Speakers

Richard has been the Chief Information Officer for Segro since November 2024 he has responsibility for digital, data and the use of these to transform the organisation.  In his previous role as the Director General for Digital at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). He had responsible for technology and data across the entire estate including the technical capability in 850 Job Centres, and the management and analysis of all systems. He led the government adoption of Generative AI in its earliest of stages and ran the UK Governments first Innovation Pitch sessions across the UK.He is a globally recognised expert in digital technology, with over 25 years’ experience in diverse CIO roles across the healthcare, research, and retail sectors. Richard has a passion for innovation, business change and benefits management. Earlier in his career he was instrumental in the reform of the Irish healthcare technology systems which result in him being awarded the O’Moore medal for technology by the Irish government, the highest accolade ever awarded to a digital health leader in the country.Richard has been named in the top 100 CIOs in the UK in CIO Magazine CIO100 for the last 15 years. In 2025 Computing, Computer Weekly, Hot Topics and Marketing Weekly all listed Richard in their top five most influential leaders in digital in the UK and Richard was named the number one Chief Digital and Information Officer at the National Technology Awards. Richard is a fellow of the British Computer Society and sits on the Fellows Technical Advisory Group (F-TAG) he continues to lecture on innovation, digital transformation and the professionalisation of the digital role at academic institutes in the UK, Ireland and Canada. In 2025 the University of Leeds appointed Richard to their Computer Science Advisory board.