My interest in data goes right back to my mid-teens. During a general ICT course at college, the module I was most excited about was databases. I didn't understand how they worked, but I desperately wanted to — and that curiosity never went away.
The course ultimately focused more on web development, shaping the early part of my career, but the intrigue around data, structure, and insight has stayed with me ever since. It's always been an itch I wanted to properly scratch.
Data has been central to every role I've held.
I spent years buried in Google Analytics — analysing behaviour, creating dashboards, and producing reporting for senior leadership long before I joined the board myself.
In a wider commercial role, my involvement in analytics deepened. I designed and delivered a loyalty programme, taking responsibility for segmentation, reporting, data migration, data quality, governance, and system integration.
In 2020, while the business was on furlough, I built the organisation's entire Power BI architecture from the ground up. I designed and managed the full ETL layer using dataflows, built dozens of operational dashboards (sales, footfall, conversion, customer, HR, technology), and delivered a comprehensive board-level reporting app spanning retail, merchandising, marketing, HR, and technology.
One of the most relevant projects I led was a machine learning initiative focused on forecasting sales and improving inventory movement. Delivered through the UK Government's KTP programme, it was awarded the highest possible grade — and the resulting academic paper was later published in a leading US journal:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0957417424030677
In the first phase of my career, my motivation was to reach senior leadership — and I was fortunate enough to achieve that. After delivering a large in-house ERP solution and modern data platform, I realised I had completed everything I set out to do in that role.
I wanted a new challenge — something that re-energised me. I've always been most fulfilled when working directly with data and solving problems hands-on, so I made the decision to step away from senior leadership to focus exclusively on data.
Absolutely not. In fact, I'm genuinely looking forward to it.
I'm excited to be more technical, more hands-on, and more focused on building meaningful solutions. I don't see this as a step down — I see it as a reset toward the work I enjoy most. .