Duncan Watkins
Duncan gets close to his customers. He likes to help people, look beyond symptoms, find problems, and solve them. You might think he should be a doctor, but the ailments that Duncan solves are all about organisation, IT, ITSM, Experience, Transformation, and more. He’s a regular at ITSM industry events, often presenting. And he is not bitter. He like his beer, and he likes it.. sour. (I know, weird huh?).
Favourite Drink: Sour Beer
Simon Wardley
Wow, Simon is a firehose of words and thoughts and insight and strategy and landscapes and doctrine and principles! And maps! No matter the complexity, Simon is never lost, he always knows where he is and where to go next. And at the end of every day, Simon knows how to get to the most important thing of all, which, for him, is a nice hot cup of Earl Grey tea. Delicious.
Favourite Drink: Earl Grey Tea
Lisa Thomson
It must be exhausting starting a startup consultancy that provides HR services to startups and small tech companies. There probably isn’t enough time to focus on HR services for employees of your HR consultancy. Luckily Lisa’s company has a parent company that provides HR services to her company that provides HR services to other companies. Imagine if one of Lisa’s clients was actually the parent company, then she’d have a fully cyclical HR stream where she can finally sit back, relax and enjoy a well earned glass of prosecco!
Favourite Drink: Glass of prosecco
Sherry Bevan
Sherry is driven by a passion to help people become better leaders, with her focus, especially on women leaders, gender pay equality, and all things supporting women in tech. She’s a coach, a speaker, a podcast coach, a president, a trustee, and more. She also likes an ice-cold glass of white wine and was another great podcast guest!
Favourite Drink: Ice cold glass of white wine
Alan Nance
Alan is deeply immersed in the art and science of Experience. If you want to know anything about the new Experience Economy or XLAs or want to adopt an Experience Optimization Framework… Alan is your man. He also likes to get deeply immersed in a Gin and Tonic, which - of course - also provides a great experience, as long as you don’t drink too much. Thanks for coming on the podcast Alan!
Favourite Drink: Gin and Tonic
Jeffrey Tefertiller
Jeffrey is a passionate guy, full of words and excitement. Author of 5 books, a YouTuber, podcaster, digital transformer, and a trusted advisor. Need to manage your assets? Jeffrey is your man! How does Jeffrey get the energy to generate all that content and advice and guidance and consulting and more? I think it comes from all the highly sugared and caffeinated Southern Iced Tea that Jeffrey loves. We loved having him on the podcast, he was a great asset!
Favourite Drink: Highly sugared and caffeinated Southern Iced Tea
Sandra Whittleston
Sandra is passionate about education! She is on a mission to bring service management into higher (degree) education in the UK, and probably, given the opportunity, the rest of the world, and beyond. As her twitter bio says - education sets you free. Well, we certainly did learn a lot from our podcast with Sandra, so we are all freer than we were before! Thanks Sandra, now you can go and enjoy a well deserved golden Ale!
Favourite Drink: Golden Ale
Rob Akershoek
● Rob sees the big picture and the interconnectedness of all things. (That reminds me of the Douglas Adams book ‘Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency’, which is not his best work IMO). Anyway, if you are looking for an operating model advisor, an IT4IT architect, a good discussion about agile and value streams, or a public speaker, Rob is your man. You’ll find him - ideally - on a greek island, enjoying an ice cold beer, or on one of the links here. Great podcast Rob, thanks for guesting with us!
Favourite Drink: Ice cold beer
Dave Van Herpen
Dave describes himself as a Certified Master in Sticky Notes and Inflatable Pipelines. Pretty cool. When not sticking and inflating, he consults, coaches and trains. And like to play ball games, mostly in the Netherlands. His LinkedIn profile looks just a tiny bit like Hopper from Stranger Things, but there was nothing strange about having Dave on the podcast. Thanks for guesting!
Favourite Drink: Dutch IPA
Suresh GP
Suresh is an Entrepreneur, a Leader, an Ambassador, a Coach, a Managing DIrector and a top influencer. He certainly influenced us on the importance of Site Reliability Engineering, which needs a clear mind and a level head. Which is a guaranteed outcome if your drink of choice is a clear - not cloudy - lemonade. With ice. Refreshing and energising… just like a podcast with Suresh!
Favourite Drink: clear - not cloudy - lemonade with ice
David Wright
David is Chief Value and Innovation Officer at the Service Desk Institute. A well-known and talented event host, presenter, and communication wizard, you can always rely on David to come up with interesting opinions, facts, and figures. And jokes too. Lots of jokes. When not quoting facts, figures, and opinions with a welsh accent, his mouth can be found consuming a Negroni cocktail, or perhaps a homely Welsh ale. Sometimes both at once, but since we only put one drink here on the bar, we’ll go with the Negroni. Thanks for being on the show David!
Favourite Drink: Welsh Beer
David Ratcliffe
David’s accent suggests he is originally from Sunderland way back in his roots, then he spent some time in Reading in the UK, but has now for many years been the leader of a troop of Pink Elephants that are teaching the world about ITIL, DevOps, Lean and Org Change. You can see all the Pink Elephants at the annual conference circus in Vegas where they sing, dance, and teach people the difference between Incidents and Requests. All this, directed by David from his secret castle high up in the mountains of Canada where I imagine he sits, stroking a white cat on his lap while drinking a perfect Manhattan on the rocks.
Evil genius or saviour of the IT service world? You decide!
Favourite Drink: Manhattan on the rocks, With Rye Whisky and Vermouth and ice-cubes
Matthew Burrows
Matthew is all about skills, knowledge and competency, and knows more about SFIA than most. He lives by the sea which is probably lovely. I would like to live by the sea. Matthew also collects accreditations. He is accredited as a consultant, assessor, trainer and a member. Also as a President which is pretty impressive. He is not bitter, unlike his favourite drink which is. Any bitter ale. Any one will do. He is probably sitting by the sea, right now, enjoying a pint of bitter with great skill and competence. Thanks for coming on the podcast Matthew
Favourite Drink: No brand name. Just a pint of bitter.
Karen Ferris
Do you come from a land down under, where women glow and men plunder? Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? You better run, you better take cover. now also made it as a guest on the Enterprise Digital Podcast. That’s worthy of a glass of fine champagne!
Favourite Drink: A glass of champagne please.
Tim Flower
Tim’s a Director of Business Transformation at Nexthink. He’s also a proactive IT guy, a podcast host and - according to Twitter - a reformed IT arsonist! (I wish we’d asked him about that one). Anything around Digital Experience gets Tim’s fire started these days, and the only thing that can put that fire out is a Jack Daniels (if he’s riding his Harley), or a fine smooth red wine. Thanks for coming on the podcast Tim!
Favourite Drink: Jack Daniels and Californian Cabernet
Greg Sanker
Greg is full of energy and overflowing with good words about about senior IT leadership, CIOs, change, transformation, and a cheeky little bit of governance given half the chance. And, if not one of those then it’s increasingly all about Employee Experience. And, as well as that, he does a bit of public speaking too. He’s a busy man. When not leading, changing, writing and speaking, he likes to kick back with a tall glass of Pale Ale. (Honestly, I’m not sure what he sees in Pale Ale myself, but it seems to work for Greg).
Favourite Drink: Surprisingly, it’s… a North West Pale Ale!
Alan Berkson
Alan’s Twitter bio says ‘I like to stir the pot. Often I make a mess. But sometimes I get soup.’ I like that a lot, although personally I’m not a fan of pea soup. Alan, however, is a fan of a Pisco Sour when he is not stirring up a delicious and nutritious analyst relations soup over at Freshworks (where he can be found under the label Director of Global Analyst Relations. He also calls himself an asker of questions, although on this podcast he spent more time answering them than asking. Thanks for guesting with us Alan!
Favourite Drink: Pisco Sour
Paul Wilkinson
Paul is a passionate finger-pointer, speed talker and is also business development director at Gaming Works He loves a good simulation, is very good with his ABCs, and has recently taken to polishing up old good concepts into shiny new things. It also looks like he may be a fan of a boozy breakfast, since his favourite beer is a breakfast stout. Personally, if I started every day with a bottle of Stout, then I am sure my Attitude and Behaviour would also both change pretty quick.
Favourite Drink: Paul likes Kentucky Breakfast Stout (it's a beer).
Sally Bogg
Sally is a tea drinking, straight talking, no-prisoner-taking, proud northern lass with a keen interest in Health Tech, Customer Service Excellence and Higher Education. Also she is Head of Live Services at NHS Digital, so, you know, pretty darn important. All the UK health apps and dashboards and stats and services …. Yeah, that’s Sally. Carrying that burden on her shoulders while retaining a smile and a spring in her step is impressive, and I suspect that comes from her love of her favourite drink - a gin and ginger-beer. A big Cheers! to Sally and all the NHS health pros for their work over the COVID pandemic. Drinks all round!
Favourite Drink: Gin and Ginger Beer - Rhubarb Gin with a ginger beer
James Finister
James is Practice Partner at Tata Consultancy Services and author of many industry bodies, including at least one ISO (38500). Also a lifetime achievement award winner. So he knows a thing or two. And, when not strategizing, it is rumoured that James has a keen interest in trains. He also likes a glass or two of port. Ho ho ho!
Favourite Drink: A bottle of tawny port.
Ian Aitchison
Ian is VP Product Management at Nexthink and also chats about things a lot with Barclay. As cohost on the podcast, I guess he is probably one of the barmen behind the bar. And when he gets a break from serving delicious exotic drinks to our wise and insightful guests, he likes a mojito, sitting by the water as the sun sets. Yeah man.
Favourite Drink: Mojito ! By the water as the sun sets.
Ryan Ogilvie
Ryan is a Service Management Consultant at Blackfriar Consulting based in Calgary in Canada. But he also is owner of a tiny square patch of land somewhere in Scotland which we think might make him some form of remote internet Laird (although I suspect many native Scot Lairds might be keen to debate that). Keeping the scottish theme, Ryan loves to relax after a hard days consulting with a good neat Scotch whiskey,.
Favourite Drink: A nice glenlivet whiskey, neat.
Ivor Macfarlane
Ivor is a industry pillar and an international treasure. Now gently enjoying a glass of fine red wine in the portuguese sunshine, Ivor has previously been the brains and guidance behind service management industry best practices for many years, and is proud holder of a lifetime achievement award. If it’s sage advice, good experience or opinions on best practice you are looking for, then, Ivor is your man.
Favourite Drink: A nice Aletejo portuguese red wine!
Matt Beran
Matt is an extrovert. He is also is a product marketing specialist, and has spent some time being an experience architect which sounds really cool as well. He knows ServiceNow well, but he is now bringing his energy, experience and charm to Invgate. His bio says that he ‘says hard things and has a broad attention span’. So expect a very long conversation where he breaks bad news, very enthusiastically’. He also invents his own cocktails. Nice job Matt!
Favourite Drink: A Tamarind Margarita. (A self-designed masterpiece. Sounds really nice).
Nathan McDonald
Nathan is a director and service management expert at Deloitte. As well as that, he’s also on the ITSMf board of directors, he’s an agile practitioner and a DevOps enthusiast. So, clearly a busy guy. But never too busy to enjoy a glass of champers with his girlfriend, who appears to have expensive - but excellent - taste.
Favourite Drink: Champagne, a Veuve Clicquot.
Rob England
Rob is lucky enough to live in Middle Earth. Well, New Zealand, but it’s pretty much the same thing. He’s moved from a position of IT skepticism to embracing Humanistic Ways of Working. And he loves being agile. I guess that means he’d be pretty nimble if he was chasing you across the mountains to give you a warm and caring hug. All that agility is probably also enhanced by his love of Vietnamese coffee.
Favourite Drink: Vietnamese coffee
Jon Hall
Jon is really lucky, he lives by the seaside. When he is not making amazing software products with BMC, he can be found with his two kids rock-pooling on the beach. Sometimes though, apparently he also exists in a liminal state (yeah, go look it up) somewhere between DevOps and ITSM. I think it’s more likely that his liminal state is induced by his love of malt whiskey. Or whisky.
Favourite Drink: Whiskey.
Mark Smalley
Mark is a wise chap. He writes, speaks, trains and build bridges, and can be found using the title ‘The IT Paradigmologist’ which I’m pretty sure is not a real word or job title you’ll be able to look up in Glassdoor. However, it sounds cool, and matches Mark’s deep and thoughtful approach to IT and business and … paradigms, I guess. When not paradigmising (see what I did there), he loves a nice cup of tea. I imagine with a biscuit as well.
Favourite Drink: Tea. Indian chai masala.
Kevin J Smith
Kevin J Smith is not Kevin Smith the movie maker. Instead, this Kevin leads the IT Transformation Institute, consults on service management, writes books related to IT and humanity, and really likes a bourbon. (The drink, not the biscuit). He believes in the potential of humanity, and also used to work at Nasa. So possibly a rocket scientist as well. Cool huh?
Favourite Drink: Whiskey. Bourbon. Bookers, neat, at room temperature
Darren Rose
Darren is a real person doing real work. He is Central Services Operations Director at VINCI Construction UK, and also a big fan of the Big Lebowski. I don’t know his opinion on bowling, or golf, but I do know that just like The Dude in that very cool movie, Darren loves a white russian.
Favourite Drink: A White Russian
Shane Carlson
Shane used to be a prison guard. Now he is a Leader, Advisor and enterprise architect at ServiceNow. Also he is a driver... of Digital Enablement. He understands the importance of a good experiences, whether for employees or customers. And his favourite experience of all is probably chugging a few well aged bourbons. Don’t ask for a JD and coke though. That would get you sent to bourbon jail.
Favourite Drink: A well aged bourbon
Charles Araujo
Charlies loves a bit of transformation. Particularly any Digital or Business Transformation. He likes to write about it and talk about it. He’s a best selling author, and a keynote speaker, And he’s got an Institute too. He’s also a very sharp dresser, always looking immaculate. So you won’t be surprised to hear that he loves a glass of fine wine, but for the podcast bar he recommends a cocktail. I don’t know if he is inclined to any personal transformation himself after drinking all that wine and many cocktails, but I doubt it.
Favourite Drink: An Old Fashioned. (Or, an Aperol Spritz)
Stuart Rance
Stuart is an IT service management and information security consultant, author & trainer. Also the owner of Optimal Service Management Ltd, and his pronouns are He/him. He’s wise and thoughtful in all areas except for ‘dress’, where he insists on wearing the most extraordinary garish primary colour combinations. He might be colour blind, or perhaps he’s just drunk too much of his favourite drink… a single malt whisky.
Favourite Drink: Islay malt, like Lagavulin.
Mauricio Corona
Doctor Mauricio lovest technology, business and especially robots. He is rumoured to live in a volcano on an island full of robots, where he works on his not-evil masterplan to launch a wave of robot drones to enhance our working lives. If you want to learn about robots, RPA, AI, automation and service management, Mauricio is your man. Just be sure to buy him a cognac.
Favourite Drink: Cognac (Hennessey ideally)
John Custy
John is an educator, consultant and trainer in leadership and service management. Not only that, he is also a lifetime achievement award winner and drinker of a traditional classic cocktail. He clearly lives up to his reputation as a Service Management Ninja - although we’ve not yet seen evidence of his ability to spring silently and disappear into the night without a trace.
Favourite Drink: A Sidecar. Classic 1920’s drink
Stephen Mann
Stephen is from Yorkshire, but has still been known to buy drinks at the bar… His favourite drink (once pushed) is Southern Comfort and Diet Coke, as a means to get merry with flexibility..? (his words) Stephen is a doyen of vinyl and 80s popular music, and can be seen searching enthusiastically through the back catalogue of Kajagogoo albums of a weekend…
Favourite Drink: Southern Comfort and Diet Coke
Simone Jo Moore
Simone is a Mixologist & Human API. Also a Service Management Thought Leader who likes to connect, share, discover & realise. Speaker, Consultant, Trainer, Writer & Mentor. She used to be a soldier, and also knows never to stick her finger in a rockpool.
Favourite Drink: A margarita. With the right tequila.
Troy du Moulin
Troy is Canadian. Not only that, he is also VP, Research & Development at Pink Elephant, and an Author and Industry Speaker. He sports a mean mustache, and is a veritable firehose of industry wisdom and knowledge To stop himself thinking too deeply, Troy will often enjoy a nut brown ale. And a pie!
Favourite Drink: Any craft beer. A pie and a pint.
Ken Gonzalez
Ken Gonzales is many things. Most visibly he is Senior Director and Executive Advisor on the Peer and Practitioner Research team covering Infrastructure and Operations at Gartner. Impressive huh? He is also a pilot, a musician, and a guaranteed source of goodwill and enthusiasm. That goodwill always increases exponentially as he consumes his favourite beverage -which is 'a good belgian' apparently.
Favourite Drink: Monkless Belgian Beers, especially The FNG.
Doug Tedder
Articulate and witty, Doug offers his consulting services around progressive IT leadership. His linkedin profile tells us that 'Better IT means Better Business - ITIL® ,VeriSM™, Lean IT, ESM, SIAM™, Agile SM', so he clearly also loves an acronym or two. His impeccable taste includes fine whisky - a WRB of course.
Favourite Drink: Woodford Reserve Bourbon
David Cannon
David is a leading writer and consultant in the service management world. ITIL contributor, public speaker and all round excellent chap. So excellent in fact that he felt compelled to recommend two drinks not one. Thanks David!
Favourite Drink: Summer : Moscow Mule, Winter : Dark and Stormy
Dan Turchin
Dan is a highly experienced product leader and entrepreneur in the automation and AI area. Entrepreneurial leader passionate about building great teams that build great products that solve hard problems that change lives. And he's CEO at PeopleReign. What a busy guy!
Favourite Drink: Quarantini…. A martini consumed over a Zoom call
Roy Atkinson
Roy Atkinson is one of the top influencers in the service and support industry, with an international reputation. His expertise been featured by The Economist, Social Media Today, Computerworld, BizTech Magazine, and many others. In May, 2020, Nextiva included him in its list of "The Top 50 Customer Service Experts of the Decade (2010-2020). And he is another whisky drinker.
Favourite Drink: Deep peaty Scotch… Lagavulin
