Nottingham and Derby branch: Committee

Chair

Paul Stevens BSc CITP MBCS

I have always considered that what you gain from your BCS membership is what you put into it. Joining my professional body was something that I considered was good for my career because of the encouragement to continuously develop my skills and the opportunity to network with peers from other organisations, where I could learn about different aspects of my chosen discipline.

Why did I join the committee? To make that next step in helping to develop a local presence for BCS. It gave me new opportunities including delivering public presentations and occasional lectures at local universities. Stepping up for the chair’s role in October 2019 gave me the springboard to engage with the local universities in our area; alas the COVID-19 pandemic has stilted some of that enthusiasm and hopefully things will improve in the coming months.

I’ve got a great committee to support me and we program many events throughout the year. I also have a very supportive employer, who gives me some time and resources to assist with the development of the committee. If you are interested in joining the committee, why don’t you contact us?

LinkedIn profile

Treasurer

Edward Magnuszewski

I started working life as an electronics engineer in the telecoms industry before moving into the IT world. I became a programmer and then moving into network and security infrastructure. I worked on multiple projects in areas such as banks, schools, hospitals in the UK and abroad. My current role is working with network and security architects to provide customers the most cost effective solutions utilising some of the latest offerings such as SD-WAN and virtual network functions from multiple vendors, wireless solutions and cloud integration.

Secretary

Chris Lynch

Bio and photo to follow.

Diversity and inclusion officer

Bev Cook

I am a senior lecturer within the Computing and Technology department at Nottingham Trent University, and the course leader for our digital degree apprenticeships. My main subject is mobile development, including user experience design. I am also responsible for teaching professional development and engaging our students with local industry through guest lectures and events.

I joined the committee as part of this role to promote the local branch within the students and staff within the department. Being part of the branch allows me to expand my knowledge in many different areas, and in particular, increase my understanding of the discipline from an industry viewpoint. This is great on a personal level as I love learning, and I can also share this with my students to give them current and relevant knowledge as they move into the workplace. Being part of the committee allows me to influence the decisions that are made and to promote NTU staff and students.

I recently took on the role of Diversity and inclusion officer in order to support the branch in broadening its membership and attendance at events, not just for students but for other minority groups.

Branch events coordinator

Raymond Klutse MBCS

General committee member

Gary Lefman MSc CEng FBCS FIET MIScT

I am a globalisation architect specialising in software internationalisation and localisation. It is my job to make sure applications can be used by people all around the world regardless of the language, culture, or where they are located. I’m an executive of an international think-tank called the Think Global Forum, and curate the technical track of the localisation industry’s leading triannual trade conference. I’m a STEM Ambassador and also run a local Code Club.

I joined BCS as a student member in 1997 then became a professional member in 2000 after graduation. 14 years later I earned a fellowship and this gave me a strong urge to get more out of my membership by giving back to the IT community. I didn’t have to wait long because an advert for new committee members was posted to the regional mailer, and in no time at all I found myself as the chair for this branch. I had never chaired a committee before and had no idea what I was letting myself in for, but it turns out I didn’t need to be concerned because the committee were so supportive during those early months. I took on the role because I needed to be challenged, to learn new skills and share my ideas and experiences with the branch. It worked well, but most significantly it improved my confidence with public speaking and I now give talks at large international conferences and workshops, which I would never have dreamt of doing before joining the committee. I served just under three years as chair and now I am on BCS Council as an advisor to the Trustee Board.

General committee member

Dr David Miller DipM CITP CEng FBCS

As a young management trainee at a Nottingham based manufacturing company, I decided to learn to use Fortran to write a program to assist me to plan the production of five factories. That launched my career in IT. There was much to learn and lots of people to get to know in my chosen profession and I saw BCS as being instrumental in helping me to do both.

As my career took off, I found the specialist groups within BCS to be enormously useful. My career has broadened out after those early days but business technology has always been at the centre of what I do. Now, as an author on the management and governance of business technology, learning and networking are still important to me and so I remain a member of BCS.

General committee member

Subbu Krishna Sarma

I’m a motivated professional with expertise in software development, automation and DevOps, strong background in MS technologies, open source together with sound domain in retail industry. Currently working for UST Global UK. Why did I join the committee? Professionally, being involved in IT society.

General committee member

Peter Eldridge

Bio and photo to follow.