Industrial Members

Gloria Benson is a Director of Consult Hyperion. Prior to joining Consult Hyperion in 1987, she worked for a range of companies dealing with business administration, project management and human resource management. She is a City University Business School graduate with a Masters in Management and Business Administration (MMBA).

Gloria has served on the Industrial Advisory Board for 8 years and was elected as the Chair in 2008. 

Nicola Hills – Director, IBM WebSphere SOA Foundation Product Development. After graduating with a degree in Physics from Brunel University, Nickie Hills joined IBM in 1992 in their Hursley software development laboratories working as a programmer. She spent the majority of the next 14 years working in IBM’s software product development team in both the UK and Canada, initially in hands-on technical roles, but then moving into both development and product management roles across a variety of products in IBM’s WebSphere and Rational portfolios. In 2006 Nickie joined IBM’s Global Technology Services organisation to lead the new Middleware Service Product line in North East Europe, Middle East and Africa, returning to IBM’s Software Group in 2008 to take up her current role. Nickie is an active supporter of Women in Information Technology initiatives within the industry, in particular the challenge of getting young women interested in a career in technology.  

Bob Malcolm is the principal in ideo ltd., a consultancy specialising in research strategy and management.  He has advised industry, universities, and local, national, and international governmental agencies.  Before founding ideo he worked for 20 years in systems engineering in the aerospace and computing services industries.  Bob has worked with the Department for more than 25 years.  He joined the Department's Industrial Advisory Board in 2002 and became a Visiting Professor in the Department in 2003. 

Adrian Seccombe is a Research Associate for the Leading Edge Forum.  Adrian principally focuses on two research domains – The Consumerization of IT, with particular emphasis on the future of mobility, and Business/IT Co-evolution, with emphasis on managing information as an asset including identity, risk, governance and compliance.
Having recently retired from his role as the Chief Information Security Officer and Senior Enterprise Architect at Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, Adrian now lectures at the University of Surrey on the subjects of Information Asset Management and Information Security.  Adrian is an IT visionary with extensive knowledge and practical experience in various IT, Security, Strategy & Quality Management positions in the UK, France and the US.  He was named Information Security Person of the Year (Europe) in 2010 by the SC Magazine.
Adrian joined Lilly as a Telecoms Analyst in 1980.  As Manager of Telecom & Technology Development, Adrian relocated to Lilly headquarters in Indianapolis.  Following four years in various management positions, including IT Strategy Manager, he moved to become the IT Director for Lilly in France.  On returning to the UK, Adrian took responsibility for the Lilly IT infrastructure of Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific & Japan.  He then took global responsibility for Lilly Client Computing & Collaboration Services, whilst retaining his responsibility for the EMEA infrastructure.  He then led the development of Lilly’s Information Risk Management processes, and the IT Quality and Security Management teams based around the globe. Adrian holds a Bsc Hons in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Surrey and is a trained facilitator.  He serves on the Industrial Advisory Board of the University of Surrey Computing Department and is a member of the Board of Management of the Jericho Forum. 

James Sellwood is a Senior Consultant at Consult Hyperion where his work focuses on the security of new and existing payment systems. Information Security has long been a passion for him with previous roles involving applying this knowledge to both software development and network management. In his last role, James managed the development of software now distributed in large volumes of credit cards. With his eye for detail and significant experience of development and security James has established a reputation for being able to critically test software and to unmask often missed functional and security flaws. James has numerous industrial certifications, a BSc in Combined Science and is completing an MSc in Information Security.

Neil Simpson graduated from the University of Surrey in 1995 having completed his degree in Computing & Information Technology. Having spent his placement year at the IBM UK Scientific Centre, Neil returned to IBM as a graduate programmer working at IBM's Development Laboratory in Hursley, Hampshire. Two years later, Neil was seconded to the Human Resources department undertaking a number of roles including Human Resources Adviser and Hursley Recruitment Officer. Following a spell working in Paris as the Workforce Manager for Sales and Distribution for Europe, Middle East and Africa, Neil returned to the Laboratory and to software development management. His current role is Delivery Manager for WebSphere Business Events & ILOG Business Rules Synergies Development. Neil started on the Industrial Advisory Board a long time ago as a Graduate representative and has been involved ever since. Outside of work, Neil enjoys long distance running, SCUBA diving and is qualified as a Rescue Diver.  

Adrian Waller joined Thales UK Research & Technology (then Racal Research) in 1997. He is a Technical Consultant responsible for providing cryptography and information security expertise on many projects. His current interests include multi-level security, identity management, policy based management and security for system-of-systems. Adrian qualified as a CISSP in 2003. 

Ian Wells has worked in NHS computing for over thirty years and is head of the scientific computing section in the Department of Medical Physics at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford. He originally read chemistry at Oxford and worked in industry for several years before joining the NHS as a clinical scientist specialising in liquid and gas chromatography and continuous flow analysis. In the course of this work he became increasingly involved with the use of computers and published his first paper in this field in 1980. Two years later he was encouraged to retrain as a computer scientist at the University of Surrey, and in due course he was awarded its first PhD in computing. In the mid-1990s he moved into Medical Physics to build up a scientific computing team, developing bespoke software solutions to problems for which no credible commercial solution is available and providing high performance computing facilities for medical image analysis and research. In 1999 he was invited by the Department of Computing at Surrey to assist with teaching and research, and was appointed a Visiting Professor in 2005. His main research interest is the role of artificial intelligence in medicine, including understanding how a better knowledge of medical decision-making can improve software design and patient safety. He has written numerous papers on medical computing and spoken at conferences around the world. Outside work Ian and his wife enjoy mountain walking, cross country skiing, photography and travel and have an on-going love affair with Switzerland where they spend several weeks a year. They are also members of a large and lively church in Guildford as well as a local fitness club.

Alan Woodward, Charteris plc.  The first part of Alan’s career was in government service since when he has built up many years experience of in industry. His technical specialisation is IT security and he has been pivotal in some of the most advanced solutions in operation today. Alan’s business experience includes rapidly growing businesses both through organic development and mergers and acquisitions. Alan has also managed some very large and complex IT projects, including project and commercial turnarounds. His well known understanding of how technologies can bring true business advantage often involves Alan being asked to advise organisations at the most senior level as well as appearing in the media to comment on the subject. His work has seen him elected as a Fellow and Chartered member of institutions including the British Computer Society, the Institute of Physics and the Royal Statistical Society.