Master and Wardens taking office October 2010

The Information Technologists' Company was granted livery status in 1992, becoming the 100th livery company of the City of London.

Ken Olisa OBE - Master

Ken started his IT career as an IBM scholar at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. He worked for IBM and Wang before founding Interregnum, the technology merchant bank, in 1992. His charitable and public service work includes chairing a homeless charity, the Thames Reach Bondway, and being a governor of the Peabody Trust.

Ken retired from Interregnum in 2006 and now runs a boutique technology merchant bank – Restoration Partners.

His current public company appointments include Directorships at (where he is a member of the Audit Committee and a member of the Board of the Reuters Foundation) and Canadian software developer – Open Text Corporation (where he Chairs the Remuneration Committee).

In addition he serves on the Board of, or is an adviser to, several privately held and innovative companies including BioWisdom and Metapraxis.

Jonathan Soar - Senior Warden

Jonathan graduated from City University in 1987 with a BSc (Honours) in Philosophy and Economics. He then trained as a software engineer, working at a Central London software house, before moving into sales for the company's Banking and Finance Division. In 1990, with two former colleagues, he started a City of London-based computer consultancy, Iconics, which specialised in writing bespoke software systems for international investment banks and providing related IT consultancy services. Jonathan left the company in 2003 to concentrate on strategic and sales consultancy before branching into coaching three years later. He has been a full-time executive coach since May 2006.

Jonathan became a Freeman of the Information Technologists' Company (ITC) in 1994 and a Court Liveryman two years after that. He served on the Events Panel from 1995 to 2006, as Secretary for 8 years, then as Chairman. He is a Freeman of the City of London and a Member of the British Computer Society (MBCS).

Michael Grant - Junior Warden

Michael recently retired from the position of Clerk to the Information Technologists’ Company and has now been installed as the Junior Warden. Amongst his other duties as a Warden, Michael represents the ITC as a member of the Financial Services Group, alongside eleven other modern Livery Companies. They jointly assist the Lord Mayor by providing access to expertise and experience for the planning for his outbound and inbound visits across the world.

Michael frequently attends State and other visits to the City, dressed in his armour, as a Pikeman of the Company of Pikemen and Musketeers, the Lord Mayor’s private bodyguard. He can also often be seen either as Chairman of IT conferences on both sides of the Atlantic or as a Master of Ceremonies at such industry events as the eGovernment Awards and the Intellect Annual Ball.

Michael is also an Honoury Freeman of the Guild of Public Relations Practitioners.

During his career Michael has managed his own European IT recruitment company, spent some twenty five years as either an International Marketing or Corporate Communications VP/Director for such companies as Prime Computer, Commodore, Lotus Development, ICL and Gateway, and as an Advertising and PR consultant for Wang. During this period he has spent time living in Boston USA, Dublin and Australia- and for most of these years, three days a week on an airplane (including over 320 visits to the US!).

Tom Ilube - Panels Warden

Tom is Chair of Governors of Hammersmith Academy, the Information Technologists' Company (ITC) sponsored school due to open its doors in September 2011.

He was previously a Governor of Lilian Baylis Technology School, also sponsored by the ITC and has been actively involved in education for a number of years.

Tom is a technology entrepreneur. He is Managing Director of Callcredit Consumer Markets and previously was Founder/CEO of Garlik, the online identity company and CIO of Egg plc, the online bank.

Charles Hughes - Deputy Master

Charles Hughes is Deputy Master of the Information Technologists’ Company, the 100th City of London Livery Company. He has been a Freeman of the Company since 1996, has chaired several committees, and is currently leading the team seeking a Royal Charter for the Company. His theme for the year is “professional values”.

In his 40 year career in the IT industry Charles has had wide ranging roles, including board level appointments in Australia, Germany and the USA as well as in the UK. He worked for ICL and in 1999 he founded eManagement to provide strategic and project services to central government and industry.

He has successfully guided cultural and organisational changes through major projects in both the private sector and government. In the 1990s he was project director at the Department for Trade and Industry where he developed and launched the Information Society Initiative.

Charles was President of the British Computer Society and initiated and championed the Professionalism in IT programme. He has been a council member of the Institute for the Management of Information Systems, chairman of the Real Time Club and is a council member of the Parliamentary IT Committee. In 2009 he was honoured by the International Federation for Information Processing for his work on the international programme for IT professionalism.

Charles was educated at Stockport Grammar School, founded in 1487 by a Lord Mayor of London and probably the oldest school associated with a livery company (Goldsmiths), and is a mathematics graduate of the University of Manchester. He is married to Beverley, has a son and daughter and in his spare time enjoys sport, food and wine, travel and philately.