project failure, technology management, risk management, consultancy, culture and the strategic response to commoditisation. Andrew also sits on the UK's Institute of Continuing Professional Development and is a regular speaker on management topics. He can be contacted at andrew.holmes@paricint.com.

Alastair McAulay: Cloud Computing Expert

Alastair has over 20 years' experience working in IT consultancy, with the last 13 years of these in PA Consulting Group. His clients have included central government departments, government agencies, and major finance, pharmaceutical and oil companies. Alastair is an authority on designing and delivering innovative, IT-enabled business change programmes that incorporate leading-edge technologies, including cloud computing. He works at the most senior levels to help his clients negotiate the 'people and business change challenges' that need to be overcome for successful delivery of benefits. In addition, his practical hands-on experience provides him with a deep understanding of the strengths and limitations of the underlying technologies, and their contribution to IT service delivery. Alastair has written and contributed to numerous articles on cloud computing in the national press and industry publications, as well as presenting and contributing to industry conferences.

Graham Oakes: SOA/Web Services/Enterprise Integration Expert

Dr Graham Oakes is the principal of Graham Oakes Ltd, a consultancy that helps organisations to develop content management, product development and customer service strategies. He has over 20 years of software and systems engineering experience. Before forming Graham Oakes Ltd, he was director of technology for Sapient Ltd, a global e-business consultancy and systems integrator. He has also worked for organisations such as Digital Equipment Corporation (solution architect), Psygnosis Ltd (head of project management), Yezerski Roper Ltd (developing command and control systems) and the Science and Engineering Research Council. Graham has written for a number of magazines, and speaks regularly at conferences organised by groups such as Enterprise Architecture Conference Europe, Association for Imaging and Information Management, ICT Forum Wales, and the British Computer Society. He was also a finalist in the BCS IT Consultant of the Year awards for 2003.

Dan Roberts: ERP Software Expert

Dan is a consultant with Cambashi and editor of 'Cambashi Examines Enterprise Applications' and co-author of 'Ovum Evaluates ERP', services which analyse the key enterprise applications vendors, their financial performance, product capabilities, service and future direction. Dan has also developed Cambashi's Enterprise Applications Market Observatory, which tracks the performance of the top enterprise applications vendors. Apart from tracking the leading enterprise applications vendors, he also has a particular interest in e-business and CRM technologies. Under his guidance, Cambashi won a 1997 SMART award which has led to the development of software for a new internet research service for the IT industry. Dan was involved in a number of EC-funded research projects and worked on operations research for supply chain software vendor Kewill Systems. He holds an MA in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and an MPhil in Organic Chemistry from the University of East Anglia.

Rob Todd: HR Software & Payroll Software Expert

Rob Todd is people services programme manager in the group HR function at Rentokil Initial plc. He has over 20 years' experience in industry and consultancy - leading and managing technology-enabled change programmes, largely in finance and HR. This work has been delivered for a wide spectrum of organisations including those in business support services, property, legal, energy and oil & gas, as well as international NGOs. Rob specialises in application selection and implementation for UK and global blue-chip companies; leading business change; aligning IT technology to business strategy; and setting up and running Programme Office functions. With the advent of cloud computing, and with Software as a Service (SaaS) technologies being made available as true enterprise-class software applications, Rob is keen to develop ways for organisations to take advantage of these applications' flexibility and agility during implementation and beyond, whilst maintaining the disciplines required to build and manage this class of software. Rob is a qualified CIMA accountant, a passed finalist of the CIPD and holds an MBA from Cranfield University.

Piers Wilson: Security Software & IT Infrastructure Expert

Piers Wilson is a senior manager within Risk Assurance Services in PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), providing technical assurance consultancy to a range of private and public sector clients. He previously worked as a managing principal consultant with Adviza Consultants, as an independent consultant and also formerly headed up the Technical Assurance team at Siemens Enterprise Communications. Piers specialises in information and IT security, including internet and network security, cryptography/PKI, host security, intrusion detection and security event monitoring, web applications and smartcard technologies. He has undertaken numerous technical and information security reviews, providing services such as defining service requirements, preparing tender responses and managing IT security, as well as technical assurance and security design expertise for public and private sector organisations who have outsourced their IT infrastructure. Piers has an Information Security masters degree with distinction and an upper second class honours bachelors degree in Mathematics and Computer Science, as well as the BCS ISEB Certificate in Information Security Management at Distinction Level.