Simon Corbett

Simon started at Northumbria in August 2017 as the Interim Head of Service Delivery and was appointed as the Chief Information Officer in September 2019.

Between 2014 and 2019 Simon was an independent contractor working across both the Financial and Higher Education sectors, bringing together strategy and innovation in a variety of technology and leadership roles to enable the delivery of technology-focused change.

Between 2005 and 2014 Simon was a Senior Manager at Accenture, a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. He held various management consultancy and delivery roles across the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and Financial sector.

Prior to 2005 Simon ran a privately owned software development company based in Newcastle upon Tyne and Houston, Texas, specialising in navigation and positioning solutions for the offshore and construction industries

Simon holds a PhD, Global Positioning System (GPS) (1994), from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and a BSc (Hons) Surveying Science (First) (1991), University of Newcastle upon Tyne

Simon’s core day job is to provide strategic leadership and management of the University’s IT Service. He is also responsible for the vision and delivery of the IT Strategy and acts as an advisor and advocate with key stakeholders, to maximise opportunities for innovation and technology change across the University. Simon is responsible for all the technology infrastructure across the University, including the network, storage, servers, and end user computers ensuring that these are resilient, reliable and secure for all staff and students. He is responsible for the technical customer support, to provide a responsive customer-focused service to all staff and students and the delivery of multiple technical change programmes to support the University strategy and vision.

Simon is responsible for defining and delivering the IT Strategy and service that will deliver the technology elements of the business outcomes set within the wider University strategy. At University Executive, Simon supports colleagues as to how technology can support achievement of organisational wide ambitions, providing resilient infrastructure enabling business outcomes around teaching, research, and Knowledge Exchange.