Geoff Bristow

Current

• President and CEO at ARC International
• Chairman at Decision Curve
• Chairman at Cybertill Ltd

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Past

• Senior Independent Director at Arc International plc
• Chairman at Interactive Forecasting
• Chairman at Future Internet Technologies plc

• Non-exec director at Inside Space (Art and Design)
• Executive Vice President at Fujitsu Personal Systems Inc
• Chief Operating Officer at Poqet Computer Corp
• Chairman at Alphameric
• Chairman and Chief Executive at Compsoft Holdings plc
• Chief Executive at Wordplex Information Systems plc
• Director of Network Products at ICL plc
• Business Ctr Mngr, SOC devices at Texas Instruments

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8 more...

Education

• University of Cambridge
• Imperial College London

Recommended

4 people have recommended Geoff

Connections

217 connections

Industry

Computer Software

Websites

• See some press cuttings

Geoff Bristow’s Summary

Chairman/CEO with experience across IT industry, in particular in semiconductors, software and financial modelling.

Has lived/worked in UK, California, France and now based in Barcelona (travelling regularly to San Jose, London and Liverpool).

Career falls into 4 phases:

1) University (1st from Imperial, PhD from Cambridge)
2) Corporate (Texas Instruments, ICL)
3) Rescue/turnround (14 deals as CEO or Chairman)
4) Portfolio Chairman/Non-exec (since 1994)

Geoff is passionate about the arts, is a keen runner and loves anthing that involves two wheels (with or without motor). He is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the RSA, and a Freeman of the City of London.

Geoff Bristow’s Specialties:

I like to help teams make money and do this by starting with the individuals as human beings with goals, both personal and business, and then work outwards to how they can achieve them.

I have done this in all sizes of company (from the smallest startup to large corporates) and in all aspects of the IT industry (hardware and software, from the smallest chips to the largest mainframes), and throughout the supply chain (from IP, to devices, to OEM and finally consumer devices)

Geoff Bristow’s Experience

• President and CEO

  ARC International

  (Public Company; ARC; Semiconductors industry)

  May 2009 — Present (7 months)

• Chairman

  Decision Curve

  (Computer Software industry)

  2006 — Present (3 years )

  Financial modelling systems

• Chairman

  Cybertill Ltd

  (Privately Held; Computer Software industry)

  May 2004 — Present (5 years 7 months)

  Has created a unique ASP solution for retail SMEs, providing tills, stock control and internet e-commerce... all without needing to install any PC hardware or up-front investment. Customers can manage their retail business and internet shop-front from any internet terminal anywhere in the world.

• Senior Independent Director

  Arc International plc

  (Privately Held; Glass, Ceramics & Concrete industry)

  September 2003 — May 2009 (5 years 9 months)

  "System on a Chip" IP as used in low-power portable devices such as PDAs, MP3 players, network devices, digital camera, etc. Arc, which is quoted on the London Stock Exchange, has locations in London, California, Russia and India. Geoff is the senior external director on the board and the chairman of the Strategy Committee.

• Chairman

  Interactive Forecasting

  (Computer Software industry)

  1996 — 2005 (9 years )

  Inventor of "Cashflow Wizard", "SpreadsheetBuilder", and "Interactive Forecasting"

• Chairman

  Future Internet Technologies plc

  (Computer Software industry)

  1999 — 2002 (3 years )

  Pioneers of the "SyncML" standard for synchronisation of "People, Action and Time" data for PDAs

• Non-exec director

  Inside Space (Art and Design)

  (Computer Software industry)

  1998 — 2001 (3 years )

  Bringing technology to the sale of art

• Executive Vice President

  Fujitsu Personal Systems Inc

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; Computer Hardware industry)

  May 1992 — December 1993 (1 year 8 months)

• Chief Operating Officer

  Poqet Computer Corp

  (Computer Software industry)

  1991 — 1993 (2 years )

  Worlds first hand-held computer, fore-runner to the Palm Pilot and the Psion organiser.
  Worlds first wireless pen computer, fore-runner to today's PDAs, incorporating world's first 2.4GHz WiFi in a hand-held.
  A $60m start-up, Poqet was successfully sold to Fujitsu.

• Chairman

  Alphameric

  (Public Company; 201-500 employees; Computer Software industry)

  December 1989 — August 1990 (9 months)

  In December 1989 the company was on the brink of receivership, having overdiversified with numerous acquisitions. Put together a rescue package of finance based on a new strategy. Became Exec chairman on contract from Octagon Industries, a turnaround consultancy that I started up with Robb Wilmot and Alex Reid. Identified a new top team led by the extremely accomplished Rodney Hornstein as CEO, who led the recovery and subsequent growth over many years and subsequently became chairman until 2007.

• Chairman and Chief Executive

  Compsoft Holdings plc

  (Computer Software industry)

  1987 — 1989 (2 years )

  Database software. Acquired Multisoft, Mega and Wootton Jeffries.

• Chief Executive

  Wordplex Information Systems plc

  (Computer Software industry)

  1986 — 1987 (1 year )

  A rescue pre-receivership. Share price trippled and company sold to Norsk Data.

• Director of Network Products

  ICL plc

  (Computer Software industry)

  1984 — 1986 (2 years )

  At that time ICL was UK's answer to IBM, a $2billion mainframe and computer systems group. Geoff's responsibility was the networking and communications products and software in all their guises, spreading across 10 sites with 650 staff.

• Business Ctr Mngr, SOC devices

  Texas Instruments

  (Computer Software industry)

  1979 — 1984 (5 years )

  They weren't called SOC's back in those days, but that's what they were. The TMS1000 was the best selling single-chip microcontroller, surpassing 60million units already in 1982. In Geoff's span the TMS320 Digital Signal Processor was launched, which is now the mainstay of TI's portfolio.

Geoff Bristow’s Education

• University of Cambridge

  PhD , Speech recognition , 1976 — 1979

  Invented a speech training aid for the deaf as part of my PhD research. This was later manufactured by Rank Cintel under the brand name "C-Speech" and was adopted by the majority of deaf schools in the UK and many abroad.

  Activities and Societies:

  Cambridge Philosophy Society, President Peterhouse Graduate Society

• Imperial College London

  BSc(Eng) , Electronic and Electrical Engineeing (1st Class honours) , 1972 — 1976

  Director of West London Nightline (Student crisis help line) 1974-5, the first year the post was a full-time salaried position, funded by 20 colleges in West London.
  
  Royal Society of Arts Silver Medal (Awarded for combination of academic achievement with social contribution)
  
  Lord Willis Jackson Memorial Scholarship.

  Activities and Societies:

  Sub-warden of Selkirk Hall of Residence (Southside campus)

Additional Information

Geoff Bristow’s Websites:

• See some press cuttings

Geoff Bristow’s Interests:

Anything on 2 wheels (motorbikes, mountain bikes, triathlon bikes...) Tae kwando, Music and Opera

Geoff Bristow’s Groups:

MIEE, ICAEW IT Faculty
Worshipful Company of Information Tehnologists
Friend of Royal Academy

•    Institute of Directors - Members Only

Geoff Bristow’s Honors:

Fellow of Royal Sociaty of Arts
Chartered Engineer (CEng)
ACGI

Geoff Bristow’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• new ventures
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch