Over two decades in IT leadership, I’ve seen the real implications of cyber security up close — and just as often, I’ve seen businesses that simply don’t have the resource to invest properly in it. I’ve experienced the fallout when things go wrong, and it’s what convinced me that businesses deserve the best possible chance to avoid an incident before it happens, not just a clean-up plan for after. That’s the whole reason Patch Cyber exists.
Before specialising in offensive security, I spent over 20 years in IT leadership roles — most recently as Head of IT at Birmingham Assay Office, where I led the business through ISO 27001 certification and built its security awareness and phishing-simulation programme from the ground up. Before that, I ran the entire IT function across nine sites and 400+ users for a UK manufacturer, and delivered IT services for Beiersdorf UK.
I’ve sat on the other side of the table — responsible for the budget, the board report, and the fallout when something goes wrong.
I started out as a Police Constable with West Midlands Police — which taught me as much about staying calm under pressure and communicating clearly as anything I’ve done since. I hold a BEng (Hons) in Electronic Engineering and Computer Science from Aston University, and I’m a Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) and Certified Cybersecurity Technician (CCT).
Tier 2/3 support and administration for network, server and end-user infrastructure.
Communication, decision-making, and working effectively under pressure.
Strategic IT direction and system maintenance over a six-year period.
Service quality, incident and problem management in an enterprise environment.
Ran IT services end-to-end across nine sites (four international) and 400+ users.
IT strategy and budget ownership; led ISO 27001 adoption and built the security awareness & phishing simulation programme.
Infrastructure delivery and cost-saving leadership — the most recent chapter before moving full focus into cyber security.
Cyber security is where my focus is now — Patch Cyber is the next chapter.
When I’m not testing systems, I’m usually on a bike — mountain biking at bike parks, or longer gravel rides like the Devon Coast to Coast. I’m also an amateur photographer, mostly landscapes, plus touchline photos for my wife’s rugby team. And I run a fully virtualised home lab — Proxmox with failover clustering and a SIEM server — to keep practising new offensive techniques safely, well away from client systems.
