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- Jul 22, 2020
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Hello, my name is David Barnes and I am very pleased to meet you!
As a complete outsider to Nominet, it will hopefully help you in the forthcoming Nominet Exec Director election by providing some info.
You may wish to know why I am standing for election, and why should you vote for me? The information below will hopefully help to answer your questions. It would be really nice if you would just like to say hello (either here or direct contact links are below), or perhaps you would be willing to introduce yourself and share what’s on your mind with respect to Nominet and the wider industry?
If you are short on time, this 2 minute video sets out my reasons for standing and why you might consider voting for me: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3k2y65v6mwfytpj/David Barnes Nominet NED Election 2020.mp4?dl=0
You can contact me via Twitter (@askdavidbarnes) linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrbarnes/) or email [email protected].
To introduce myself and explain why I am standing for election, plus why you might wish to vote for me, please read on!
Why am I standing for election as a Nominet NED?
1. No conflicts of interest since I am not a member of Nominet. The NED role requires independent oversight and a constructive challenge to the executive directors, being independent enables me to carry out the role in an unbiased way.
2. Bringing experience from different industries, where I have helped businesses such as O2 and Thames Digital to improve their processes and IT systems. Businesses seem to like working with me because I ask dumb questions which sometimes turn out not to be so dumb! I also bring experience from other not for profit organisations, which has helped me appreciate the challenge to engage with members and provide a good member service.
3. Being a small business owner myself I can relate to many Nominet members who run their own businesses. It would be amazing to have the chance to engage with members / like-minded people to discuss all aspects of Nominet, both good and bad.
Ok assuming you haven’t given up the ghost, I've included the election statement below which also provides some detail about my past experience.
Election Statement and Past Experience
I am truly excited to stand as a candidate for the position of Nominet non-executive director to help to drive Nominet’s direction and success. Ideally, a non-executive director should have a background that mixes technology with business management, experience of different industries and business models, be approachable, open and objective to different ideas and points of view, plus have an attitude of rolling-up their sleeves and helping to make things happen.
I believe that my background and experience ticks these boxes. From my roots as a BSc (Hons) Computer Science graduate, the first part of my career was spent working for Boots The Chemist at their HQ in Nottingham for their Information Systems department. During this time I met one of your members, Bevan Clues. Bev and I worked together to launch the internet part of his business in the early 1990’s. The idea of the internet back then was simply amazing, and not many would have predicted the growth to this point today. My teenage kids think of me as one of the founders of the internet (and who am I to tell them otherwise!)
Since that time I’ve had the pleasure of running my own small business and working with a huge variety of businesses to help turn strategy into reality through digital transformation and improving ways of working. To summarise, the 00’s were spent with the likes of GlaxoSmithkline and Pfizer on large transformation projects plus Toyota Motor Europe on operational improvements. From 2010 to 2017 I moved with my wife and kids to Switzerland, working with Nestlé to develop and deploy a global approach to improving their business operations and technology (which is still going strong today).
In recent years, having returned to the UK, I have worked with a mixture of non-profits (the Institute of Physics), large commercial organisations (including Thames Water, Transport for London and Amey PLC) and also several SMEs ranging from nutritional supplement providers to Japanese knotweed eradication specialists!
I mentioned rolling-up-sleeves to make things happen, my skill as a facilitator is often utilised at a strategic level to help define the scope and direction of initiatives. I am also operationally focused, for example, running live workshops (on site and remotely) to define business processes and their performance such as on-boarding, product development, membership recruitment and retention to name but a few.
To be clear, I am not an expert in all these industries and processes. I’m usually engaged because of my impartiality, and because I excel at working with the relevant experts to help them to overcome a particular challenge.
The role of a non-executive director requires a good fit in both directions. The candidate should have respect and an understanding of Nominet’s history and their mission. Likewise, Nominet needs someone with competence, integrity, objectivity, enthusiasm and who can work effectively with people at senior and operational levels. I believe I meet this criteria and would be honoured to have the opportunity to work with such a great organisation.
If you made it this far, well thanks a lot for taking the time.
Kind regards,
David Barnes
As a complete outsider to Nominet, it will hopefully help you in the forthcoming Nominet Exec Director election by providing some info.
You may wish to know why I am standing for election, and why should you vote for me? The information below will hopefully help to answer your questions. It would be really nice if you would just like to say hello (either here or direct contact links are below), or perhaps you would be willing to introduce yourself and share what’s on your mind with respect to Nominet and the wider industry?
If you are short on time, this 2 minute video sets out my reasons for standing and why you might consider voting for me: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3k2y65v6mwfytpj/David Barnes Nominet NED Election 2020.mp4?dl=0
You can contact me via Twitter (@askdavidbarnes) linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrbarnes/) or email [email protected].
To introduce myself and explain why I am standing for election, plus why you might wish to vote for me, please read on!
Why am I standing for election as a Nominet NED?
- I have to “blame” my good friend and Nominet member Bev Clues from Clues Communications Ltd. While sitting in his garden having a nice coffee (socially distanced of course!) at the start of the summer he suddenly suggested that I should put myself forward for election, as he felt my general business experience would be really helpful for Nominet. I must say he really sold me very well the virtues of Nominet and after some research and forum reviews, plus sleeping on the idea for a few nights, I decided to give it a go.
- My passion for the internet started when I was introduced to the JANET university network in the late 80’s while studying for my Computer Science degree. At the time, JANET was amazing, there was nothing like it! It really fired my passion for the internet which still I have today.
- Meeting new people and having healthy discussions is a favorite pastime. I’d like to get more deeply involved with an organisation and so being a part of Nominet is a great excuse to attend your events to meet new and interesting people and hear ideas and opinions about the state of the industry.
- Getting out of my comfort zone! I’ve never been a NED, and I’d like to test myself to see how I can use my business skills and experience to perform the role.
1. No conflicts of interest since I am not a member of Nominet. The NED role requires independent oversight and a constructive challenge to the executive directors, being independent enables me to carry out the role in an unbiased way.
2. Bringing experience from different industries, where I have helped businesses such as O2 and Thames Digital to improve their processes and IT systems. Businesses seem to like working with me because I ask dumb questions which sometimes turn out not to be so dumb! I also bring experience from other not for profit organisations, which has helped me appreciate the challenge to engage with members and provide a good member service.
3. Being a small business owner myself I can relate to many Nominet members who run their own businesses. It would be amazing to have the chance to engage with members / like-minded people to discuss all aspects of Nominet, both good and bad.
Ok assuming you haven’t given up the ghost, I've included the election statement below which also provides some detail about my past experience.
Election Statement and Past Experience
I am truly excited to stand as a candidate for the position of Nominet non-executive director to help to drive Nominet’s direction and success. Ideally, a non-executive director should have a background that mixes technology with business management, experience of different industries and business models, be approachable, open and objective to different ideas and points of view, plus have an attitude of rolling-up their sleeves and helping to make things happen.
I believe that my background and experience ticks these boxes. From my roots as a BSc (Hons) Computer Science graduate, the first part of my career was spent working for Boots The Chemist at their HQ in Nottingham for their Information Systems department. During this time I met one of your members, Bevan Clues. Bev and I worked together to launch the internet part of his business in the early 1990’s. The idea of the internet back then was simply amazing, and not many would have predicted the growth to this point today. My teenage kids think of me as one of the founders of the internet (and who am I to tell them otherwise!)
Since that time I’ve had the pleasure of running my own small business and working with a huge variety of businesses to help turn strategy into reality through digital transformation and improving ways of working. To summarise, the 00’s were spent with the likes of GlaxoSmithkline and Pfizer on large transformation projects plus Toyota Motor Europe on operational improvements. From 2010 to 2017 I moved with my wife and kids to Switzerland, working with Nestlé to develop and deploy a global approach to improving their business operations and technology (which is still going strong today).
In recent years, having returned to the UK, I have worked with a mixture of non-profits (the Institute of Physics), large commercial organisations (including Thames Water, Transport for London and Amey PLC) and also several SMEs ranging from nutritional supplement providers to Japanese knotweed eradication specialists!
I mentioned rolling-up-sleeves to make things happen, my skill as a facilitator is often utilised at a strategic level to help define the scope and direction of initiatives. I am also operationally focused, for example, running live workshops (on site and remotely) to define business processes and their performance such as on-boarding, product development, membership recruitment and retention to name but a few.
To be clear, I am not an expert in all these industries and processes. I’m usually engaged because of my impartiality, and because I excel at working with the relevant experts to help them to overcome a particular challenge.
The role of a non-executive director requires a good fit in both directions. The candidate should have respect and an understanding of Nominet’s history and their mission. Likewise, Nominet needs someone with competence, integrity, objectivity, enthusiasm and who can work effectively with people at senior and operational levels. I believe I meet this criteria and would be honoured to have the opportunity to work with such a great organisation.
If you made it this far, well thanks a lot for taking the time.
Kind regards,
David Barnes
