Chris Palk, Development Manager
Chris joined Sigmer as their Development Manager in August 2008. He previously spent 13 years working in the City for Investment Banks such as Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers as a Vice President in Equity Derivatives I.T. He has experience of managing a variety of teams across diverse technologies such as Linux, SQL, Sybase, C# and Perl working under situations of high pressure. At Sigmer he is responsible for the output of the development team, quality management and resource management. Away from work, Chris enjoys cooking for friends and long holidays in the sun.
Riis Francis, Project Manager
Riis joined the Sigmer team in June 2008 as an experienced Project Manager and brings with him over 15 years of Technical Project Management experience. At Sigmer, Riis is responsible for ensuring delivery of a number of client projects, providing support and direction to the production team as well as strengthening Sigmer's Project Management Methodologies and Processes. Riis gained a degree in Computer Science at SJCC in San Jose, California and outside of work he is passionate about travelling, writing and his family.
Ben Howell-Thomas, Developer and Project Leader
Ben has been a member of the Sigmer development team since 2001 and is our BSkyB Project Leader. His technologies include Java, PHP, SQL and Linux Sys Admin. Ben gained his BSc at Sussex University in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. Aside from work, Ben is into motorbikes, badminton and is the leader of his church's Production Department responsible for all audio and visual systems and technical equipment maintenance.
Caroline Pickering, Designer and Project Leader
Caroline has been heading up design at Sigmer for 5 years. She has worked on the majority of our client projects, most notably Scottish and Newcastle, The International Save the Children Alliance, BSkyB, Community Equipment and Evolve Telecommunications. Her skills and technologies include website and interface design, web accessibility, usability, (X)HTML production and CSS. Previous to joining Sigmer, Caroline worked as a freelance designer for a number of years, developing her expertise in high-end design that is fully accessible. Outside work, Caroline enjoys walking, studying local archaeology, world music and cinema, travel and photography. She has an excellent photoblog on Aminus3 demonstrating her talents in photography.
Nick Goddard, Systems Administrator and Developer
Nick brings a wealth of experience to the Sigmer development team drawn from over 17 years experience in the ICT sector. Nick is Project Leader for Systems Administration and also provides coding and support across our client base. Previously working in the telecommunications industry, he has worked for a number of companies in the south east, including setting up an IVR (interactive voice response) system for the highly successful charity Red Nose Day. Nick's skills include Perl, PHP, SQL, Java, Linux/Unix Sys Admin and telecoms. Interests outside of work include football, cycling, badminton and an appreciation for Italy and its food and wine!
Tanya Stovold, Developer
Tanya brings over 9 years' commercial development experience to Sigmer. Tanya has worked on numerous client projects and manages the development of Scottish and Newcastle and Evolve. Tanya has a BSc in Agriculture from Writtle College (in association with Essex University) and is also a Sun Certified Programmer for the Java 2 Platform. Her technologies include Java, SQL, Webspeed, C and PHP. Tanya previously worked for Rentokil Initial developing man-guarding management systems. Her personal hobbies include horse riding and country walks, and often takes us Sigmoids out on a jolly horse ride over the Sussex Downs. Click here to see some photos.
Louise Lawrance, Designer
Louise joined the Sigmer design and development team in 2006. She has over 7 years' design experience within the IT industry where she has worked on front end coding and design as a lead website designer. Louise works on a number of client projects, including BSkyB, Sky News International and The Sussex Innovation Centre. Her technologies include (X)html, CSS and Flash and she is passionate about semantic code, standards compliance, usability and accessibility. She attended the d.construct conference last year and has also undertaken Jakob Nielsen usability training. Aside of work, Louise enjoys playing classical guitar, gardening, yoga, live music and is fluent in Spanish. View her personal site which is currently being developed.
Sean O'Connell, Developer
Sean joined the Sigmer development team bringing over 6 years experience in the IT sector, much of which was gained in the financial services industry. He is an experienced Java developer who has a consultant background working on client sites, including 18 months spent working for BSkyB in Scotland. Sean has an HND in Computing from Brighton University and is a Sun Certified Programmer for the Java 2 Platform. His skills and technologies include Oracle and PL/SQL, OO design and methodologies and Unix shell scripting. Outside of work, Sean enjoys cycling and trying to play his guitar.
Robin O'Connor, QA Analyst
As QA Analyst, Robin is responsible for ensuring that all of our deliverables undergo full quality-assurance before being handed-over to clients. Robin has a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence from Sussex University, and his technologies include Java, C, C++, VB and MySQL. Prior to joining Sigmer, Robin worked at Tag Worldwide, providing support and training documentation to many clients, including Ford, Alcatel-Lucent, Bacardi and Diageo. Outside of work, Robin likes to break-dance (though we are yet to see any evidence of this!).
David Sanders, Developer
David has over 8 years’ experience in the ICT sector. Prior to joining Sigmer, he spent 5 years providing systems administration and webmaster services to the motion-video industry, whilst also freelancing in web application development for various companies in the south-east. David brings with him experience of Linux, Apache, SQL, PHP and Python, as well as expertise in e-commerce and content management systems. Outside of work, David plays in bands around Brighton, and develops a social networking site for Artists
Steven Lawson, Developer
Steven is Microsoft Certified Professional in designing and implementing databases with Microsoft SQL Server 2000. He has over 6 years' experience in internet application development, and he also specialises in CRM development and implementation. His technologies include PHP, ASP, VB, HTML, JavaScript, CSS, XML, SQL, SQL Server, and Crystal Reports. Steven is part of the Sky Focus, Sky News International, and Scottish & Newcastle projects. His hobbies include golf, football and travelling.
