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Management
Ben Gladstone, CEO
Ben is a thinker. As a farm labourer in his teens he found out that stacking bales of straw is a really hard way to make a living and promptly disappeared to Trinity College, Cambridge to study Philosophy.
He moved from big ideas to big numbers during a stint with Coopers & Lybrand and went on to co-found an internet consultancy advising large corporates and the European Commission. He then co-founded Obongo, a Silicon Valley software company, leading the team that invented, patented and developed the technology for managing online passwords and credit card data.
In frustration at the lack of high quality computer support for small businesses, in 2003 he founded Steadytech. In 2004 Steadytech and MPC London merged to form Conosco and Ben knew he was part of something really good.
Having said that, he wouldn’t mind swapping the IT industry for the life of a wine grower.
Tom Hipwell, Director of Sales
A former Arsenal centre-forward before his career was tragically interrupted by the alarm clock, Tom joined Conosco in October 2006. At his previous company, a major competitor, he had increased sales by over 300% and built a structured sales team that doubled turnover year on year.He brings over 10 years’ experience of marketing, account management and new business development in IT services. Having studied law at university, Tom also brings a keen eye for detail and a methodical approach to the sales process. He is also in the habit of bringing it to the poker table, so you have been warned.
Max Mlinaric, Director of Business Development
Max is one of those rare people who likes using both sides of his brain. It means he has a refreshing approach to problem-solving – and he has a really good sense of balance.He started his career as a graphic designer and then crossed to the dark (or is it light?) side to work as a technical engineer. In 2002 he went on to co-found MPC London, which in 2004 merged with Steadytech to form Conosco.
Jeremy Pemberton, Chief Technical Officer
Forget softball in the park or five-a-side football after work, Jeremy longs for the day when someone challenges Conosco to a polo match. Outside work he is almost always found on horseback having a vigorous chukka, (unless he’s up to his chest in a salmon river or bagging pheasants).For such an outdoor type, it’s amazing that Jeremy can sit still long enough to be a technical guru, but he seems to manage it. Having started his career as a systems consultant in the City of London, he worked for an IT consultancy before co-founding MPC London in 2002 with Max.
Roger Thomson, Director of Systems
You’ll never guess from Roger’s CV what his true ambition is. He got degrees from Queens’ College, Cambridge and University College London, then worked as a consultant specialising in computer modelling in regulatory economics.After seven years with Oyster Partners, one of London's top interactive systems agencies, he joined Conosco in 2004 and stunned us with his technical wizardry.
So it’s slightly unexpected that he would give it all up tomorrow to be a professional Ultimate Frisbee player. Before he gives you any IT advice, ask him to show you his Bear-Ninja-Cowboy moves.
Advisory Board
John Hunt
John is a hugely successful serial entrepreneur who thinks the fax machine is the greatest technological advance of his lifetime. His brain operates at unnatural speeds, which may be related to his caffeine consumption when he was a co-founder of Seattle Coffee Company in London in 1994.He was also the founder and CEO of Syzygy AG, an internet consulting and development firm which floated on the German stock exchange in Summer 2000, and Obongo Inc, a software company acquired by AOL Time Warner in Summer 2001. His latest venture, Oriel Wines, creates fine wines from around the world under a single label.
He is hoping that Conosco opens its next branch office in New York, where he is hoping to meet Errol Flynn. No more coffee for you, John.
Carl Kostyal
Carl is an entrepreneur and financier specialising in technology and media companies. He also loves art and has a passion for buying it.He was a partner and Investment Director at Gilde IT, a Dutch Venture Capital fund managing approximately $600m invested in European, Israeli, and American early stage technology companies. Prior to Gilde he was a TMT investment banker at Deutsche Bank in London and at Alex Brown & Sons in Baltimore and London.
In the film of his life, Carl would be played by Alberto Sordi, one of the greats of Italian cinema and the Italian-dubbed voice of Oliver Hardy. If you have an hour to spare, ask him why.
Simon Keen
Simon has over 20 years’ experience in technology, ranging from porting the first version of MS-DOS to dynamic object-oriented architectures. He is a specialist in network management systems (implementing the first SNMP based system), database architecture and e-commerce technologies.Today he provides interim CTO and VP engineering services for new companies and divisions, most recently Choreology, PGLife, Pixology, Zygon and First Tuesday, as well as leading the technical due diligence for major investors.
His senior roles have included European Technical Director at Cambridge Technology Partners, Director of Technology for Netscape, VP Europe for Kiva (sold to Netscape in 1998) and CTO of Quokka. He was also a chief architect at Sybase Professional Services and held senior positions at Illustra and Informix.