BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Dr. Steve Garnett
Chairman
Steve Garnett has had one of the most distinguished careers of any European executive in the software industry. Steve has been a member of the executive management team of three software startups that have each turned into some of the most successful software companies in history.
Steve started his career joining Oracle Corporation prior to its IPO
in 1986.
He held various technical and sales positions including Director of UK
sales, Vice President European Marketing & Alliances and was the
youngest member of the European management team. He was at Oracle
Corporation for 12 years as the company grew to become the world’s 2nd
largest software company.
Steve joined Siebel Systems in 1996 as Vice
President of Europe and a member of the founders circle. From a 100
employees the company grew in eight years to become the worlds 5th
largest software company with 8,000 employees and a $60b market
capitalisation at its peak.
In 2003 Steve joined his former Oracle executive colleague Marc Benioff to head European operations and be part of the executive team at Salesforce.com. He helped take Salesforce.com public in 2004 and the company’s market capitalisation has been as high as $12b. Salesforce.com has been lauded as one of BusinessWeek’s Top 100 Most Innovative Companies, named No. 7 on The WIRED 40, and selected as a Top Ten Disrupter by Forbes.
In October 2009, Steve was named by UK national newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, as one of the 50 most influential Britons in technology.
Throughout his career, Steve has been committed to using his resources to produce positive social change for underserved children. He is a board member at TeachFirst an organisation focused on eradication of educational disadvantage in inner city schools in the UK.
He has a degree in mathematics and a doctorate in
theoretical physics from the University of Manchester, and holds a
number of professional affiliations and board positions.
Stephen Kelly
Deputy Chairman
Stephen Kelly has over 25 years of delivering outstanding success in
company growth and value creation. Stephen has commanded Board,
Executive & Operational roles at a series of highly successful,
market-leading software companies.
Stephen has unique experience gained as the CEO and Board Director of a
top 200 UK FTSE Company and of a US NASDAQ public company. He has
consistently created a high-growth company culture in complex, diverse
and international businesses that have operated out of New York,
California and the UK.
Stephen started his career joining Oracle Corporation shortly after its
IPO in 1987. Here he held various leadership mandates including
Director of European Telecoms, Financial Services and Retail.
Throughout his 10 years at Oracle, Stephen grew his business area by
greater than 100% per annum. During this time the company grew to
become the world’s 2nd largest software company.
Stephen joined Chordiant in 1997, taking over as company CEO in 2002.
His 9-year tenure saw the company grow rapidly from a small start-up.
Stephen was the driving force behind this growth including key
activities such as raising finance, setting up global operations and
navigating through a highly successful IPO that resulted in Chordiant
becoming one of the US NASDAQ’s leading Customer Relationship
Management companies. Under Stephen’s leadership Chordiant was named as
a top 50 fastest growing company, having achieved growth from zero to
$75m in revenues in less than 5 years. As recognition for his
work Stephen was enrolled into the Directors College at Stanford Law
School in 2005. Stephen stepped down in 2006 to return to Europe.
In 2006 Stephen took the role of CEO at troubled software giant Micro
Focus. Prior to Stephen’s appointment, Micro Focus revenues had
significantly declined. Stephen led the transformation from internal
focus to a market driven culture, from decline to a growth
culture. During Stephen’s tenure, Micro Focus achieved
year-on-year double digit organic growth, overall tripled revenues,
raised EBITDA margins from 20% to 40%, added $1bn to the market cap and
completed 7 acquisitions with rapid integration and consistent culture
& values around the globe. Micro Focus is now a top 200 UK public
company by market value.
Stephen has also found time in his busy schedule to spearhead the IT
Manifesto to the UK Government, which launched in Parliament and
outlines the policies needed for a thriving science & technology
industry. He is a regular and sought after keynote speaker at events
including Venture Capital and PE Forums, International Forums and
visiting MBA lectures.
Stephen is an honours graduate of Business Administration from Bath
University and currently holds a number of board advisory positions.
Simon Wheeldon
CEO
Simon is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of CloudApps.
Prior to founding CloudApps, Simon spent 4 years at Salesforce.com leading the adoption of the pioneering Force.com platform across EMEA. Under Simon’s guidance the Force.com platform in Europe grew to be a multi-million dollar business.
With over 20 years experience in the software industry, Simon was responsible for the widespread sales and adoption of the Force.com platform, allowing Salesforce.com’s more than 82,000 customers and 2 million subscribers to build their very own Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications.
Prior to joining Salesforce.com Simon was responsible for the financial services business at Siebel Systems in the UK. Previously, he has held senior positions at BusinessObjects and Accenture.
Simon has a BSc in Computer Science from Bristol University. He is married with two children and lives in Oxfordshire, UK.
