Executive Board Members

Neville Manuel
Director, Strategy & Business Development, BT Vision

Neville joined BT after graduating from the University of Kent and Indiana University in the US. In a variety of marketing roles, he helped BT launch its cable TV business including at Irvine and Aberdeen in Scotland. He also gained an MBA during this period. After product management and operational roles in videoconferencing he was appointed head of BT Online, where he launched BT's first business online service. As head of ventures, he later negotiated BT's participation in an interactive TV joint venture with Sky, HSBC and Matsushita and helped establish the service. As a member of BT Openworld's board he led the value added services business, launching a range of new applications and tripled revenues over three years. In his current role he sets the strategy for BT Vision and leads on major business development initiatives such as the Premier League rights bid won by BT Vision last year. Neville is a trustee of The Research Centre (TRC), an independent TV charity funded by the BBC and Channel 4. He lives in Twickenham with his two daughters, is a keen rugby fan and also enjoys trekking, scuba diving and tennis.

Alan Bonas
Head of Communications, BT Scotland

Alan is responsible for BT’s image and reputation north of the border, working with the most prolific regional media outside London, including more than 130 daily and weekly newspapers and 40 TV and radio stations. He is also closely involved in BT's high profile sponsorship of Hampden Park, Scotland's national stadium. A former journalist with 30 years’ experience in public relations, he has held a wide range of responsibilities in BT spanning Scotland and the north of England. Alan was instrumental in the strategy that led to the creation of BT Scotland and the execution of the brand and associated activities at its inception in 1998. He is a member of the advisory board for the MBA in Public Relations at Queen Margaret University College.

Ian Stirrat
Director, 21st Century Network Planning & Performance, BT Wholesale

Ian Stirrat is responsible for the overall 21CN network & systems programme definition and delivery and also works as part of the BT Group-wide management team.  Ian’s previous roles have included: major programme management for BT’s local loop unbundling (LLU) programme; sales & operations planning processes; and field engineering team working. He has a background in operational management roles in the access network. Ian joined BT in 1971 as an apprentice technician.  He has an MSc in telecommunications management, an MBA from Edinburgh Business School, is a chartered engineer and member of the Institute of Management.

Elspeth MacFadyen
Programme Director, BT Group

In her senior role within the office of BT Group’s chief technology officer, Dr Elspeth MacFadyen is responsible for orchestrating pan-BT thinking and activity on next generation access networks. Her earlier career focused on the UK network and included research in mathematical aspects of digital transmission and computer science. She is a double graduate, with a BSc from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD from the University of East Anglia, both in mathematics. In 2004 she was awarded the BT Gold Medal for Technology Implementation. Her favourite activity outside work is riding, and she enjoys competing with her horse at local shows.

Ed Lindsay
Head of Client Engagement, GS 21CN Programme, BT Global Services

Ed manages a team of ICT specialists & deal architects who support the largest systems integration, outsourcing and consultancy clients in BT's global market. He joined BT as a trainee technician and has worked with customers in various engineering, technical support and sales positions. In recent times Ed has had a lead role in the BT Global services academic partnership programme, BT Partner Vision, which involves engagement with renowned establishments including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard and Cambridge universities as well as Tsinghua University and Guanghua School of Management in Beijing. He has also completed the accelerated development programme at London Business School. Ed lives in Edinburgh and is married with two teenage sons. His sporting passion is cycling and he has twice ridden his bike from London to Paris in support of the British Legion Poppy Appeal.

Scot Nelson
Head of Customer Satisfaction, BT Retail

Scot has overarching responsibility for the customer satisfaction of 800,000 customer contacts per day from a database of 19 million residential and business customers, managed across 31 locations in the UK and India. He has dual responsibility for supporting BT Business and BT Consumer in managing satisfaction targeting and reporting processes. Prior to this, Scot worked in strategy and business planning where he was responsible for the development of BT Retail's contact centre strategy and budget design and his earlier career focused on customer experience programme management and multi-channel sales development. He is married and lives in Troon, and is an avid fly fisherman and hill walker.

Angus Flett
Director Product Management - Products & Strategy, BT Wholesale

Angus Flett is responsible for product management across the BT Wholesale portfolio. He leads major industry negotiations with Ofcom and other industry groups. He is also BT’s executive on the Next Generation Network Board. Before joining BT Wholesale, Angus was vice president, marketing & business development, for the wholesale division of Cable & Wireless, with responsibility for all marketing and IP, data and hosting sales activity in Japan, America, Europe and the UK. He has also held positions in companies including Scottish Power, Microworld Ltd and Ciena Ltd. Edinburgh-born Angus is married with four children.

Stuart Williamson
General Manager – UK Finance Industry Sector, BT Global Services

In this lead role, Stuart has responsibility for around 50 corporate clients across the insurance sector, including household names like Standard Life, Aegon, Prudential, Friends Provident, AXA and Zurich. They are provided with a range of services, from global network services to call centre solutions. Stuart joined BT in 1994 and has spent the last 13 years supporting BT's clients in both banking and insurance. Earlier, he worked for Siemens Communications and spent three years with a young start-up company, Integrated Communications Systems, when the UK telecommunications market was liberalised. Stuart lives in Dollar with his wife and two children and enjoys golf and tennis.

Tom McKenna
General Manager – UK Industry Finance Sector, BT Global Services

Tom has been with the company for 28 years. His early career was as apprentice engineer specialising on exchange maintenance. He moved to account management in 1986 and has developed through various sales roles. He is presently the client director for Royal Bank of Scotland Group, looking after all aspects of their communications business on a global basis. Tom is married to Margaret, and they have two boys, Matthew and Nathan. For fun he plays football and golf.

Robert Cole
Head of Customer Satisfaction, UK Public Sector & Chair, BT Kaleidoscope (BT's employee network for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people)

Robert runs the customer satisfaction programme for BT’s public sector customers both in Scotland and the rest of Britain, leading initiatives in support of BT’s aim to be number one for service by 2009. He is also the chair of BT Kaleidoscope, the employee network supporting BT’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population. Robert has 22 years of experience in communications, including a 14 year span with BT, during which he has been responsible for holding a number of business improvement and programme management roles and sales management responsibilities with commercial and customer experience. In his spare time he enjoys marathon running and hill walking, and various cultural activities, including singing with Scottish community choir, Loud & Proud. Robert lives in Edinburgh.

Chris McCormack
Head of Skills Accreditation and Leadership, Learning and Development, BT Retail

Since joining BT in 2005, Chris has managed all areas of Learning and Development in BT Retail and was director for the past 12 months. He is now focusing on the crucial skills agenda and accreditation processes, and also manages the Leadership learning function in Retail. A key part of his role is ensuring the skills agenda is kept at the forefront of business strategy and is a key driver of high performance. Chris has more than 15 years of experience in Learning and Development, mainly in the contact centre arena. He has worked in organisations from start-ups to major businesses, the latter including Direct Line and Abbey. Chris is married with two children, and enjoys watching and playing most sports and coaching his son’s football team.

Martin Southern
Lead Consultant, Devolved Government, BT Global Services

Martin leads all consulting work with Government clients in Scotland and Wales. As a member of BT’s Devolved Government Management team, he works with colleagues from sales and delivery to grow Government business by identifying ways that clients can benefit from ICT solutions. A recent focus has been on helping local authorities create business cases for workstyle transformation. Martin joined BT in 2002, spending two years working on its partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council. His earlier career was spent in business transformation consultancy for a long list of blue chip clients in the UK, Europe and Australia. He is a member of the Scottish ICT Forum tasked with driving economic growth from ICT; chair of Bonaly School Council; a member of the Edinburgh School Estate Rationalisation Committee; and a graduate of Common Purpose. He lives in Edinburgh with Jean and is kept busy entertaining their three children, leading Scouts and training for sprint triathlons.

Lesley Casey
General Manager Corporate, BT Retail

Lesley currently heads up the Inbound Sales & Service Organisation in BTB Corporate. She manages a team of 130 people across five key sites in Skelmersdale, Oxford, Leeds, Liverpool and Newcastle. The five teams are responsible for supporting the day to day sales and service requirements of 21,000 customers in the UK. Lesley is also responsible for the delivery of the Corporate Customer Satisfaction and Right First Programmes.