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

Nigel Finley is Software Engineering Manager at Committee for Children Nigel is a passionate and driven software developer currently working in React, Javascript, Node, and cloud-based architecture creating beautiful, accessible, and functional web applications. As a natural leader, Nigel rallies teams behind a common goal through his strong communication skills and charisma to deliver exceptional service and products. Founded in 1978, Committee for Children is a global nonprofit dedicated to fostering the safety and well-being of children through social-emotional learning and development. CFC is the world’s largest provider of research-based educational programs that promote social-emotional skills and prevent bullying and sexual abuse. Committee for Children has been working for over three decades to help create a world in which the whole child is not only nurtured, but celebrated. During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Nigel to talk about Nigel's journey into tech and skills that helped him get

Ben speaks to Erwin about how the engineering teams are set up within the organisation, how Erwin leads teams of teams and the importance of having a transparent career progression framework in technology and how employees want more from a role these days. Erwin is an engineering leader and entrepreneur with over 15 years experience in software development leadership and technology operations. A thoughtful and decisive leader who is willing and able to make hard decisions. He has plenty of experience in building highly efficient technology staffs that can grow in any organization.

Asif Ali is Head of Software Development at PrettyLittleThing.com Asif has over 12 years of extensive commercial experience working with web development technologies especially focusing on e-commerce projects. He is currently managing 12 Agile Software Development teams (45+ developers in 3 countries of various skills and expertise in Javascript, PHP, and AWS). PrettyLittleThing is a UK-based fashion retailer, owned by Boohoo Group and operates in the UK, Ireland, Australia, US, France, Middle East and North Africa. The brand's main headquarters are in Manchester, where we recorded this podcast episode. During this episode, Ben sits down with Asif at PrettyLittleThing HQ to discuss Asif's career to get to Head of Software Development, some of the key learnings Asif has found throughout his career, and his leadership philosophies when managing many teams in a fast-paced industry.

Martin Parton is CTO at Kin + Carta Europe Kin + Carta [ https://investors.kinandcarta.com/overview/default.aspx ] is a technology, data and experience consultancy that believes in using business as a force for good. They are at the forefront of a new class of digitally-native firms built to deliver Digital Transformation 2.0, and they choose to do so as a socially responsible business that champions inclusion, diversity, equality and sustainability. Martin is an experienced CTO, technical leader & consultant based in the North West and works globally with clients in all territories.  During this podcast episode, as Martin is a keen pianist, Ben sits down to discuss the relationship between music and engineering. They also discussed how Kin + Carta collaborates with clients to get the best outcome from a project.

Brian Robinson is Managing Director Dept UK, Dept Agency. Brian is leading an award winning team across our multiple offices in the UK. Helping clients to meet their goals across Digital Marketing, Commerce and Design and Technology. Their teams bring together the best of Data, Creativity and Technology to create experiences that people want and that businesses need. Dept are an international digital agency with over 1,500 experienced thinkers & makers in 13 countries across Europe and the Americas. One agency uniting creativity, technology, and data. Helping their clients reinvent & accelerate their digital reality by creating experiences that people want and businesses need. During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Brian at Dept's Manchester offices to discuss how Dept is helping companies that aren't digitally mature, how to move into digital sustainably, and the ongoing work that Dept continues to provide once the project is released.

Sam Mason is Head of Web Development at Alphageek Sam is an MSc International Business Graduate with a background and BSc in Computing. Alphageek is an end-to-end digital agency, specialising in bespoke solutions which are individually tailored to client specifications. They are based in the East Midlands and work on projects locally, nationally and globally.  During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Sam to discuss the growth of the business and the culture fostered by the team.

Yasar Ahmad is Global VP Talent at HelloFresh, Inclusion and Diversity Leader & RL100 Member. Yasar is currently the Global Vice President of Talent at HelloFresh. Previously, Global Head of Talent Acquisition at Zalando focussed on Technology Hiring and prior to that the Director and Head of Strategic Hiring at Wipro and Wipro Digital. An accomplished people leader with experience in various HR roles, with a passion for Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, Inclusion and Diversity and learning and development and employers branding. A member of the RL100 and committed speaker on industrial challenges and creating human-shaped experiences.  Owen Choi is Team Lead Talent Acquisition - Tech at HelloFresh, Product Management, Design, Analytics focus. Owen has been working in the IT industry for 5+ years with a focus on helping talented individuals connect with companies. He took the opportunity to join HelloFresh to expand his understanding of the industry and progress his career with a forward thinking,

Mike Christensen is Tech Lead at Blokur  Blokur connects the dots between rights holders, creators and music users. The easiest way to pay and get paid for music. Blokur simplifies this process by matching music catalogues to the underlying publishing information quickly (2.4m matches analysed in 24 hours!) and accurately, reporting back on exactly which licences are required in order to use the music you want. During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Mike to discuss the ins and outs of Blokur, the culture fostered by Mike and his team, the common pitfalls to be aware of when hiring and onboarding remotely, and some of the cutting edge technologies Blokur are working with.

Marija Ziterbart is Chief Technology Officer at The Lowdown and Managing Director at Tilde Loop. Marija is a technical superwoman who builds ideas into beautiful software that helps thousands of women with their contraception every day. Before joining The Lowdown she set up software development agency Tilde Loop. Marija is an experienced software engineer with a proven record of designing and implementing complex software systems. Team player who works directly with business managers to translate requirements into design and ultimately develop and deploy cutting-edge solutions. The Lowdown is a contraception review, advice and prescriptions platform that's making women’s health less of a minefield.  Tilde Loop is a London-based software development company comprised of experienced engineers, specialising in the JavaScript ecosystem and modern application development. They help organisations accelerate their software development. They're doing it by joining your team and contributing through the whole soft

Alex Arnal Vivas is Head of Development / Technical Architect at more2. more2 are the leading insight and analysis business for retail, ecommerce, and travel. They are data-led, insight-driven, and rich in experience. They are the growth partner to over 100 brands, combining strategic thinking with operational excellence powered by the world’s leading technology to help you make the most of your customer data. During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Alex to discuss agile and DevOps challenges in data engineering projects, the agile transformation process, testing and CI/CD in data engineering and analytical projects, as well as Alex's career reflection & the culture at more2.

Tome Pejoski is a Software Engineering Team Lead who loves bringing to life modern and powerful web applications. Always striving to keep up-to-date with the latest trends, technologies, software development and leadership best practices. Constantly looking forward to upgrading skills and expertise on a higher level. Currently making mobility fun and sustainable by working as a Tech Lead at FINN. FINN's mission is to make mobility fun and sustainable: They help everyone who loves driving their own car but refuses the struggle, commitment and intransparent costs associated with car ownership. They achieve this by offering all-inclusive, immediately available, monthly car-subscriptions. While you drive FINN plant trees as every journey is CO2 compensated. During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Tome to discuss the service that FINN provides, scaling from 0 to 8000+ subscriptions in just two years with help of automation as well as the Engineering team set-up.

Marlon Hope is Digital Product Manager at Tilney Smith and Williamson Marlon offers high level strategic support, and project management for both public and private organisation. He is a mentor, DCF advisory board member and Community Lead @ Techs & the City.  Marlon Hope is an experienced Manager currently heading the team responsible for Digital Product at Tilney Smith and Williamson, which provides professional and financial services to private clients and their business interests.  Having led digital transformations in both public and private sectors, Marlon is passionate about the development of people and the role of mentorship and coaching in the furtherment of Manchester as the global digital hub of choice. During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Marlon to discuss his career journey into product management, Marlon's views on management and mentoring, and the thriving tech culture in Manchester.

Matt Whetton is an engineer at heart, CTO at Oakbrook Finance, building a culture of creative problem solving, empowered engineering teams and continuous learning. Oakbrook Finance offers personalised financial solutions to individual customers using cutting-edge technology and data and analytics for fairer lending. During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Matt to discuss his journey from software architect to CTO, the way Matt thinks about people and technology and how this is implemented in the business, and how Matt integrates analytics, data and software.

Paul Davison, Chief Digital Transformation Officer, Teleware Paul has over 20 years’ experience in IT and product development. His expertise in developing products and processes to help clients align their digital capabilities to business strategy, drives exponential growth for clients. Paul has worked across a number of sectors including oil and gas. With this, Paul brings experience of working in tightly controlled development environments, developing project control technology to create improvements at every stage of the production process. TeleWare design software to help businesses communicate better with their customers and employees by routing communications more effectively. By recording and analysing these communications Teleware is able to discover how companies can better connect with customers to improve their experience, manage governance and grow revenues. During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Paul to discuss culture and communication in technology, the future of the industry and h

Victoria Engelhardt is CEO and Co-Founder of Keleya Victoria has worked in Tech startups in Berlin for a number of years and spent some time in management consulting at BCG, and wanted to spend time on something that really matters to herself and the world. Keleya was spawned when a close friend of Victoria's became pregnant, realizing for the first time how hard it was to find a midwife and the right support throughout the pregnancy journey. Keleya enables women and their partners to have a safe and relaxed pregnancy, birth experience and motherhood by providing them with personalized, expert based information, workouts and nutrition plans and a matching midwife. Founded in 2017, Kelaya is headquartered in Berlin, Germany. This led Victoria to found Keleya – Your Pregnancy & Parenthood Companion. Keleya is the best-in-class pregnancy app that provides support, workouts and medical advice, and is reimbursed by major German health insurances, such as SBK, BIG direkt gesund, DAK etc. They have been award

Mark Quinn is CTO and Co-Founder of Circl  Circl was developed in an effort to change the way bettors engage with sports and wagering: the game allows up to 10 users to play against each other to win a pool of money deposited beforehand by the group. The gaming mechanism is based on a series of real-time events occurring during the match, which are given their own scoring system. Thus, the pot of money moves around the Circl as the event goes on, instead of being awarded solely based on the final outcome. During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Mark to chat about the Circl App, how the initial concept was formed and offers advice to anyone building an app and bringing it to market, as well as discussing some of the unforeseen challenges Mark and his team have overcome over the past 18 months. Get your Circl in by downloading the app here: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/circl-social-betting/id1551226545 Mark is on the lookout for engineers to join Circl, so if you're looking to join a cutting-edge,

Saravanan Sathyanandha is CTO at Monolith AI Saravanan is building an AI software platform to allow engineers to design products faster. Industries include aeronautical, automotive and more. Monolith AI is an Imperial College London spin off that is building a new machine learning software that utilises the latest in machine learning to help engineers to significantly improve the product development process. Monolith enables companies to monetise their old simulation and test data by using it to anticipate the behaviour of new products. Companies can optimise their R&D process by reducing the numbers of simulations, tests and prototypes required to develop a new product delivering faster and better products. During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Saravanan to chat about the pro's and con's of startup life, his career journey, his role and mentors and influences along the way.

Oliver Cox is CTO and Chief Architect at EBI.AI An experienced and skilled technical leader with a proven track record in developing and implementing software solutions. Oliver has extensive experience of leading development teams in the delivery software projects and providing technical consultation on product development. Oliver is a supporter of cloud technologies, advocating the benefits of software and platform as a service and providing guidance on implementation. Focused in recent years on cognitive computing , machine learning and natural language processing Oliver helps businesses to design and build intelligent solutions. EBI.AI is a platform that makes AI and your job easier. You can buy and build your AI assistant with EBI.AI helping to steer it. During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Oliver to discuss the realities of working for a startup that exists within a large corporation. As well as Olly's leadership style and the biggest learnings on his career journey.

Rich Cassidy is head of People and Delivery at Caution Your Blast Ltd Rich's ultimate goal is for all everybody he works with, both within Caution You Blast and our client teams, to come to work feeling excited and supported to get stuck in, to be able to do an effective day's work, have a fun time while doing so, and work on things that make a positive difference to people's lives. He has over ten years’ experience in design and tech consulting with a focus on public sector and non-profits. Having grown and supported teams in both the public and private sectors, he brings a deep understanding of how to create the conditions and culture that enables teams of designers, researchers, developers, and policymakers to work together and deliver incredible work and outcomes. Caution Your Blast is a leading digital products and services practice, creating some of the UK's most innovative digital solutions, then using these skills and experience to provide expert consultancy to clients. CYB is a team of only senio

Mattia Campolese is Head of Software Engineering at Zopa. He's an Engineering Lead and Mobile Apps Development Evangelist with 10+ years of experience. He has been focusing on developing end-to-end solutions for multiple types of organisations across several industries that include finance, banking, media, travel, transport and manufacturing. After leading the Mobile Engineering community in HSBC across several locations to analyse, plan, develop and release apps consumed by 15+ million active users, he is now overseeing the Front End Engineering Stack in Zopa, helping the business in its scale growth. Zopa is a London-based digital bank fintech company, offering personal loans, car finance, credit cards, savings and peer-to-peer investments, all managed online. During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Mattia to chat about Mattia's methods to scale the business, and some of the key learnings throughout his career that have helped him develop and form his leadership style.