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Richard Sykes

  

Richard is a scientist by original education: a Cambridge MA in the Natural Sciences awarded in 1967 and a Yale PhD in the field of Biosynthetic Chemistry, awarded in 1972. For two post-doctoral years to 1972/1973 he worked as an Associate of the US public interest lawyer & consumer advocate, Ralph Nader on cosmetic product safety – playing an active role in the Nader 1972 Congressional Study with a detailed and critical profile of Senator Gaylord Nelson.

For the next 27 years, Richard worked with the international chemical major, ICI plc. Starting in a commercial role in ICI’s central R&D facility, he built broad business and commercial management experience over the years 1976-1983 in commodity petrochemicals (as ICI Petrochemicals Marketing Manager for Ethylene Glycol), in petrochemical exports (as ICI Petrochemicals Export Manager for North and South America), and in energy markets (as ICI’s Coal, Fuel Oils and Natural Gas Purchasing Manager) before moving into ICI’s fast growing business in specialty plastic films ICI Films as Commercial Manager for ICI’s Melinex, the polyester film business, in 1983. In 1989 he moved to live in Japan as General Manager Asia Pacific for ICI Films and an Executive Director of ICI Japan, seeing through to completion a £55m manufacturing investment in a Melinex production facility, building a Japanese team to run the plant and the business & leading regional market development for ICI Films.

On his return to London in mid-1992, Richard was appointed ICI’s Group Vice President IT, leading the corporate function through a period of major change and restructuring that included the divestment of the Pharma business as Zeneca plc (now AstraZeneca) and the acquisition of the speciality chemical businesses of Unilever. He restructured the large corporate function (~1300 strong in 1992/3) by extensive downsizing & outsourcing.

Leaving ICI in mid-1999, he moved to chair Europe’s leading outsourcing consultancy Morgan Chambers plc (recently acquired by Equaterra Inc), and the start up venture Site Confidence Ltd (recently acquired by the NCC Group). He has chaired Solcom Ltd (a consultancy & software development business specialised in the nuclear medicine process industries) since 1999, and advises Quickstart Global Ltd (that enables small to medium-sized hi-tech companies to build their own captive off-shore operations).

Since 2004 Richard has been an Associate of CSC’s Leading Edge Forum (a global network of innovative thought leaders who engage technology and business executives on the current and future role of information technology) publishing two major studies on the roots of sustainable competitive edge in the sourcing of technology-enabled services for their membership. He has also been an active member of Intellect (the UK trade association for Hi-tech industries) where he chairs the Outsourcing & Offshore Group, and works on the Organisational Professionalism and Transformational Business programmes.

Starting in 2004, Richard has been building a personal practice as a strategic coach, mentor and trusted board–level adviser with a particular focus on the globalisation & commoditisation of the IT Services and the Business Process sourcing & outsourcing markets. He is joint author with Mark Kobayashi-Hillary of the business book ‘Global Services: Moving to a Level Playing Field’, published in April 2007.

In the arts world, Richard chairs the De Le Warr Pavilion Charitable Trust, responsible for the stewardship of a 70-year old architectural icon of the Modernist movement. Located on the UK south coast & recently re-opened after an £8.5m refurbishment, it holds one the largest contemporary art galleries in the region, a 1000 seat auditorium, restaurant, bar and shop.

He is a Trustee of the charity HumanITy that seeks to ensure that the exploitation of IT is socially inclusive.

Richard is married to Penny Mason, a New Zealander. They have no children. They live and work in London in a 200-year old Georgian Terrace house filled with an extensive collection of contemporary art.