BCS Influence Board members

Mike has been a leading figure in Clinical Informatics for 40 years working for both Government and Industry across the world. He has designed Clinical Systems for Primary Care, hardware for hospitals and worked with both UK and Australian governments on their major digital health infrastructure programmes. In the terminology space, he worked closely with Dr. James Read in the early 1980’s on the first versions of the Read Codes and worked with Dr. Peter Horsfield to deliver the original Quality and Outcomes Framework queries for the UK GP contract. He was also the Clinical Lead for SNOMED in APAC.

He was the Founding Technical Director of the UK National PRIMIS initiative with Sheila Teasdale. He was the clinical architect on the Connecting for Health initiative driving the Microsoft Funded Common User Interface Programme and Assistive Technology programmes which led to the foundation of the International Continua Alliance.

More recently he has been in Australia working on national implementations of digital health the ‘MyHealth Record’ and delivered a programme with the Australian Commission for Safety and Quality to standardise the presentation of medicines on-screen. He also worked as an advisor on digital health with the Asian Development Bank and collaborated on producing their Digital Health Strategy for the Pacific Region. Mike is currently working with Australian Defence Force to implement their new integrated and standards-based health systems throughout the three services.

Natasha is Chartered IT Professional and TOGAF Certified Domain Architect with 9 years IT Architecture experience and a track record of excellence. Holding a wealth of expertise, Natasha has been recognised as one of Drapers 30 Under 30 and named on DTX Top 50 Tech Leaders List in 2024.

Holding a range of qualifications including a Masters Degree in Digital and Technology Solutions, Natasha’s academic background complements her practical achievements. Currently working in Matalan’s IT function as a Domain Architect, she drives IT Strategy, spearheads Innovation and Thought Leadership, and designs new solutions - working as the lead architect on multi-million-pound projects supporting business and digital transformation. She also has experience in Project Management, Business Analysis and Security Architecture which has supported her rapid career progression.

Passionate about fostering diversity in tech, Natasha actively supports initiatives including InnovateHer and is as a DigitalHER mentor, aiming to empower women and young professionals in the field, as well as working closely with local Universities and alumni networks. Additionally, she is recognised across the industry and frequently is a speaker or panellist at events to share her insights and experiences.

Bharat is a hands-on seasoned technologist experienced in defining and delivering digital strategies for business growth, enhanced customer-and-colleague experience to achieve optimisation. He has supported clients across sectors and industries and focuses on client value, technical excellence and delivering quantifiable outcomes enabled through business model, technology, people, and cultural transformation. Bharat has successfully formed and led diverse, cross-functional, and global teams in delivering digital transformation initiatives.

Bharat has 29 years of experience in various delivery and leadership roles. He is a former IBM Distinguished Engineer and a contributing Fellow of the BCS. Bharat lives in the Midlands with his wife and a very active young son.

Currently engaged in various Board advisory projects, start-up mentoring and Non-Executive roles, Julian is a versatile, dynamic and innovative leader with significant experience of delivering digitally driven business transformation and growth.

He works at the forefront of integrated digital/physical commerce, an expert in optimising fast paced businesses, building high performing digital, tech and data functions to drive gains through customer and colleague experience. He has operated successfully at Executive level in the consulting, tech and consumer industries with expertise leading in diverse national and international sectors.

An experienced speaker and influencer, with a professional career spanning global brands including BT, BNP Paribas, Cap Gemini, Sainsbury’s, John Lewis Partnership and IBM, Julian brings confident, committed, and practical, people focused leadership to strategic change.

He believes passionately in the potential of all people, leading others to deliver outcomes often well beyond their own expectations. Julian is a Fellow of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

Dr Sam De Silva is a Partner & Global Co-Head of the Commercial Practice Group at the Top 10 global law firm, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP (CMS). Sam specialises in advising companies (from the FTSE 100 to start-ups) and the public sector in complex and strategic technology and outsourcing projects and regularly advises on AI, data protection, and cyber-security issues.

Sam was the former Law Society’s representative on the EU Commission’s Expert Group on Cloud Computing Contracts and is the current UK solicitor representative on the IT Law Committee of the Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE). Sam was an elected Trustee of the BCS from 2019 to 2024 and was on the BCS Council from 2016 to 2024. Sam has been the Chair of the BCS Legal Specialist Legal Group since 2020.

In 2019 Sam won the BSI Standards Makers Award for the category of “Representing the UK” for his work in leading in the development of the first ISO Standard on the Management of Legal Risk (ISO 31022) and was also the winner of the Governance Champion of the Year at The Chartered Governance Institute Awards in 2021.

Sam is named in the Who’s Who of Information Technology 2024, Who’s Who of Data Privacy and Protection 2024, and the Who’s Who of Data Security 2024 as both a Global Leader and Thought Leader. Sam was also the winner of Lexology’s Client Choice Awards in 2021 and 2024 for Data Privacy & Protection in the UK.

Kathy started her clinical career in Medical Physics where she specialised in Cardiology. She has since gone on to hold very senior national management positions in healthcare both in New Zealand with the Ministry of Health and in the UK with NHS England. Her clinical and leadership skills and experience, specifically relating to the digital healthcare agenda, have been fundamental to her successful career.

She has focused on driving innovative transformational change in order to improve patient care and outcomes always mindful of the concerns regarding exacerbation of a potential digital divide. She has also been a proponent of the need to ensure that algorithm development is ethical, professional and ensures that bias is minimised as this is critically important in healthcare e.g. clinical decision support tools.

Kathy has held several Board roles with international organisations and is currently a Non-Executive Director of the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Trust and a member of the All of Government Open Standards Board.

Her extensive experience and knowledge of healthcare and how digital technology can be used to support and enable improved care pathways, and treatment options and transformative change resulting in better patient outcomes will be a key contribution that she will bring to the influence Board.

Esther Nkatha Gatuma is a tech career coach, mentor, keynote speaker, writer and inspirational story teller delivering high performing team strategies for workplace collaboration.

Her pursuit for tech for good service, inspired her to lead a volunteer woman in tech software engineering team to deliver tech tools and instruments that amplified the plight of child bride trafficking survivors in hard-to-reach remote locations of the world.

Esther is a subject matter expert that highlights the plight of the declining 26% of women who pursue and maintain a tech career in America. Her contribution in enabling and inspiring more women in tech inventor’s acquisition of patents to bridge the existing 13% of U.S invented IT patents awarded to women after 30 years of technology growth gap spans women in tech from diverse global populations.

Esther’s work has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show, ABC News, CBS News and named by the Guardian Newspaper (UK) as an African Woman to watch at position 14 out of Top 25 African Women making an impact in the sub-sahara Africa and North America.

In the year 2018, Esther received her charter from the British Computer Society. She was invited by Her Majesty the former Queen of England Elizabeth II as a thought leadership advisory panel contributor to deliver strategic recommendations for the inclusion and empowerment of women in tech and enhance technology for good in 53 commonwealth countries.

She also received Governor Mike Beebe’s commendation for her tech for good accomplishments around the world.

Danielle is Professor of RF Engineering and Associate Vice President for Blended and Flexible Learning at the University of Manchester. She was President of the Institution of Engineering and Technology in 2020/21. Her research is dedicated to solving one the 14 world engineering grand challenges of the 21st century; engineering the tools for scientific discovery. She has over 20 years experience in the higher education sector and has a number of non-exec roles across government and third sector organisations.

Dr Kitty Hung, an Author of the Book: "Business Analysis in the Era of Generative Artificial Intelligence" which was published in February 2024 and reached the Amazon #1 Best Sellers chart in both Computer Science and Business Skills categories.

Kitty is a Fellow of the British Computer Society (BCS), the Chartered Institute of IT and a member of the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA), has over twenty-five years of experience as a business and system analyst, project manager and technologist. Her areas of expertise span policing, national security, telecommunications, critical national infrastructure, defence, transportation, and disruptive & emerging technologies, including Artificial Intelligence, Generative AI, Internet of Things (IoT), and Digital Twin. She brings to the IT industry and the business analysis community a fusion of professional experience, creativity, customer focus, digital transformation consultancy, vendor management, as well as expertise in legislation and regulatory compliance. Her skills lie in analysing complex problems, translating them into requirements, and devising solutions.

Kitty gained her PhD in Computer Science from the University of Sheffield in 1999. She holds the BCS International Diploma in Business Analysis (BA). She brings a blend of professional experience, creativity, customer focus, digital transformation, consultancy and vendor management, as well as legislation and regulatory compliance experience to the IT industry and the BA professionals’ community with the ability to analyse complex problems and to translate them to requirements and present ways to solve them. She identifies customers’ most pressing digital-related pain points and challenges, particularly in cyber security, data science/analytics, and GDPR.

She is an experienced and passionate mentor, coach, volunteer, and charity fundraiser to help others and give back to the community.

Kitty was born and grew up in Hong Kong. She is native to the Chinese language and fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin. Kitty is also a regular author of Thought Leadership articles and Public Speaker.

Charlene Hunter is the CEO & founder of Coding Black Females. Charlene has a strong academic background with a BSc in Mathematical Sciences and an MSc in Computer Science from the University of Birmingham.

She has over 10 years of experience as a Java and C# developer and technical architect, and has skills in requirements capture, technical architecture, testing and various other aspects of building successful software applications. She has a strong passion to increase and showcase the skills and talents of black women in tech and is determined to diversify the tech sector.

Charlene set up Coding Black Females because in her years as a Software Developer, she discovered black women were heavily underrepresented in tech. She wanted this to change and ensure that black women were able to discover role models and see familiar faces within the industry. Charlene has received multiple awards and recognition work she does to support black women in tech.

Basil is a Digital Forensics & Cybercrime Consultant, working as an Expert Witness for more than 13 years. He is currently the Manager of The Cyber Academy, at Edinburgh Napier University and he runs his own consulting firm, Strathclyde Forensics Ltd.

Coming from a diverse business background, that includes organisations like Abbey National, IBM, HM Government, Edinburgh Napier University, West College Scotland, West Lothian College, and the Greek Army, he has been recognised as a subject matter expert in Digital Forensics and in cyber-crime and cyber threat awareness.

He works closely with the academia, he is a regular speaker and contributor to Interpol’s training and he has been asked to help formulate the future strategy on Digital Forensics as well as Interpol’s training and guidance on Digital Evidence for Prosecutors.

Since 2017 Basil has been working as the Manager of The Cyber Academy at Edinburgh Napier University, leading the cooperation between industry and academia in the field of cybersecurity. He has organised international conferences, ran dozens of awareness events, and has successfully organised and implemented two Cyber Taster courses for Neurodiverse audiences with The Cyber Academy.

Basil has been a guest speaker and lecturer to numerous UK and international universities and colleges, including the University of Glasgow, University of Strathclyde, The American College of Greece (his alma mater), University of West of Scotland, Robert Gordon University, Spoleczna Academia Nauk (Poland) and many more.

Working with the legal profession, he has been called by The Law Society of Scotland to develop and deliver their Cyber Security Certification, the first and only one of its kind in the country. As an Expert Witness and a digital forensics consultant, he has created a solid reputation and his evidence has never been challenged successfully in court to this day.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, Basil has delivered dozens of public awareness, specialist and private webinars. His awareness work brought into light the new challenges from online fraud and fake news during the crisis.

Mark Martin MBE aka @Urban_Teacher is an Assistant Professor in Computer Science and Education Practice.

Mark is a thought leader in #EdTech and a hugely popular speaker, sharing his expertise and insights to educators around the world. He is a teacher/advisor for the major global tech brands and continues to advocate for home-grown talent, digital skills and education equity.

In May 2022, Mark was recognised as one of the top 50 most influential people in UK IT by computer weekly. In 2019, he was awarded an MBE for services to education, technology, and diversity in UK technology.

Bill was awarded an OBE for services to Computing and to Artificial Intelligence Education in the 2020 New Year Honours List. Bill grew up in poverty in the backstreets of Blackpool, which then as now is one of England’s most socially deprived areas.

He escaped thanks to Manchester University giving him the chance to do a degree in maths. He is currently Head of Public Affairs at Nominet. Before that he spent thirteen years working as an executive director for BCS, covering higher and secondary education as well as public policy.

Prior to that he spent over twenty years researching into the mathematical foundations of computer science in academia and industry. Bill has worked on projects with the Department for Education, the Office for AI, the Cabinet Office and DSIT, both at the national and international level. More details of those are provided in his CV.

Elizabeth Orji is a distinguished professional with a rich background encompassing 14 years as a Dental Therapist, two years as an Oral Health Researcher, and three years as a Software Engineer.

As a Google Women Tech Maker Ambassador and an esteemed member and Mentor of the British Computer Society, she has made significant contributions to the tech industry. Recognized in Motherboard magazine and Afriblock Magazine, Elizabeth is renowned for her work in technology, education, and software development through her startup, Techiepistle.

Committed to empowering women, she mentors and has been nominated for the Women in Tech Community award by the Women Tech Network and the BCS IT Awards. Elizabeth is also a mentor for the Google Developers student club at Concordia University, Quebec, Canada, and Women in Tech Malawi.

Additionally, she contributes her expertise as a Software Engineer at TechLabs, based in Germany. Elizabeth's primary focus is on integrating the health sector with modern computer technologies while championing educational and leadership awareness within the professional realm.

Rajani Rao is a Principal Technologist with over two decades of experience in designing highly scalable web and IoT positioning solutions in the Cloud.

She is deeply committed to women's empowerment, actively working with female founders to create social impact by serving as fractional CTO at Mellow Baby and WInvest.

As a technical advisor for Pixuate, she leverages AI and Machine Learning to tackle complex real-world problems.

She founded WomenCodingCommunity following the shutdown of WomenWhoCode, dedicating herself to mentoring and inspiring women in technology.

She frequently participates as a speaker and panelist, sharing her expertise in technology, engineering, and women's advancement. Rajani Rao's career is marked by her dedication to innovation, diversity, and making a positive impact in the technology industry, inspiring professionals in engineering and beyond.

Helen has been the CEO of Digital Health & Care Wales since 2021, leading the organisation’s impressive response to the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting NHSWales to adopt data and digital advances at pace and scale.

Helen also led the organisation through its transition to a Special Health Authority on April 1st 2021, with Digital Health and Care Wales continuing to deliver national digital and data services to NHS Wales.
Helen has worked in the NHS for over 30 years, initially working in finance, moving into health information in 2000. She has gained wide health informatics experience across a number of senior roles over the last 20 years, and has spearheaded digital transformation to deliver more effective and safer care.

Helen was named Digital NHS CEO of the year in 2021 and has an MSc in Health Informatics from Swansea University. She is a leading practitioner of the Federation of Informatics Professionals, a fellow of the British Computer Society and a Professor of Practice at University of Wales Trinity St David.

In her time as CEO, Helen has made considerable ground in leading DHCW, not just to deliver major digital and data services to NHS partners, but to become a supportive and inclusive organisation and is passionate about being a role model for staff.

Helen recognises the importance of supporting communities and ensuring that no one is left behind by digital transformation. As part of her commitment to this, Helen chairs DHCW’s digital inclusion group which looks at how the organisation works with partners to support those who might not have the skills or access to benefit from digital change.

Alina Timofeeva is a strategic advisor to the C-suite of major financial service organisations (e.g. JPMorgan, Credit Suisse, HSBC) to help them leverage Data, Technology and Innovation to realise their business ambitions in a safe and cost-effective way.

She has spoken at industry conferences including World Economic Forum, Money 20/20 Europe, London Tech Week on how Data & Technology are reshaping the future, and building Digital trust. She’s also been featured by prominent platforms such as TED, BBC, and globally top ranked podcasts.

Her mission is to inspire 50,000,000 globally to see failure as an opportunity to grow - whether related to failures & lessons learnt in the Technology industry or in the Personal journey.

We create. We disrupt. We wow.

Freddie Quek is Chief Technology Officer at Times Higher Education. He is a disruptive, networked and agile leader who has worked in Singapore, US and UK across higher education, automotive, publishing, loyalty, insurance, travel and financial services industries.

He helped transformed the publishing industry from print to digital pioneering the use of NoSQL technologies and achieving large scale agile implementations. He started the #joiningthedots initiative to join up across the tech and other communities to address #digitalinclusion. He is a Community Board member of the Digital Poverty Alliance and Chair of the BCS Digital Divide Specialist Group.

Freddie is a Fellow of BCS and judge for the UK IT Industry Awards. He has Master of Science degrees from the London School of Economics and Henley Business School, alumnus of Oxford University and currently a Research Associate at Henley Business School undertaking doctoral research. He sits on the Board of University of Bristol and is a member of the Technology Advisory Group at the Royal Society of Chemistry.