Board Member Biographies
JANET(UK) Board of Directors
Roger McClure
After a career in the administration of further and higher education, at both national and institutional levels, Roger McClure is now focusing on board work and resuming his academic research. He is chair of JANET(UK), the UK’s word-leading educational IT network, and a board member of the HEFCE’s Joint Information Systems Committee and the Institute for Employment Studies.
Previously, he was chief executive of the Scottish Funding Council and the Learning and Skills Improvement Service, a pro-rector of the University of the Arts, London, and director of finance for the Further Education Funding Council and the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council. He began his career with the National Audit Office and, as a consultant with Deloitte Haskins & Sells, spent two years as financial adviser to the UGC.
He is a graduate of Cambridge University, a postgraduate of Oxford University and was a Harkness Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.
Tim Marshall
Tim is Chief Executive Officer of JANET(UK) and leads the senior management team.
After holding senior management positions in the BBC, Tim became Senior-Vice President at the Walt Disney Company and Managing Director at Buena Vista Productions International and in 2000 Tim joined new start-up Wide Learning as Chief Operating Officer. He joined JANET(UK), then UKERNA, in 2005.
Tim’s specialist interest is developing best commercial practice in the public sector, particularly excellent customer service and effective development processes which efficiently deliver new products and service.
In 2004 and 2008 Tim was seconded to the Athens and Beijing Olympics broadcasting organisations. His charitable work includes producing the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall each year. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Member of the British Computer Society and Royal Television Society and a Liveryman in the Worshipful Company of Constructors.
Bob Day
Bob Day is Chief Technology Officer and an executive director of JANET(UK. His role is to ensure that the JANET network and its associated services remain fit for purpose as the education and research communities' demands continue to evolve.
Bob has been responsible for many of the architectural and policy developments within JANET. Particular interests continue to include the development of acceptable use, connection and charging policies, and other regulatory matters, the expansion of the JANET community from its roots in higher education to the whole of the education sector across the UK, interworking with other public sector networks (particularly with regional and national networks in education, health and local government), and in widening the set of services that JANET can provide to those it serves.
Bob was educated as a chemist and carried out postgraduate and postdoctoral research in a number of areas of physical chemistry. It was during this work that his interest in the application of distributed computing to scientific research was first engaged, and led him to a career in the development of education and research networking.
He is also on the Board of Directors of DANTE.
Tim Kidd
Tim Kidd is Operations Director for JANET(UK) and has overall responsibility for customer engagement and the provision of the services (including the IP network and the JANET services that are provided over the network and security services).
Tim first worked for the Science and Engineering Research Council in its telecommunications group. Whilst at the SERC, Tim worked on the "coloured book" networking software on mainframes and was responsible for the very large scale data storage system and software provided to service the research community.
Tim joined JANET(UK) as the Operations Manager he then moved to the development division to work on the SuperJANET4 programme before being appointed as the then Production Services Director.
Tim has a degree in computer studies from the University of Southampton.
Malcolm Bain
Malcolm Bain has been Director of IT Services at the University of St Andrews since August 1996, responsible for computer services, data and voice communications and video-conferencing services.
Malcolm has degrees in Mathematics and Computing from Sussex and Liverpool Universities. Following a 5-year stint in the computing service at Leicester University in 1979 he moved to work in the Computing Laboratory (the academic computer service) at the University of St Andrews where he held various posts before becoming the Head of the Computing Laboratory in 1990.
In 1995, Malcolm became the chairman of the Fife and Tayside Metropolitan Area Network (FaTMAN) Management Committee and since 1997 has been the secretary and occasional chair of the Scottish MANs Coordinating Group.
He was nominated to the JANET(UK) Board by the Scottish Funding Councils for Further and Higher Education.
Neville Dart MA(Dunelm) BEd(Hons) FIfL MIEEE
From 1976 Neville was employed as a Buyer for a large Multi-National OEM developing MRP2 and computer processes for purchasing. He graduated from Sunderland University in Business Education with QTS in 2003 and taught business, management, economics and IT in the secondary, sixth form and FE sectors. From 1995 he taught finance, statistics, marketing, planning and project management on the Teesside University HEBP programmes with Middlesbrough College where he was also course leader for Management Studies. He gained an MA in Lifelong Learning and Development from Durham University in 1999.
Neville took up his current post in 2002 as Director of IT and Information Security at Stockton Riverside College where he leads and strategically manages the development of IT, communication and learning technologies, operations and multi-media services. He leads and directs the college IT security and e-policy and is responsible for Data Protection, Freedom of Information, licensing, copyright and compliance.
Brian Gilmore
Brian has worked in various areas of computing for the past thirty years, starting off in the networking area, rising to the post of Director of the Computing Services of the University of Edinburgh. After the merger of the Library, Computing Services and Management Information Services into Information Services, Brian is now Director of IT Infrastructure in Information Services.
Brian has a long association with European Networking, having chaired a working group in RARE (Reseaux Associes pour la Recherche Europeenne) from 1986 to 1993 and was the Vice President for the Technical Programme of TERENA (Trans European Research & Education Networking Association) for a period of four years until 2002.
Latterly, Brian has been closely involved in the JISC (Joint Information Services Committee). He has served on the JISC Committee for Authentication and Security and the JISC Committee for Networking (JCN) and is currently on the JISC Committee for the Support of Research (JSR) and the Policy and Advisory Board for the UK Academic Federation.
Ian Griffiths
Ian has represented Higher Education institutions on the JANET(UK) Board since 2002. He has worked in the IT industry for over 30 years, primarily in HE, initially at the University of York but latterly at Nottingham Trent University. After over 25 years as a Director of IT, Ian is now Director of Strategic Partnerships at Nottingham Trent University. He currently works 60% of his time as Chief Executive of EMMAN Ltd which provides the regional network for education and other shared services for the Universities of the region. Ian has responsibility for ESC UK, the Education Support Centre for Microsoft products. He is a Board member for a number of regional public sector organisations both inside and outside work and on the UCISA (Universities and Colleges Information Security Association) Executive Board, chairing its Networking Group.
Carole Mainstone
Carole Mainstone is the Registrar & Secretary of the University of Westminster. A graduate of the University of Sheffield and Henley Management College, she has previously held posts at the Open University, Brunel University, and Queen Mary College of the University of London. Although a Northerner by birth, Carole has spent all her adult life living and working in London.
Alec McSkimming
Alec was nominated as a Member of JANET (UK) Board by HEFCW in February 2010.
A member of European Sources Online Board with responsibility for finance of its international service to leading world leading universities, libraries and political administrations, as well as UK HE/FE institutions.
Alec is on the Cardiff University Information Services Board, Senior Management Executive for IT, and IT Programme Board, advising on financial strategy and planning and ensuring best value at all times.
He is Chair of The Higher Education Purchasing Consortium Wales, Computer Supplies and a member of the Universities and Colleges Information Services Association Procurement Group and one of its subgroups - HE National Desktop and Notebook Agreement Review Group - responsible for the tendering, management, and review of the National Agreement.
At Cardiff University Alec is responsible for overseeing the management of all chargeable IT Services (internal and external); seeking and obtaining funding; IT financial strategy and planning in line with the University’s Strategic Plan for IT.
Brent Dempster
Brent is the Director of HR at King's College London. He has significant strategic HR experience in both the public and private sector. In his current role at King's he is responsible for a wide range of HR functions and is part of the senior management team.
Bob Pattni
Bob Pattni is Executive Director at Birmingham Metropolitan College which is one of the country’s most innovative and successful training and educational intuitions. At the College, Bob has responsibility for the Strategic Financial Direction, Corporate Governance and the Marketing function.
Bob joined Birmingham Metropolitan College in 2000, having previously worked in the finance and educational finance sectors for the previous 8 years.
Through his experience in further education, Bob has been fully involved in three mergers over a 6 year span and the formation of a new 11-19 Academy. He works in a highly competitive business and enjoys the challenges as part of an exceptional Executive Team.
As an active supporter of Birmingham Forward, Bob has participated in the Ambassador’s Programme and represented the educational and skills sectors within Marketing Birmingham.
Bob also enjoys fund raising for a number of projects and is a keen sportsman. He actively supports not for profit organisations and currently holds board positions with JANET, Birmingham Chamber Pensions and he is a governor of a primary school.
Outside work, Bob enjoys spending time with his family and following sports.