On leaving school I started work at Abbey Road recording studios as an assistant sound engineer. Working with amongst others Tina Turner, Paul McCartney, Kate Bush and Sting. After seven years I left to become a freelance sound engineer and songwriter. I spent two years as a contracted writer at Warner Brothers music.

I first started using databases in the mid-1980's. I was running a small business and needed a tool to organise the operation. I discovered Filemaker Pro and taught myself to program. The business turned out to have a limited shelf life but I became pretty handy with Filemaker and built some databases for a few different operations. Around the year 1999 I saw a job vacancy at the American School in London for a Filemaker developer..

I was tasked with building and maintaining a multi-user database system that managed Admissions, Scheduling, Attendance and HR. The system produced Report Cards, Transcripts and ID Cards as well as countless customised reports.

By the end of the decade an industry was emerging around student information systems and the school decided it was time to move away from an in-house to an external system. After much research and visits to a number of USA based companies we decided on Veracross as the new student information system.

My role changed from being a developer to a manager and trainer. I was the point person between the school and Veracross as well as being the main support person and trainer for all the users. In this time I have supported many people in school, liased on the creation and production of custom Report Cards and transcripts. I have been an extensive user of the Veracross API using it to build customised databases for Professional Development, Purchase Orders, Bookstore, Employment Applications and many others. I have also built custom integrations between satellite systems such as Schoology, Clever, AC2000 Security, Cunninghams Catering, Papercut Printing and Google Calendars.

I have been a guest presenter at all three VC connect conferences in the US and at European Veracross Conferences in Amsterdam, Prague and Budapest.

In 2023 I joined Veracross as a part-time sales engineer as they moved into the UK private school market. In the same year I became a certified Veracross partner.

After 27 years at the American School in London I decided to launch Academisis - Veracross consultancy. I am excited to offer my experience and expertise to your school.