Michael Blackstaff is a chartered accountant and a member of British Computer Society. He has finance, marketing and training experience in the IT industry and customers in many industries. He was a financial marketing specialist with IBM United Kingdom Limited, developing business projects, selling leasing, teaching salespeople the finance of selling and advising customers accounting for IT.

Chris is a Professor of Organisational Psychology at the University of Leeds, where he is Deputy Director of the Centre for Organisational Strategy, Learning and Change. Chris is also Co-Director of the Rolls-Royce University Technology Partnership for Design and Chairman of the Socio-technical Group of the British Computer Society, in addition to being a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Fellow of the British Computer Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Chris has published his work in 18 books and over 100 book chapters and articles in leading international refereed journals.

Dr Robert Hughes is currently a Principal Lecturer at the University of Brighton, authors, an active member of the British Computer Society (BCS) and is chair of the ISEB project management examination panel. Robert's areas of particular interests include software project management, software metrics and project risk. Over the years Robert has produced a number of books, articles and papers on these topics, including the classic text Software Project Management, published by McGraw-Hill, and for which a fifth edition is currently being prepared. A current developing area of interest is the interaction between IT and business need which is the subject of a book IT for business benefit to be published shortly by the BCS.

Monetical have collaborated with Paul Sloane to produce the Managing Innovation Audit. Paul is an acknowledged expert on innovation, creativity and lateral thinking in business. Paul took a first in Engineering at Cambridge. He joined IBM and was part of the team that launched the IBM PC in the UK. He went on to be MD of the database leaders, Ashton-Tate. He became VP International for MathSoft Inc. and CEO of Monactive Ltd. He founded Destination Innovation, a consultancy that helps develop innovation and leadership. He is head of the Innovation Unit at the British Quality Foundation.

Hugh is an experienced consultant and trainer in commercial negotiations, specialising in outsourcing engagements and IP acquisitions. Senior commercial negotiator in IBM’s Global Services division during a period of twelve years, prior to becoming freelance in 2005. During his time in IBM, Hugh developed a wealth of experience in sourcing and outsourcing during deal negotiations with customers in a wide variety of businesses. Currently working on a number of sourcing and outsourcing engagements across Europe.

Richard Blundel is a Senior Lecturer at Brunel University and a member of Brunel Research in Enterprise, Innovation, Sustainability and Ethics (BRESE). He has a background in public and private sector organisations, with roles including market research analyst for a small IT sector consultancy and corporate affairs manager for a large industrial company. Richard’s expertise lies in the role of inter-organisational networks in facilitating technological and organisational innovation, emerging models of entrepreneurship, and the growth process in firms and networks.