Computing Awards for Excellence: IT Professional of the Year shortlist

Stewart Fawley, RBT (Connect)

Stewart Fawley is a desktop support officer at RBT (Connect), a partnership between Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council and BT, and is described by RBT as a “troubleshooter extraordinaire”, who relishes the most difficult challenges.

Fawley achieved a 100 per cent pass mark in his Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) exam, and made history when he challenged the CCNA over an examination answer that had been marked incorrectly.

“If people are stuck with a problem, Stewart is the first person they go to for advice and help,” said senior desktop support officer Kevin Waller.

Paul Fremantle, WS02

Paul Fremantle is co-founder and vice president of technology at WS02, heading the company’s UK operations. He co-chairs the Oasis web services reliable exchange technical committee and is a member of the Apache web services project management committee.

Fremantle led a revolution in the design of enterprise service bus (ESB) technology in June 2007. He realised that building on existing application infrastructure technology was not enough ­ it was necessary to create a new ESB designed specifically for the management of web services.

Fremantle has also published two books: Building Web Services in Java, 2nd Edition and The XML Files.

Rob Hobart, Berwin Leighton Paisner

Rob Hobart is a business systems technologist on the development team of law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner.

Hobart’s technology recommendations to the IT management team have helped set the IT direction for the company. The development team is responsible for the smooth running of systems which can potentially make or break relationships with clients.

Hobart successfully communicates IT issues to less technical colleagues across the company, speaking in internal open lectures on a range of issues. He is a member of several professional bodies, including the BCS and oversaw the implementation of corporate group membership of the BCS for the IT department.

Andrew Mackey, Service Birmingham

Andrew Mackey is head of networks for Service Birmingham, with responsibility for voice and data networks across the whole of Birmingham City Council.

Service Birmingham is a partnership between the council and Capita, which runs the council’s IT systems. Mackey successfully managed the creation of one of the UK’s most advanced public sector IT networks, networking 750 venues including 450 schools and 60 libraries.

The project was three months behind schedule when Mackey took over and the timescale for delivery was effectively halved. Mackey met the new deadlines and incorporated several unplanned extras.

Catherine Michel, Tribold

Tribold chief technology officer (CTO) and co-founder Catherine Michel is the key architect of the company’s product management portfolio, and is responsible for new projects formed this year with Convergys, Capgemini and Microsoft.

She is an active member of the Telemanagement Forum (TMF) advisory board and speaks frequently at the forum’s events. She has been invited onto an expert panel session during the service delivery platforms global summit in Prague this September.

“Catherine is one of a new breed of articulate, commercially minded and technically savvy CTOs in the telecoms software industry,” said TMF chairman Keith Willetts.

Jez Phoenix, Gresham Services

Jez Phoenix serves as a one-man IT department, promoting the use of technology in Gresham Insurance Services. Over the past year he has developed a web-based system to improve business with the company’s insurance agents.

Previously, brokers received several CD-Roms each quarter, providing in surance quotations. Phoenix expanded the initial aim of reproducing the CD-Rom software on the internet, creating a new system that allows the broker to create quotations and place the risk on cover.

The system has minimised data entry and its associated errors, increased efficiency and reduced overheads. Gresham now conducts 75 per cent of new business online and has processed 15,500 quotes using the new system.

John Watson, National Australia Group Europe

Former maths teacher John Watson is the team leader for the National Australia Group Europe (NAGE) IT capacity planning team.

Watson was one of three technology employees sent to Paris as part of “Star of Stars,” a scheme which recognises high performers across the group’s global business. NAGE values Watson’s excellent people skills as equally as his technical capacity.

Watson’s presence reassures NAGE that a solution will always be found and that a highly visible role model is leading by example.

Robin Woodward, Royal Bank of Scotland

Robin Woodward has won three internal excellence awards in the past year, for his performance and his ability to handle situations.

He is often called upon to help resolve exceptional situations and recover difficult projects. While always alerting management to areas of concerns, Woodward is consistently able to offer a solution and deliver it.

Woodward produced a model keying document to guide business partners through the maintenance of a user-parameterised system, reducing the keying errors that had been a threat to project implementation.