Venturi's Voice: Technology | Leadership | Staffing | Career | Innovation

Emily Dresner is Chief Technology Officer at Upside Business Travel. Emily has built and scaled a department initially of 5 engineers to a team of 60 across 11 teams including multiple product development teams, a machine learning/AI team, DevOps, data engineering, security, infrastructure and quality engineering. Upside Business Travel is revolutionizing travel management for small to mid-sized companies. We hear about how Upside is in place to react and adapt to the current pandemic that has affected the logistics of the travel industry greatly. Showtimes 0:50 - The service Upside Business Travel Provides 1:49 - Emily's role as Chief Technology Officer and career background 4:26 - How Upside is recovering and rebounding from the pandemic 5:38 - How the pandemic has created permanent change in the travel industry 7:00 - How Upside has adapted to 100% remote working and the tech used to make this a smooth transition 9:48 - Remotely recruiting and taking on new staff 10:55 - An overview of the product

Brad Woodward is the Business Intelligence Manager at Superdry. As one of the biggest fashion brands on the planet, we spoke about the data that Brad and the team work with at Superdry and how to navigate around the sheer quantity of it.  We also spoke about how data is helping not only the eCommerce shop but also the brick & mortar experience too. These two areas of the business now cross-pollinate as they are now more able to collect important data from the physical store, and they get the most out of that information to create a seamless experience. “Even going back as shortly as a few years ago, they were two separate entities. The way that things are going now it really important, It needs to be a seamless experience. Data has a really important part to play in that”  Showtimes  0:56 - What Superdry is, and Brad’s role within the business 2:25 - Do you treat a physical store and eCommerce as two totally separate entities?  4:00 - Gathering data from in-store purchases 5:10 - The types of data

Richard Hiscutt is Head of Product at edtech startup Lingumi, helping to bring the world’s best teaching experience to every child’s home. Previously, Richard founded the digital agency Fantastic Thinking and sold it to The Engine Group in 2011, and was the one who made sure they created amazing looking experiences for clients such as Evian, The Times, Laya Healthcare and Rolls-Royce, as well as testing, researching and sharing insights and innovative thoughts and techniques to the rest of the company. Richard's mission with Lingumi is to make learning English effective, affordable, and fun for the next 500 million children before they reach their first classroom. At an incredibly exciting time at Lingumi, we hear how the app is prepared to scale to deliver great learning outcomes to a mass of users.

Martin Permantier is an entrepreneur, author and keynote speaker. He has been accompanying companies in their strategic alignment and positioning for over 20 years. His experience as an entrepreneur and managing director of SHORT CUTS GmbH design + communication, which today has around 40 employees, is the basis for his pragmatic approach and implementation competence.  In his new book "Attitude Decides" Martin shows how we can shape the development of leadership and corporate culture in such a way that we will continue to operate successfully tomorrow. Based on the knowledge of modern developmental psychology, he has developed a vivid and practical model.  We discuss leadership it’s different forms, and how leadership has changed and developed over time. The future of business and leadership is changing, in recent times office culture and mindsets have collectively changed, and working remotely has become normality. But how has this affected the way we lead in business?

Philip Miller is a Senior Architect, Analyst and Engineer with over 20 years' experience in the Financial Services industry, focusing on creating elegant solutions to tough problems. Philip has specialised in high-performance computing, massively parallel computing, complex event processing and system integration. Recently at the leading edge of real-time regulatory compliance for Dodd-Frank and other real-time regulations. Philip has worked on some of the biggest, most complex challenges in modern banking, and is now the Co-Founder and Director of Solidatus.

Valentin Vincendon is the Vice President of Business Intelligence at Checkout.com Valentin’s career and outlook on success are truly inspiring, we hear the principles, habits, and mental models that helped Valentin reach his goals in the past 15 years. After following a career path around the globe, we discuss how to step outside your comfort zone and embrace different working cultures around the world, and the importance of being prepared to act on decisions quickly to further your career and not stagnate.

Ross Bray leads Alps Education's Software Development and Data teams and is responsible for the Product Roadmap. We discuss the challenges of showing young minds the value of technology in our everyday lives, to inspire them to take an interest in seeing tech as a viable career option.

We take a peek behind the velvet curtain of a studio creating some of the most groundbreaking Virtual Reality experiences on the planet. We hear the thought processes behind creating VR, and some of the pitfalls to be aware of. Paul and the team at Hidden Creative are way ahead of the curve, creating experiences that are useful and taking Virtual Reality to the next level.

Neil is the Head of Architecture at Covéa Insurance, Neil has worked in IT for 25 years, from early 90’s SGML first online internet solutions to Head of Architecture, with experience delivering applications with diverse technologies applying Enterprise and Solution Architecture, Consulting and system design experience. Neil started out as a technical author at a software house in Birmingham in the 90s and learned his trade as he went, with his latest move to Covéa Insurance.

Haroon Hussain is consulting with Ego.co.uk as head of development. Haroon explains the importance of combining technology with marketing to create exponential growth in eCommerce. In the fast fashion industry - good marketing and a strong product are key, but understanding the technology of eCommerce and using the aid of consultants is imperative for brand growth.

Davide talks about his passion for data and keeping up with the developments of the data landscape. We discuss how you can use data to drive the success of a business, and how taking advantage of technology to build a data team can help achieve a company's goal, and the realities of this process.

Jane is the CEO of Zeal - a creative and digital marketing agency based in Leeds. Jane fell into the agency landscape after speaking to a recruitment consultant. Setting the target of having her own creative marketing agency by the age of 30 - we discuss how setting personal goals can be life-changing, hiring the right people, and the importance of challenging yourself and your team.

Nathan is CTO @ Dental Sleep Solutions. In his impressive career Nathan has worked at Nasa. A driven and passionate individual, Nathan believes in never being the smartest person in the room. On the show Nathan shares his background and experiences, his tips on what to ask your hiring managers when you're considering your next move and the unique challenges that the US healthcare space brings.

Andy sits down with Zakaria, digital transformation leader and Director of Technology at Cox Automotive Inc. On the show Andy and Zakaria discuss turning data into insight and organisational maturity.

Amy is Senior Vice President Of Technology at BottleRocket, a Dallas based digital design and development studio. A passionate professional, Amy sat on the very knife-edge of the mobile experience evolution at both Motorola and Blackberry. Amy is a keen mentor and passionate about using tech for the betterment of all.

Andy sits down with Hugh Freestone, Head of Data Engineering at Adatis to discuss the ever changing role of data professionals, the value of data and the ROI in data.

Craig is the Head of Engineering at News UK Craig hasn’t had the most conventional path into technology. He fell into development after university. He was originally a business analyst writing models in VBA. It turned out Craig actually really enjoyed coding so he moved on to VB then C#. Then he became a C# developer. At this time the internet was becoming really interesting and especially the client-side was becoming a creative space. This shift saw Craig become a full Javascript developer. Once he learned Javascript he started learning all the languages he could until he ended up at News UK.

Greg is the General Manager at Brill.app The foundation of Greg’s career in digital has been built around delivering results for Fortune 500 companies and enabling their digital transformations. His specialties include building and managing high-performing digital product teams, and the creation of high-value digital products.

John is the Chief Product Officer at ImproveWell The ImproveWell platform uses a smartphone application that empowers staff to communicate their ideas for improving care directly to senior management. An intelligent data dashboard provides a proven and trusted way to review the feedback coming in from the frontline. From the ward to the board, everyone can make suggestions to improve their workplace.

Phil is the Head of Engineering at Interact Phil is an experienced technical consultant with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. He’s skilled in enterprise software, learning management, software as a service (SaaS), software development, and start-ups. Phil is a strong information technology professional with a Bachelor of Science - BS focused in Computing from The Manchester Metropolitan University.