Simon Pitt
Simon Pitt | |
|---|---|
| Add a Photo | |
| Born | Gloucestershire, England |
| Nationality | English |
| Citizenship | England |
| Education | Honours Degree in Food Technology and Agricul |
| Alma mater | Nottingham University |
| Occupation | Technology leader |
| Known for | Known for delivery of Technology Strategy and Technology Programmes in the Transport Sector |
Simon Pitt is a technology leader, having held senior technology posts in the Private and Public Sectors for over thirty years.
Early life
Born in Gloucestershire, the son of a milkman he attended Grammar School and went on to obtain an Honours Degree in Food Technology and Agriculture at Nottingham University.[1]
Career
On graduation he joined the research division of Metal Box Ltd developing the Lamipac plastic food packaging system and delivering production facilities to Pedigree Petfoods and the Cooperative Wholesale Society. He helped to launch Sheba cat food being the first major product produced in Lamipac in the UK.[2]
After Metal Box Ltd merged with French company Carnaud to form Carnaud Metalbox he joined the Cooperative Wholesale Society working to modernise food production facilities using SCADA technology, delivering upgrades to manufacturing plant at Lowestoft, Irlam, Deeside and other facilities ranging through canned foods, ready meals, cereals, fats and oils, as well as soft drinks.[3]
Upon sale of the Cooperative Wholesale Society’s manufacturing business he managed a Corporate team selecting innovative and at the time bleeding edge technology for the other businesses of the Society, including: Artificial Intelligence; Virtual Reality; Smart Cards; GPS; RFID; Electronic Shelf Edge Labels; Biometric Identification for ATMs; Geographic Information Systems; Scheduling and Rostering Tools; and Customer Segmentation Modelling. He appeared in Laurence McGinty´s News at Ten science slot to present his work on Virtual Reality in Retail.[4]
He went on to develop a highly successful career in Consultancy, joining Hoskyns (Capgemini) and KPMG. He was well known for delivery of Technology Strategy and Technology Programmes in the Transport Sector. High profile projects included: Heathrow Express; Heathrow Terminal 5; Virgin Rail; Virgin Trainline; and the implementation of internet enabled ticketing for National Rail.[5]
During his Consultancy Career he also acted as Interim Head of Strategy and Architecture for BAA plc and Interim CIO for English Welsh and Scottish Railways during which time he worked to extract and integrate highly complex data from National Rail Systems to help improve the efficiency, effectiveness and profitability of UK Rail Freight.
He went on to develop Technology Strategies for London Transport, supporting: the PRESTIGE Project (Oyster Card); the London Bus Services Limited real-time information system project Countdown; and operational systems strategy for London Underground Limited.
In 2003 he moved on from Consultancy, appointed Director of Information Management London Underground Limited by the newly appointed General Manager London Underground Tim O´Toole. He is well known for his tireless dedication to improving technology support for the operation of London Underground encouraging the delivery of the Trackernet System, Electronic on Station Signage, role-based staff information portals and Internet delivery of Real-time Information including the iconic real time “Rainbow Board”. He relentlessly pursued improvements to Station Control Rooms, Communication Systems (including TETRA) and Real-time Customer Information. Highbury and Islington Station became his adopted station, where he tested ideas in action, creating an Agile approach to Technology Delivery long before it became Government Digital Strategy.
He led the development of Information Management across London Underground, creating a customer focussed technology culture. During his tenure he worked through the total destruction of his Head Office (Telstar House), the London-wide Power Failure and the 7/7 Terrorist Attacks. His delivery of Trackernet proved itself during the management of the 7/7 Bombings enabling the pin-pointing of the underground explosions.[6]
In 2005 he very reluctantly left London Underground because of his concerns around the safety of TfL outsourcing to Logica CMG (a contract later not extended by TfL) and joined the newly formed Olympic Delivery Authority[7]as its first permanent employee to oversee technology strategy and technology delivery for the Authority and for LOCOG (London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games).[8]
He did not stay to see the 2012 Olympics, moving on to deliver a £1.4bn technology transformation and outsource for the Environment Agency and DEFRA, which included the development of new Flood Warning, Environmental Incident Management, GIS and Cloud Computing technologies. He delivered the “Greenest IT Contract Let by Government” and developed a unified Carbon Consumption Model for IT Contracts.[9]
Whilst with the Environment Agency he became a member of the Cabinet Office CIO Council and was part of the team which inaugurated the Government Digital Service, he also assisted the Efficiency Reform Group under Francis Maude in IT Supplier negotiations.
He returned to Consultancy with KPMG for a period, spending several years working within the Ministry of Defence, eventually becoming Interim Chief Information Officer for Defence Equipment and Support. During his tenure he led the delivery of new technologies supporting delivery of the £15bn per annum Defence Capital Programme and development of a Digital and Agile approach to Technology delivery.
He continued a career as an Interim Manager, delivering the Technology Strategy and services to establish the East West Railway Company where he championed the use of GIS, fully Cloud delivered IT Services and the highly secure, cost effective desktop technology Paradox.
Most recently he briefly worked as a Transformation Director for Southern Housing Group.
References
- ↑ London 7/7 Bombings and detaction by Trackernet system
- ↑ London Underground status board
- ↑ London Buses arrivals timetable
- ↑ Computing.co.uk
- ↑ Cabinet Office CIO Council
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Delivery_Authority
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Organising_Committee_of_the_Olympic_and_Paralympic_Games
- ↑ Olympic Delivery Authority
External links
- Simon Pitt on Twitter
- Simon Pitt – Medium
- Simon Pitt
- My Mandate is Bigger than your Mandate
- Staff - Pitt Business - University of Pittsburgh
- Simon Pitt – UX Collective
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