On the lighter side of things , we ask the industry experts what makes them tick . . . .

It has to be learning to fly a helicopter and then flying one underneath the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco .

What first made you think of a career in technology ?

Other than various part-time jobs , my first ‘ real ’ job was as an aerospace engineer for British Aerospace . I worked on various aircraft such as the Airbus A320 , A340 and was part of the conceptual design team for the A380 .

I ’ ve always been an engineer at heart . My move from physical engineering work to computer-based was when I started working in Computer-Aided Design ( CAD ). As part of that process , I realised that I really enjoyed helping others get to grips with technology . This led to my move into pure-play IT in the early 90s . As you can imagine , this was an exciting time – we were moving towards the dot-com era and I wanted to be a part of it .

What style of management philosophy do you employ with your current position ?

I ’ m an engineer BUT I do not care how something works unless I can see the value it brings . What that translates to in my role , is that when I talk to companies about our technology , I ’ m not really there to tell them how it works . I am there to tell them why they should care , why this piece of technology could make their lives so much better tomorrow than it currently is today . If I can convince them of that , then we might be able to discuss how we [ NetApp ] can make that happen . I apply a similar strategy with people ; I believe the better you can explain to someone why what they could be doing tomorrow is better than what they do today , people are much more willing to embrace change .

What do you think emerged as the technology trend of 2022 and why ?

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning really exploded in popularity and investment during the course of 2022 , culminating with the launch of ChatGPT in November which has subsequently

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