Ben has over 14 years experience providing Information Management consultancy to some of the largest multinational organisations, primarily in the pharmaceutical sector, and major UK public sector departments.

In recent years Ben’s work has been focused on the management of unstructured information; working on Document and Records Management, Collaborative Working, Knowledge Management and Web Publishing assignments.  In 2007 Ben was invited to contribute, as an independent review panellist to MoReq2.  Ben has also focused on business improvement through structured information management (data management and business intelligence).  His work has included the re-design of management reporting processes and alignment of strategy to business objectives and frameworks of key performance indicators.

Ben has delivered records management policy and information architecture design to improve organisations’ working practices.  He has advised on records management strategy, undertaken supporting business analysis and produced business cases to support the adoption of electronic records management software and ways of working.  Ben has also worked on EDRM system piloting, data migration planning for global roll-outs and provided input to technical architecture design and deployment options and decisions.

Ben is recognised as a Chartered Management Consultant by the Institute of Business Consulting in the UK.  He holds a MBA from the IESE business school in Barcelona where he studied in English and Spanish, and an undergraduate degree in Economics and Italian Studies from the University of Reading, UK.  Ben has held senior consulting positions with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Cornwell Management Consultants and Steria where he was Head of Information and Knowledge Management consulting.  He is a fluent Spanish speaker.

Neil Beagrie is a leading consultant with an international reputation in the long-term management of digital assets.  He advises clients worldwide on all aspects of digital preservation; a small selection of his clients includes the Centre for Documentation and Research Abu Dhabi, the European Commission, the UK National Archives and the USA Library of Congress. He has played a major role in developing strategies for digital preservation including founding the  Digital Preservation Coalition and overseeing development of the UK Digital Curation Centre. 

His career spans a range of senior information management roles in prestigious organisations including Programme Director at the UK Joint Information Systems Committee, Director of the Arts and Humanities Data Service, and Head of Archaeological Archives and Library at the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England. Neil is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce and an Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Library, Archive, and Information Studies, University College London.  

Neil has authored or edited 9 monographs and published over 50 articles in professional and learned society journals and other publications.  He has also chaired numerous significant committees undertaking activities in digital preservation, most recently the OSI Digital Preservation and Curation e-infrastructure Working Group

Louise is an experienced senior management consultant specialising in the management of business change, systems delivery and information and records management. Louise has over 23 years of business management and IT experience, based on varied set of assignments, across a range of public and private sector institutions. This gives her a strong basis to see issues in a wider context, allowing her to draw together lessons learnt using different, pragmatic approaches to the key information management challenges that are common to many organisations. Specific strengths include the development and delivery of change management strategies (an essential part of Information Management initiatives) and the development of policies and procedures required to embed Information Management best practices across any organisation..

Her professional experience includes 10 years experience with Cooper and Lybrand and its successor consultancies, PwC and IBM. Louise has a first class honours degree in Computer Science & Economics and is a member of both The Chartered Management Institute and the Institute of Business Consulting.

John has established a track record in the delivery of large complex change programmes in financial services, with specialisms in regulatory change and post merger integration. As a programme director, he is able to work with executive sponsors to translate strategic concepts into the design of effective change initiatives, and complex requirements into practical solutions, leading them through to successful delivery. He has also implemented governance frameworks to improve the quality of change management across the organisation.

Recent assignments include working with a newly-merged UK bank as design authority for the integration of its function; and delivery of global change programmes for Barclays Information Risk Management. He has a background in commercial and retail banking with Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest, where he gained extensive experience in operations strategy, change management, operational and credit risk, legal and regulatory compliance. His widely respected leadership and communications skills enable him to collaborate effectively, with board level executives, business managers, technology and legal professionals, both within the organisation and externally.

John is qualified as a Practitioner in Managing Successful Programmes (MSP), and is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Financial Services. He holds an MA from Oxford University.

Mark is a delivery focused programme and project change manager with extensive experience in directing organisational transformation in the public, private and regulated sectors. He is an MSP and Prince 2 Practitioner, and an accomplished stakeholder manager with a history of forming and developing successful teams.

Mark has a strong history of managing Information Management initiatives, providing support and guidance to business and operational staff in the development of IM business cases and requirements, and understanding how benefits can be delivered from IM initiatives.

His recent work includes the development of shared services for a local authority and the move of corporate support services to an overseas provider. These both required that Information Management techniques be used in order to release the full benefits of the business change, allowing for an improved decision making process based on information held by a business partner.

Jeremy Stimson is a specialist EDRM and Information Management consultant with over 10 years' experience of the design, integration and delivery of EDRM and workflow solutions on a variety of platforms. He is a recognised authority on Microsoft Information Management strategies and technologies, including MOSS and SharePoint, and content management solutions from Oracle.

His key abilities are to understand business requirements and opportunities, and to relate them to system requirements and capabilities. He is an experienced lead consultant with a significant track record of delivery within leading global organisations, with experience in a wide range of sectors including government, defence, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, and professional services.

Jeremy has developed his solid analysis, design, implementation and strategic planning experience by leading projects within a number of major organisations focusing on large business transformation projects and IT strategy. Previously, he worked for Microsoft as an Enterprise Strategy Consultant, leading a broad consulting team in large government accounts. He then moved to the Platform Group within Microsoft, and became the UK Platform Strategy Advisor for the Retail, Manufacturing and Professional Services sectors.

Jeremy has assisted clients in a variety of industries to develop business strategies and scenarios and implement these solutions on the Microsoft platform. He has a first class degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from Staffordshire University.

Judi Vernau is an information architect who has worked in the area of information design and dissemination for over 30 years.

From the mid 1980s onwards she has focussed on the structuring and delivery of electronic information, and from the mid 1990s particularly on metadata and taxonomy. Judi has experience in all aspects of the information lifecycle from content creation, through editing, storage and findability, to dissemination and disposition. She has designed information architectures for encyclopedias, dictionaries, journals, manuals, textbooks, directories, external web sites, intranets and collaborative environments, and developed and critiqued metadata frameworks, taxonomies and business classification schemes for a wide variety of clients in government and the private sectors.

Recent government clients include the NHS Information Centre, DfID, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Northamptonshire County Council, Defra, and The National Archives. Commercial clients include the CBI, the Penguin Group, HBOS Treasury Services, and Inter-IKEA Systems.

Judi graduated from Reading University and has a post-graduate diploma in Librarianship. She is a member of AIIM and of the British Computer Society. She is the author of several papers and has frequently presented at industry events.

Naomi specialises in the procurement, outsourcing and management of ICT services including the development of client-side teams. Her capabilities span from sourcing and packaging reviews, through the commercial and technical aspects of IT outsourcing and systems procurement, to transition and implementation.

Naomi's early career was as a delivery project manager taking projects from initial systems specification through to installation and acceptance. She then entered IT consultancy, using her systems and IT management background on large Government procurements. She has specified the requirements for managed IS/IT services, drawn up and negotiated contracts services and assessed companies bidding to supply them. She has led assignments arising out of the Government's Competing for Quality and Private Finance Initiative/Public Private Partnership, programmes, carried out IS/IT strategic reviews and advised a number of IS departments on the strategic options for reorganisation and change. Her experience includes 5 years with Capita plc, culminating in a role as Associate Director responsible for a team of 20 IS/IT consultants.

In over 20 years of consultancy Naomi has worked in the central, local government and defence sectors. All well as a BSc in Physics, she has a PhD in Nuclear Structure Physics and is a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) and PRINCE2 Practitioner.