Business Technology Leaders

Niall Trafford, BRE Group Chief Operating Officer
Simon has made a positive contribution to transforming our IT service into one which is in much better shape for the future. His detailed and structured approach enabled better delivery of IT services, as has his contribution to our digital strategy.

Vijay Sodiwala Video Networks, Executive Director Voice & Internet
Good attitude to work. Would re employ depending upon role. Good team player. Works unsupervised for technical and project related roles. Flexible attitude to work. Creating ideas unprompted.Participates in team meetings, exhibiting good interpersonal skills. Good technical understanding of advanced telecoms technology.

Simon Wellden, Tele2 Technical Director
Very good attitude to work. Would reemploy. Team Player. Able to work unsupervised and flexible to changing demands. Creates solutions to challenges un prompted. Participates in team meetings, exhibiting good interpersonal skills. We employed a specialist to solve a number of short term problems. All goals were achieved. Strengths being, Experience, Knowledge, Positive Attitude, Ability to solve problems with little input from others, Flexible working.

Duncan Kelly, Head of Network Development, Homechoice
Positive and constructive attitude. Would re-employ. Good team player. Work unsupervised and flexible. Creates creative ideas to resolve problems unprompted. Strong Communicator. Good Personally as well as professionally. Simon delivered projects on time. Technically very competent and good with management process. Excellent at managing and motivating technical teams. Communicating at multipl>levels. Straight talker (Could be seen by some as an issue).

Michael Conmy, Consilium Service Delivery Manager
Simon has an excellent and professional attitude to work. Yes – most definitely would re eploy. Simon worked remotely most of the time but maintained close contact both with office staff and customers. Simon had an excellent working relationship with other members of staff and ensured that staff were trained properly in order to address customer issues swiftly. Simon was allocated projects and thereafter always worked unsupervised but always delivered on time and to very high standards. Simon did whatever was asked of him. This included priorities being changed on a regular basis but Simon was totally flexible in his approach and always the absolute professional. Was very creative and produced proposals to senior management presenting new ideas and potential services that Consilium could provide to their customers. Always participated in meetings and was very patient with staff who did not always grasp technical issues easily. He has the ability to explain fairly complex issues in simple terms to ensure that all staff understood and therefore assist in the decision making process. A true professional in everything he does. He always ensures that he has clear understanding of what is being asked of him and reports progress on a regular basis for all project work being undertaken. Simon can liaise with effectively with all levels from the board down. Excellent – Simon was very productive and provided estimates for all projects allocated to him and delivered either before or bang on time. On occasion this required Simon to work long hours to meet these deadlines. Simon not only has an excellent technical ability but he is always reviewing and learning about new technological developments and appraising whether there are any benefits to be exploited. Simon’s strengths include: an excellent knowledge of networking and communications, a good team player, educates staff both informally and formally, very professional in his approach, flexible in his approach to changing priorities, keeps his knowledge up to date with new developments, professional in everything he does i.e. presentations, proposals, producing reports.

Andy Moore, Petro Canada International and Offshore Information Services Senior Advisor, IS Portfolio and Programme Management
Simon is very responsive, hard-working and diligent and turns around work very quickly.
Simon is very focused and has the ability to cut through office politics to get straight at the heart of a problem and deal with it efficiently
Simon is willing to talk ideas and issues through with the team without compromising project objectives.
Simon is a senior project manager with the experience required to take decisions unaided but is careful to gain consent where appropriate.
Simon has turned his hand to a wide range of issues for Petro-Canada beyond project management and adopted a range of communication techniques from 1-2-1 mentoring to daily “Morning Prayers” for problem projects that we have called on him to rescue.
Simon is very quick to suggest ideas and improvements to processes by drawing from and applying his experience.
Simon is an astute reader of team dynamics and is able to participate sensitively and steer discussion towards preferred outcomes.
Simon’s style of written communication is forthright and concise. He compliments this with a good humoured and conciliatory style of verbal communication by which he is able to add subtlety and colour to his points of view.
Simon is at his most effective when given a deadline to meet at short notice. He was most effective in taking over the project management of the Documentum systems deployment and bringing the project in on-time when the original team were working to schedule which would have delivered 6 weeks late.
Simon was not called upon to use his technical knowledge a great deal on this contract, concentrating rather on project and programme management, however it is evident that he has extensive knowledge of systems and networks.
Simon is able to “cut to the chase” and analyze a critical path very quickly and effectively, remaining focused at all times on meeting customer expectations and delivering outcomes to the highest quality attainable in any given circumstance.
Simon can be impatient, which is not necessarily a fault but can lead to frustration which can be a diversion. Simon needs to consider how his written communications may be interpreted as his directness can be seen as challenging by those who are less confident or are prone to be defensive. Re-reading his emails before sending them would pay Simon dividends

Michael Grant, BRE Group Operations Director
Simon led our IT infrastructure team and delivered several large projects which contributed to a transformation in customer service and resilience. Our business can now operate more efficiently and is better prepared for a digital future, a key pillar of our strategy for the future.