About Me

Where I'm From

Born in Manchester in 1967, I've been writing code since I was a teenager. Started with an average education and learned most of what I know by doing it — sometimes getting it right, often getting it wrong, but always figuring it out in the end.

I became a USA citizen in 2011 and now live in Orlando, Florida, though Manchester will always be home in my heart.

What I've Done

I've spent over 40 years building software and growing teams. Started in 1987 writing MC68000 assembly code for the Amiga and Atari ST, and somehow ended up working with VR medical training platforms and modern cloud infrastructure. It's been a long journey through every generation of technology.

Most recently, I was Head of Engineering at SimX, where I grew the team from a small group to 15 engineers building VR medical training software used by hospitals and educators. I brought in modern DevOps practices, set up proper CI/CD pipelines, and made sure Product, QA, and Engineering actually talked to each other.

Before that, I was Director of Engineering at ZOIC LABS. Joined as the first engineer and built it into a proper engineering department — 10 people delivering data-driven applications for government and enterprise clients. Did a lot of hands-on work early on, then moved into full-time leadership and mentoring.

The Game Industry Years

I spent a good chunk of my career in games, working at some big studios:

• THQ - Director of Development/Studio Director, managed 150+ developers across multiple studios on titles like Homefront and Darksiders
• Electronic Arts - Senior Development Director at EA Tiburon, oversaw 70+ developers on major sports franchises
• Genuine Games - Co-founder and CTO, grew the studio to 70+ people, directed 50 Cent: Bulletproof (sold over 3 million copies)
• BlackOps Entertainment - CTO/Development Director on the Knockout Kings series across N64, PS2, and Xbox
• Software Creations - Lead Programmer on EA's first FIFA title for N64

Started out as an independent developer under Psionic Systems, writing engines and securing publishing deals for games like Bubble Bobble (PlayStation/Saturn) and Judge Dredd (Genesis).

Technical Background

My technical experience goes from low-level assembly to modern cloud work:

• Languages & Platforms: MC68000 assembly, C/C++, C#, modern web technologies
• Game Engines: Unity, Unreal, and building custom engines from scratch
• Cloud & DevOps: AWS, Azure, CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code
• VR/XR Development: Unity-based immersive experiences
• Team Leadership: Engineering management, agile practices, mentorship

How I Lead

I focus on growing engineers, not just shipping code. Throughout my career, I've tried to:

• Build teams where people feel safe to try things and make mistakes
• Keep processes simple and useful, not bureaucratic
• Mentor developers from junior level all the way through to senior technical leadership
• Balance getting the technical work right with delivering what the business needs
• Make sure Product, Design, and Engineering work together properly

What I'm Doing Now

I stepped back from full-time leadership at the end of 2025. Currently exploring what's next and keeping my skills sharp with modern development practices. I'm particularly interested in how AI is changing the way we build software, and where immersive technologies are headed.

Get in Touch

If you want to talk about engineering leadership, game development, VR/XR, or just swap stories about the old days of console development, feel free to reach out. Always happy to have a proper conversation.