Kent branch: Committee
Here are the members of the Kent branch committee.
Chair
Eur Ing Bob Eager CEng CITP FBCS MIET
Bob studied for a degree in Electronics at the University of Kent, and by the end of his first year had become deeply interested in computing; so much so that he spent most of his final year modifying a minicomputer CPU to ‘improve’ it.
This naturally led to a Master’s degree in Computing at the University of Essex, followed by an invitation to some further work back at Kent. This involved a lot of low level fiddling with PDP-11 systems (among others), which included operating system modification and development.
He became a Lecturer in Computer Science at Kent in 1978, and was heavily involved in rolling out the EMAS operating system on the University’s ICL 2900 mainframe a year later, as a replacement for the doomed VME/K system. This was the source of much fun, especially the installation of a second processor (and the related reverse engineering of the microcode to discover the programming interface to do this). Further amusement was caused by his discovery of a design flaw in the processor (never admitted by the manufacturer) and his engineering of a microcode fix for this.
Bob went on to manage the University's VAXCluster for six years, before moving sideways to spend ten years as Master of Darwin College at the University.
Through all this time, he continued to teach such diverse subjects as computer hardware, operating systems, compiler writing and a few other things.
Bob has been a consultant for numerous companies, including BT, Olivetti, Pfizer, RHM Foods, and several others; the most notable was probably McCormack and Dodge (later Dun and Bradstreet Software Services) where he implemented a core part of their Millennium system.
He is still an unreconstructed geek; he is a member of the Computer Conservation Society, and likes talking about, and playing with, seriously old, large and underpowered computers.
Secretary
Roger Burnett CITP MBCS
Roger is a chartered member of the BCS. He has over thirty years’ experience in the IT industry; for the last twenty, he has been working for a large corporation, responsible for the design, engineering and implementation of enterprise-wide infrastructure projects. This has included global deployment of managed Windows clients, in multiple languages, Office 365, System Center Configuration Manager and a solution to manage multiple web browsers via a combination of Microsoft’s Group Policy and third-party tools.
He is a firm believer in maintaining high standards of quality and professionalism in all aspects of IT project and service delivery.
Treasurer
Darren Wilmshurst CITP MBCS ACIB
Darren has a background in commercial management, being an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers following sixteen years in Retail Banking. This culminated as a Senior Personal Banking Manager within the Guildford Group of branches, which was comprised of 9 branches and 140 staff.
A career change into IT in the late 1990s has led to a number of roles within IT, including three Head of Departments positions covering the complete spectrum of IT. Also, as an accomplished Project Manager and a Prince2 Practitioner, he has successfully delivered complex systems replacement, integration and infrastructure projects.
More recently he is now a Director of Radtac, a Global IT Consultancy Business based in London. In addition he is a Certified Scrum Master, Kanban Practitioner, DSDM Atern Agile PM Practitioner, APMG Facilitation Practitioner and SAFe Program Consultant.
He is a committee member of the BCS Agile specialist interest group, a member of the ASA South East Regional Management Board, and a co-author of the BCS Book Agile Foundations - Principles Practices and Frameworks.
Inclusion Officer
Andrew Gibbons MSc CEng CITP FBCS
Andy is a Fellow of the BCS, Chartered Engineer and Chartered IT Professional, with more than 20 years experience of software engineering and delivering IT-related further education. He joined the BCS in 1994 and has been a committee member of the Kent branch of the BCS since 2005.
While Education Liaison Officer on the committee, he initiated the branch's long-running support of the FIRST LEGO League and the student prizes awarded annually to university students in Kent.
A firm believer in continuing professional development and lifelong learning, Andy has worked as an IT Lecturer in further education, and as director of a training company delivering IT Apprenticeships. He has also worked as a computer operator, software developer, test analyst and test manager.
As the branch's Inclusion Officer, he helps promote the equality, diversity, inclusivity and community outreach of the branch and the BCS's vision of 'Making IT Good for Society'.
