The Team
Dave Knight
Managing Director
Dave has over 25 years experience in complex engineering programmes, largely in the defence and aerospace sector. He founded Igence in 1999 with the desire to prove that software development doesn't always need to end in failure!
After graduating in 1978, Dave joined Hawker Siddely as an engineering apprentice, later becoming a Project Engineer in the Future Projects Office. As a consultant systems engineer, Dave then worked with a wide range of companies including Marconi, Siemens-Plessey and Diehl GmbH.
Dave's current challenge is to grow the company whilst maintaining the flexibility and level of service that is normally only achieved by smaller companies. He firmly believes that the talents of his team are core to the company's success. He takes an active part in recruiting and developing the best talent available for the job.
Dave has a degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Queen Mary College, London and is a Chartered Engineer with the Royal Aeronautical Society.
Dave is married and has four children. He holds a lapsed Private Pilots Licence and would love to learn to fly helicopters. He has also recently discovered the joys of digging over a small vegetable patch and hopes eventually to produce something edible.
For more information, please have a look at:
http://uk.linkedin.com/in/davidjamesknight
Rob Goodbourn
Software Manager
Rob has been successfully developing and delivering software in high technology engineering sectors for more than 10 years. He joined Igence in 2003 as the team was starting to grow and has gone on to become involved in all aspects of the business including driving the software engineering to ever higher standards.
After graduating in 1996, Rob joined the software department at Racal Radar Defence Systems to work on their next generation radar projects. His disciplined nature and enthusiasm meant he was soon leading teams and getting involved in all areas of the department.
Having developed excellent software and leadership skills, Rob sought a broader challenge where he could make an even greater difference. This brought him to Igence where he knew he could maximise the potential of the software team and help shape the future of the company.
Rob oversees the full range of software development activities and strongly believes that the service a client receives is just as important as the software. To this end he is heavily involved with customer liaison and maintaining high quality standards, including Igence's ISO 9001 approved processes.
Rob has a BSc in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.
Rob has faced up to the fact that his chances of becoming a premiership footballer are diminishing. Instead he now concentrates his spare time on family, travel and photography.
Keith Ward
Radar Director
Keith has 30 years experience in radar research and development. He was educated at the Universities of Cambridge and Birmingham, and is currently Radar Director at Igence. He started his career at RSRE, Malvern in 1977, leaving in 1995 to found TW Research, which in 2008 merged with Igence.
His research interests include: radar sea scattering, target detection & clutter reduction, performance modelling & simulation, ocean imaging, automatic target identification, and SAR processing & motion compensation. In addition he has experience providing technical support for radar procurement projects and radar evaluation trials.
He has served as Honorary Editor of IEE Proceedings Part F, as a member of IEE professional group E15, on conference organising committees, and as chairman of TTCP KTP3. He has published over 100 reports and papers, a book on ‘Sea Clutter: scattering, the K distribution and radar performance’, and received the following awards: IEE Electronics Letters Premium 1981, and Mountbatten Prize 1990. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the IET and a member of the IEEE.
Keith lives with his wife in a converted barn on the western slopes of the Malvern Hills and likes to undertake DIY projects. However, for some reason many more of these get started than get finished.
Steve Folly
Principal Software Developer
Steve has been working in the software industry for over 19 years, over 9 of which have been with Igence. One of the few to not have gone to university and get a degree, he has managed to work his way up to his current position of Principal Software Developer at Igence.
His hobbies of photography and travel have taken him around the world, but he has yet to reach the popularity of the likes of Alan Whicker.
Neil Hankey
Neil has developed high-integrity software for almost a quarter of a century. His opportunity to join Igence came in 2005 and he was delighted to work in an environment tailor-made for developers alongside inspirational, genuine, guru-level people, with agile processes, to allow calmer software development that's fun again.
Neil graduated from the Sheffield University School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering in 1986 with a 2(i) B.Eng. (hons) degree, and then went to work for his sponsor (Dowty Group - aviation components manufacturers). Originally, he helped to design and develop brush-less d.c. motors and their control electronics; but, after a couple of years, switched to airborne software development. (Because it looked more fun.)
After 5 years with Dowty, Neil continued to work within the high-integrity software development field for Siemens-Plessey, Westland Helicopters, BAESYSTEMS, Smiths Industries, and Thales. For 11 years prior to joining Igence, he worked on a freelance basis.
Neil also holds the Diploma in Information Systems Development from the University of Westminster from 2 years of part-time study. (And, one day he may even do the project dissertation to convert it to their M.Sc. !) Since 1994, he has been a corporate member of the IET (formerly IEE) and is a registered C.Eng with the Engineering Council.
Neil's free-time centres around his wife, 2 teenage children, coaching school-children with science/maths, and walking with his whippet-labrador crossbred rescue-dog.
Charles Bailey
Charles is a keen and enthusiastic software developer who has a strong belief in the enormous benefits of getting the design right. He has a deep knowledge of C++ and extensive experience in C, Java, perl and python. He has also been known to dabble in lisp, C#, APL, Haskell, shell and various flavours of assembler.
He started his career in the web industry, helping create some of the first large scale e-commerce sites.
He continued to grow his development credentials in the Business Intelligence sector for Cognos where he developed the architecture for several products that had to work in high performance environments, dealing with large quantities of data. He was instrumental in ensuring that the code worked seamlessly across multiple operating system platforms and worked with RDBMS from multiple vendors.
Charles joined Igence in 2007 where he is focused on promoting software excellence throughout the whole development team. He also provides technical consultancy to Igence's clients and helps to promote Igence's reputation as a company built on strong technical skills and experience.
Charles is an active member of the wider development community and spoke at ACCU 2010 on the subject of testing and improving the memory performance characteristics of applications under development.
In his spare time, if he's not programming on his own pet projects or helping others with their programming problems on stackoverflow.com he might actually be found relaxing in his home cinema.
Nigel Scott
Nigel has over 20 years experience working as a software engineer for several companies on a wide variety of projects, ranging from embedded radar systems to website design.
Nigel is also well known for his unique combination of phobias, being a level 1 disposophobic (has issues with discarding electronic items), an adhesiphobic (a barely recognised fear of stickiness) and a cibotexurephobic (a made up name for a fear of food with multiple textures).
Daniel Callaway
Daniel began his career working as an aerospace apprentice with Smiths Aerospace while studying Computer Science at Bristol University. He graduated with a MEng 1st (hons) and began working with The Logic Group developing enterprise level Chip & Pin solutions.
Subsequent to this, and building on his love of research from his University thesis on computer vision, Daniel worked with Philips Research Labs to launch a start up hi-tech company (amBX) working with new entertainment technologies. This led to Daniel working around the world with leading games companies such as Ubisoft and Id Software producing exciting and innovative games.
Daniel joined Igence in 2009 and has brought his experience to the development of bespoke software for real-world applications. His favoured projects include 3D Simulation and anything using laser beams.
When not guzzling the office coffee supply, Daniel can be found either spending time with his family, working as a Youth Leader at his local church, or repairing the damage from his semi-successful DIY jobs.
For more information, please have a look at:
http://uk.linkedin.com/in/danielcallaway
Martine Goddard
Martine Goddard has worked in sales and marketing for over 20 years. Her experience ranges from telemarketing through to Managing Director working with small to medium sized companies, through to Corporate and Blue Chip clients.
Martine brings a wealth of experience to Igence software, working closely with the team on Business Development with new and existing clients, always looking for different opportunities and taking the expertise of the engineers into new market sectors.
When she is not working with the Igence team, Martine enjoys spending time with her menagerie of animals (a result of her children’s love of all animals, small and large), living in the beautiful Surrey Hills – lucky lady not only happy at home but also at work.
Pam Knight
Pam plays a huge part in the smooth running of Igence having worked with the company since its formation in 1999. Pam's role as a Director at Igence includes a number of important support functions for the team; Finance, Human Resources, Facilities Management and generally being there for us all! Pam brings a wealth of experience having worked in a number of Senior administrative and financial roles in both the Public and Private sector.
When Pam is not juggling her many jobs at Igence, she is looking after her 4 grown up children (well almost grown up!), her two cats and meeting with her huge circle of friends. Rumour has it that the many woollen jumpers worn by some members of the Igence team, have been knitted in Pam's spare time. She is truly a woman of many talents!
Will Benyon
Will joined Igence Software in 2007 as a Post Grad from Bournemouth University. In a break from his relaxing student days he undertook a placement year working for a leading displays engineering company, primarily working in the defence and simulation field. Since joining the Igence team, Will has worked on a number of projects in different areas such as defence, ticketing and radar and has become an invaluable member of the team.
Will has a great interest in music and is the owner of an extensive, diverse and in some instances embarrassing iTunes account. He particularly enjoys live music and takes every opportunity to go to gigs.
Stuart Prior
Stuart has been working with Igence for 4 years, joining the team from the world of Software Development in the Mobile Phone and Defence Industries. Stu brings a wealth of experience in a whole spectrum of software development, writing programmes in C++. He has established himself as a vital member of the team, demonstrating flexibility and the ability to adapt to whatever task is thrown at him!
In his spare time, Stu can be seen practising and taking part in "Lau Gar" which is derived from a form of boxing practiced at Kuei Ling Temple situated in Kong Sai Province in West China. Subsequently, Lau Gar has become Britain's most popular form of Chinese Kung Fu. Rumour has it that Stu is now at Yellow belt with black stripe, a very comforting fact for the Igence team!
Mark Young
Mark's background as a Naval Architect associated with the operation of diving support vessels and drilling rigs in the North Sea and around the world has given him a broad experience in complex projects. This, along with his long term experience in IT, which includes heading up the design and execution of software development projects, has equipped him for his role at Igence, for the management of verification and validation. He has also acted as a lead IT auditor under ISO 9001/90003 to TickIT standards ensuring deadlines are met and deliverables achieved to the satisfaction of customer.
Perhaps it was working in a marine industry with travel that inspired Mark to buy some land, renovate a lake, plant many hundreds of trees and create a wildlife haven. When not busy in the kitchen and tasting the wine, he does play about in boats, and enjoys wildlife holidays at home and abroad taking him to places that are the envy of his Igence colleagues, when he returns with his slide presentations!
Paul Shepherd
James Tasker
James is the most recent and welcome addition to Igence joining in 2011 after working for amBX UK Ltd. James was recruited to work on the various C++ projects running at Igence.
In his spare time he can be seen (and definitely heard) jamming on his electric guitar. Rumour has it that his favourite band is Iron Maiden and he is planning a lunchtime concert for the team very soon!
