Speakers

Craig graduated in the summer of 1981 from the University of Surrey with a BSc. Hons in Chemical Engineering. He joined Shell as an IT programmer in London. Over the next 17 years, his career in IT management progressed and saw him spend 10 years as an expatriate in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Colombia. In 1998, he moved to KPMG as an Associates Partner to learn about other industries, cultures, and ways of working. In 2005, after what he describes as the best 6-year training course Shell let him go on, he returned in 2005 to Shell as CIO for the African Downstream businesses based in Cape Town. After 3 years he became Global CIO of Shell Trading and Shipping based in Houston, Texas and then, in 2014, became Global CIO of Shell Downstream based in London. He is a high energy leader who has spent most of his career leading large-scale digital transformations. As Global CIO of Shell Downstream business, his team delivered billions of dollars of savings and value, created new ways of working, enabled faster business strategy realisation and ultimately reduced the IT budget by 45%, creating more reliable and secure solutions, and delivering the next generation of transformative technology. While these global transformations were technology driven, they were highly business focused. His success can be attributed to recognising the complexities of large-scale change and including all the key stakeholders in business and IT to ensure a level of buy-in and energy such that they were able to fundamentally transform the businesses. He retired from Shell in 2020, and joined Salesforce as an SVP, Strategic Advisor to the office of the CEO, where he worked with c-suite to help them refine and deliver their business strategy. He advised hundreds of customers, building strong relationships and helping drive transformational change through bringing technology and people together. He has now retired for a second time and is now busier than ever having teamed up with five ex-KPMG colleagues, who have a lifetime of experience, knowledge and a track record of success, to create Veles Consulting which has the tag line “Our Experience, Your Success”. They are delivering a range of services including Strategic Business Advice, NED/Virtual Board Services, Company Review, Leadership Development ad Transformational programmes. He is enjoying working again with old friends and colleagues, and have since been joined by 35 Associates invited by the founders. He also chairs the Institute of Coding, which is dedicated to delivering free technical skills learning to disadvantaged people in the UK, is President of CIONET UK, one of the largest CIO communities, as well as participating on several advisory and executive boards. He has a passion for business, developing people, enjoying his family, travelling, good food and wine, and life.