Letter from Chair Judge - James Morgan, Telefonica O2
Hard work has its rewards
Persuading your company to invest in its data assets is always a challenging task. In current circumstances it can seem almost impossible. So any organisation or individual who has achieved the feat of getting the board to back data quality, build a single customer view or improve its acquisition process is worthy of applause.
That is what the Data Strategy Awards are all about. They give public recognition to the hard work that all too often goes on unregarded in the back office, but which can have a significant impact right across a business.
Think about what organisations need and want to do this year – retain customers, reduce risk, cut costs, improve return on investment. Data supports all of those, provided it is fit for purpose, properly supported and deployed in a timely way.
If you have been one of those people responsible for getting a data programme up and running in your company, you’ll know all about the difficulties. So why not make one last, small effort and enter your work?
There is a lot of peer group approval to be had. And there can also be something even more important – a benchmark of your efforts to take back to the business as a way of showing them that they did the right thing.
Finding positives in a recession is never easy. So if you have beaten the market, it’s time to pick up your trophy
Overall Chair of Judges:
 | James Morgan, Head of Data and Programme Management, Telefonica O2
James heads up the team which provides the marketing data warehouses and programme/project management used in O2’s CRM activity. He acts as a critical interface between the CRM and Marketing functions, technical team and external partners. James also works closely with the O2 change process, to ensure CRM can support all new activity from systems changes to product and new service launches. His main focus at the moment is on the implementation of information governance, an enterprise data warehouse and the creation of a Business Intelligence Competency Centre, which involves company-wide alteration of people, process and technology
He has worked at O2 since 2005, following spells at Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia), Flexirent Pty (Australia), British Sky Broadcasting and Thorn UK. A trained RAF Flying Officer, James holds a BSc in Environment Sciences and has experience across a wide range of business intelligence systems and applications. |
Session Chairs:
 | Chris Duncan, Director of Customer Value, News International
Originally working for American Express in Australia, Chris joined Alchemetrics Ltd in 1997. He held a number of client facing and technical roles within the company prior to being appointed Managing Director in 2003. In 2006 he formed Infoloop, a consultancy practice specialising in making customer insight work for business. He joined News International as Director of Customer Data in 2007. His work across sectors and clients has also led to work with the DMA Data Council and he is a current lecturer for the IDM and a sitting member of the IDM Data Council. He is married with nearly two children. |
 | Nick Martin, Leader of the Information Products Division, Acxiom
Nick Martin is Managing Director of Acxiom UK and is responsible for Consumer Insight Products strategy and business operations for EMEA and APAC. Nick previously worked as Managing Director for Mardev (Part of Reed Elsevier - a Fortune 500 company), an international B2B marketing services firm specialising in solutions that improve business targeting, marketing and sales performance. Prior to that, he worked at International Data Corporation, developing research programmes for the high technology sector, before being recruited to set up Harte-Hanks’ UK CRM business in the early 1990s.
He writes a monthly column for Direct Marketing International and is published in The Journal of Interactive Marketing. He is on the Advisory Board of the DMA. |
 | Jonathan Boase, WW Director, HP Business Intelligence Solutions
Jonathan is a WW Director for Business Intelligence Solutions in Hewlett Packard. He brings a wealth of experience to both his clients and to building HP's worldwide Business Intelligence and Data Management consulting capability. His experience spans over 22 years working for large organisations such as HP and Deloitte Consulting and small, specialist / start-up information management consulting companies. This gives him a particular perspective on balancing the need for agility and speed of execution with the pressure of large corporate processes and the need for simplification. |
 | Caroline Kimber, Head of Data Planning, Stephens Francis Whitson
When Caroline realised that what switched her on was not the big idea, but how well it worked and who was responding to it, it was clear that she needed to embrace her inner geek and stand proud as a data planner. Caroline spent several information-immersed years at data owner and analytics consultancy, CACI, where she was promoted to VP and headed up the Direct Marketing, Financial Services and E Business units; and Wegener, where she was Group Marketing Director. Believing strongly that data shouldn’t just be enjoyed by propeller heads, but should sit at the heart of planning and proactively drive all customer-focused marketing activity, Caroline decided to defect to the agency side; joining SFW in May 2008. |
 | Bertrand Labays, General Manager Customer Data and Analytics, TUI Travel
Bertrand Labays has been involved with customer data and data analysis for more than 10 years. After 4 years spent in France looking after segmentation and data analysis for mail order companies Verbaudet and Cyrillus (part of the PPR group), Labays joined Thomson to look after data planning and data analysis as part of the CRM team. In 2004 he was promoted to Marketing Database Manager and developed the Customer Single View marketing database that went live in May07. This customer centric system allowed Thomson to further develop highly personalised direct marketing communications. Now General Manager for Customer data and Analytics, Labays is responsible for CRM support and customer insight development for the newly created company TUI UK and Ireland, following the merger between Thomson and First Choice in 2007. |
 | Tony Lamb, Head of Data Development, Royal Mail Data Services
Tony is the Head of Data Development for Royal Mail and is responsible for the exploitation of commercial data assets and propositions within the organisation. Prior to this, Tony held a number of positions including running his own Data consultancy, being a board member of Wegener DM and launching Conduit Business Information. He is also member of the DMA’s Data Council. |
 | Jason Lark, Managing Director, Celerity Information Services
Jason is the founding director of Celerity Information Services. Founded in 2003, Celerity is a leading UK Data Management consultancy which continues to drive innovation in the industry as a result of challenging the conventional industry approach. Under Jason’s direction Celerity has grown in excess of 100% as a result of the deep understanding of the requirements of its clients requirements now and in the future. Jason is dedicated to making companies and organisations become more profitable through the intelligent use of their data and driving data intelligence to every customer touch point. Jason has worked in the direct marketing & data industry for over 23 years and his knowledge of data and the magic it holds within marketing and business operations marketing is extensive. |
 | Barry Leeson-Earle, Data Director, Acquity
Barry Leeson-Earle is a founder of Acquity, a leading customer insight agency.
With twenty years of data experience behind him, Barry has created an independent strategic data services consultancy within the agency, focused on delivering customer insight. He has integrated key elements of the data journey; processing and hosting, modelling, and insight and analytics, to a single point of service.
Barry has built upon his pioneering use of marketing prospect databases with the development of Acquity’s unique customer profiling system Continuum; a vast ‘true view’ intelligence data source which closely monitors and analyses customer behaviour patterns in a way that means Acquity can truly claim to know your customer. Continuum was rolled out earlier this year and is being used by a range of clients.
Barry Leeson-Earle sits on the Institute of Direct Marketing’s Data Council and is a member of the Suppression Providers Alliance. |
 | Steve Mattey, Managing Director, Tree
Steve has 25 years experience in data analysis. He has worked as both the client and agency-side in every industry sector and in every continent for international agency groups. In 2001, Steve co-founded data and research consultancy Tree. Tree works for blue-chip clients creating insight using leading edge data analysis and psychological techniques. Tree became part of the Cagney Group of communication companies in 2007. Steve became CEO of Cagney Group in 2008, which is devoted to driving creativity in communications based on insight and technology-led methods. |
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| Isabelle McFadden, Client Director, the pH Group
Isabelle first started her career in IT services, mainly helping large Banking and Insurance corporations implement efficient IT systems. Of French nationality, in 2001 she made a more marketing-orientated move, by becoming Head of Marketing and Communications for the Services Division of the French global IT provider Bull. She has been organizing the group’s strategic account planning and direct marketing campaigns, which triggered her interest for “making data speak”. Even more so, seeing it a few years later from a sales perspective, when in 2005 she became in charge of Global Sales Management for the #1 Top Account of the company worldwide. Joining the pH Group in 2008 only seemed the natural outcome for this nurtured enthusiasm for data analysis. |
 | Sandy Munro, Director Strategy & Analytics, Intercontinental Hotel Group
Sandy Munro joined IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) as Director, Strategy and Analytics, EMEA in August 2007. He works in the Distribution marketing department at their global office in Denham. Before joining IHG, Sandy worked in financial services, marketing agencies and mobile telecoms. He worked at Leeds Permanent Building Society, then Carlson Marketing before moving to one2one. He was Director of Marketing at T-Mobile in the UK for three years before joining IHG.
During his career, Sandy has helped the organizations he has worked for improve their marketing and commercial activity by using data effectively. This begins with data collection and understanding its processing within the organization, through transformation into the analysis and reporting of this information. By turning data into customer insights he helped enable more effective and informed decision making. |
 | Iain Noakes, Managing Partner - Commercial Planning Practice, Draftfcb
Iain heads up heads Draftfcb’s Commercial Planning Practice developing insightful and pragmatic solutions to client marketing & communication problems through customer insights as well as advising clients on all aspects of data strategy and the practical implementation thereof. With over 15 years experience , he has extensive knowledge in developing tailored one-to-one strategy and tactics for both B2C and B2B markets that put data at the very heart of clients business needs. An advocate of data democratisation and practitioner in data visualisation techniques - he believes in today’s experience rich multi-channel world everyone is a data geek, some just don’t know it yet. |
 | Shaun Pitman, Head of Data, British Gas Business
Shaun Pitman joined British Gas Business in September 2003 as Head of Data having spent nearly a decade working within the world of data, both supplier and agency side. Within British Gas Business Shaun has developed an award winning data team that is responsible for data management, data planning and customer insight across core energy markets. Externally, Shaun is a member of the IDM Data Council, a judge for the DMA Awards and his efforts across the data industry have been formally recognised by peers and journalists with an entry in the UK Power 50 List for Data, 2007/08. |
 | Alan Thorpe, Commerical and Operations Director, G2 Data Dynamics
Alan joined G2 Data Dynamics in November 2003 from data management and marketing insights provider Kognitio. He manages the G2 Data Dynamics consultancy, account management and delivery teams, ensuring solutions are aligned with clients’ strategic goals and expectations.
Alan has fifteen years’ IT, marketing, financial services, project and operational management experience, completing successful assignments for:
• Norwich Union (Midas development & outsourcing)
• Commercial Union (GI Insurance Management)
• Fidelity Investments (Marketing Insight Solution)
• Prudential (Marketing Insight Solution and Data Consolidation)
• M & G (Data Consolidation)
• GE Capital (Customer Marketing Solution) |
 | Michael Toothill, Head of Data Management, Cancer Research UK
Michael heads up Data Management for Cancer Research UK’s Fundraising and Support Marketing directorate. He has been driving data-enablement for the charity for the past 8 years, leading a team of 21 data and project specialists. He is responsible for 7 databases that are used to manage relationships with over 8 million supporters, and are accessed by over 350 employees, spanning 21 business areas. Areas of experience include; database marketing & analytics, data maintenance (administration & data cleansing), database development, training & support, Service Management, and Project Management. A major focus has been Cancer Research UK’s Supporter Relationship Management Programme, which will deliver a Single Supporter View, connecting Siebel CRM to heritage database systems.
Previous roles have included Data Analyst at Saatchi & Saatchi Direct, and Data Operations Manager for b2b publisher Miller Freeman.
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