I’m pleased to announce that as of this week, I’ve joined Glean as their Chief Technology Officer.
I’ve been looking for a longer-term project to get my teeth stuck into for a short while now. Technology for Good has long been an area of focus for me. Over the years, I’ve accrued vast knowledge in the digital education sector through various projects and initiatives. So, when the conversation began with Glean about joining them to help push the product forward and ultimately expand to more territories, I was immediately interested.
It all started with a trip to the pub with my good friend Rich McIntyre, whom I’ve known for many years through the vibrant Leeds digital scene and back when I worked at Sky helping them set things up at Leeds Dock. I mentioned to Rich that I was looking for a more significant project to focus on over the next few years. By complete chance, Rich had known Glean was looking for someone to take the helm of the technology side of the business as they set their sights on expansion and further products. After meeting Dave Tucker and Dave Sankey, the CEO and COO of Glean, it became clear that we were culturally aligned and had a lot of things in common. Following many rounds of conversations a few weeks ago, I agreed to join the company as its CTO.
Education, or more precisely, accessible learning, is fundamental to how I approach everything surrounding Hey! Presents. For the last ten years, I’ve spent my time growing a conference brand that puts the community first, establishing friendly, approachable events that allow anyone to understand more about a topic. There are considerable similarities in the mission Glean has with what I’ve been doing with Hey! Presents. They are creating a suite of tools to help people learn in a way that works for them. Whether with assistive technology that streamlines note-taking or making tools that completely unlocks learning for those with more severe impairments, the challenge of designing technology that supports different use cases in this way excites me.
It was important to me that working with Glean wouldn’t conflict with my responsibilities of running the conference and supporting the community. They’ve been incredibly positive and supportive towards what I’m doing in that space. Glean has also offered to support the All Day Hey! conference in the future through sponsorship and indirect means, so I’m confident that, if anything, the quality and consistency of production will only benefit from my relationship with them.
I’m excited to get to know the team better over the coming months and get stuck into some of the challenges ahead. It would have been hard to find a better company to do that with.
Glean is an EdTech company with a unique mission to improve people’s ability to learn, no matter their environment, and we’ve built a culture where collaborative people can do their best work.