CTO

London and Brighton +** (0-797*-****** acw1zu@r.postjobfree.com https://uk.linkedin.com/in/gerrylawrence

PROFILE

Experienced CTO with proven entrepreneurial focus in fast paced start-up scenarios and multi-national corporate environments. A pioneer of large scale SaaS services and an expert leader of agile software development and infrastructure. Passionate about technology and helping others understand how it is best deployed to add business value. A strategic champion of new products and innovative solutions. Inspirational leadership at all levels, building teams and mentoring individuals. Enjoy acting as the company representative in public-facing communications with analysts, investors and customers. Led the technical department of a publicly listed Internet services provider growing the value from £42M to £153M in under 5 years.

CORE SKILLS

IT strategy

Commercially savvy

Large scale SaaS and ecommerce

Agile software development

Product delivery

Team development

WORK HISTORY

Director / Techsensei / Jan 2015-Present

Techsensei provides strategic, technical, product and acquisition advice to businesses, aiding complex strategic decisions as well as supporting change and project implementation.

Key Accomplishments:

Advised an Internet social recommendations start-up on technology, software and platform choices.

Carrying out technical due diligence on an Internet security firm developing a secure hosting environment for business customers on behalf of a potential investor.

CTO / Lead Forensics / May 2015-June 2016

Lead Forensics is an Internet scale SaaS business that provides real-time web analytics designed to reveal the identity of unknown website visitors. The service currently tracks tens of millions of web visits per day and provides instant alerts and analytics to thousands of users using traditional and big data analytics.

Provided technical, operational and product leadership. Built a service platform and high performing team for the next phase of rapid customer growth from the US and internationally.

Key Accomplishments:

Rolled out two new strategic products in 4 months, enhancing the offering and allow online purchase through an ecommerce system integrating with payment system resulting in increased revenue streams.

Re-architected the software using message queueing (RabbitMQ), micro-services (Node.js) and NoSQL systems (Redis) to ensure it will scale for 10x growth while retaining the C# .NET core systems.

Transformed technology strategy to support business growth for the next 3 years.

Re-architected hosting systems with Azure, Google and AWS hosting to provide full fault tolerance.

Introduced Agile, JIRA and TDD to streamline the product development process.

CTO / Operations Director / Adapt / January 2013-April 2015

Adapt provides outsourced cloud and managed services to private and public sector customers, allowing them to focus on their strengths while Adapt maintains their technology.

Directed all aspects of operations and delivery as a member of the Adapt’s board. Represented the company online, at industry events and at customer presentations. Managed, developed and built this large, multi-site team of over 150 people. Applications ranged from internal IT to customer-facing SaaS and ecommerce.

Key Accomplishments:

Rolled out a technology strategy to guide the expansion of Adapt’s public cloud platform.

Created strategic advantage in regulated environments by developing security-focussed services and obtaining accreditations such as IL3 and ISO 27001.

Built a strategic relationship with EMC2 to deliver an industry-leading dual-site cloud services product.

Managed and integrated acquired teams in 3 locations ensuring common goals and a clear strategy.

Introduced DevOps automation with PowerShell, Perl and Puppet scripts for deployment reliability.

Reenergised the programme team with Prince 2 to achieve > 95% on time deliveries.

Improved processes in the ITIL service desk to reduce customer resolution time by 80%.

Achieved 100% team focus on customer satisfaction through implementing Net Promoter Score.

Established a team of technology advocates to act as spokespersons for the company @The_Adapters, increasing industry and customer engagement through social media, blogging and videos.

CTO / Group NBT plc, (aka NetNames) / February 2007-September 2012

Group NBT (with brands NetNames, NetBenefit, Easily and Envisional) is a leading provider of domain names, cloud hosting, e-mail and brand protection services using big data collection and analytics.

Directed all software development and technical operations spread across four countries. Designed and built numerous hosting, e-mail, brand protection and domain name products. Tech included LAMP and MS stacks.

Key Accomplishments:

Masterminded the integration of three acquired businesses into the Group to provide the most automated and efficient domain name registration platform servicing more than 1% of the world’s domains.

Transformed the 5 software teams into a delivery engine by introducing agile, Scrum, Jira and DevOps.

Led the redevelopment of the domain name ecommerce and payment system software from legacy PHP and Java systems onto a new custom-built C# .NET system ensuring PCIDSS security compliance.

Designed and built a Linux based DNS platform to reliably service more than 2 million domain names.

Consolidated 3 data centres, successfully moving over 1000 servers, saving over £500k (30%) annually.

Created the carve-out strategy and due diligence for NetBenefit, enabling the successful sale to Peer 1.

CTO / The FM Company plc / March 2005-February 2007

The FM Company is a cloud-based software (SaaS) provider, offering B2B solutions for businesses to manage building maintenance/contractors via a central database using a web and mobile interface.

Managed software development and operations. Java J2EE based technology stack.

Key Accomplishments:

Developed a mobile oriented version of the site to directly address existing customer feedback.

Implemented a rigorous test-driven approach to software development reducing release defects by 90%.

Founder and CEO / CCTVsafe Ltd / 2001-2005

CCTVsafe pioneered large-scale (IoT) cloud-based remote CCTV recording, monitoring and alerting services. Videos can be viewed on demand via a secure web site or on a mobile phone.

Took the company from concept to a fully operational business with live customers.

Key Accomplishments:

World’s first CCTV to be streamed to a mobile phone.

Built a successful marketing and public relations program, resulting in a steady stream of enquiries from the company web site and free publicity on the front page of the BBC News web site.

Director of Global Hosting Products / World Online BV/Tiscali S.p.A. / 2000-2001

Director of Hosting Products / GTS / 1999-2000

Head of Network Services / Demon Internet / 1995-1999

EDUCATION

Master of Business Administration (Entrepreneurship), Imperial College, London (2006-09)

Master of Engineering (The Special Engineering Programme), Brunel University (1990-92)

Member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology (since 1990)

Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) (The Special Engineering Programme), Brunel University (1986-90)

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