Trained as an economist, I spent the first 20 years of my working life in building materials before stumbling upon GIS. A chance conversation led to me becoming General Manager of GDC and Head of Professional Services at whereonearth.com during the wackiest part of the dot com boom and bust.

In 2002 some colleagues and I bought out GDC with investment support from nearly all of the employees. 4 years later GDC had grown to be one of the leading suppliers of e-Government solutions and corporate GI to Local Government with a strong reputation for innovation and customer service. MapInfo bought the business in 2007.

After working for MapInfo for 18 months as UK MD and Director of Product and Industry Strategy, EMEA I branched out to look for the next big thing.

I am now chairman of geo.me, a Google Maps Partner and a strategic advisor to the board of Astun Technology, the UK's leading Open Source geobusiness. Through my consultancy KnowWhere, I work as a non-executive director, a strategic consultant and an investor, advisor and mentor to technology startups.

I am also a Special Lecturer at the School of Geography at the University of Nottingham. I helped to start the OSM-GB project and am part of the Taarifa team. I am chair of the LOC for FOSS4G 2013 which will be in Nottingham in September 2013.

When not working, I blog, twitter, talk about geography, technology, things open and politics and follow the Arsenal.

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