CXO 1-2-1

Joan is a former Senior Civil Servant and Board Member of UK Government’s HM Revenue & Custom’s IT Organisation, i.e. the second largest IT Business within the UK in any sector.  

Joan is known as an experienced and successful business change leader, expert in IT enabled business transformation and online service delivery.  Her peers and professional network hold her in the highest regard for her skills in Business Strategy and Transformation and Stakeholder and Change Management. The people who worked for her consistently describe her as an inspirational and enthusiastic leader.

Joan formally worked in Whitehall as HMRC’s Digital Leader and led a review resulting in a new operating model and strategic principles for digital service delivery. This was alongside her ‘day job’ as the Director responsible for the operation of the HMRC website which has 4-6 million hits per month, is made up of >108 thousand separate pages and >200 online services tools and calculators and has >11.5 million customers successfully completing transactions and tax returns etc. online.

She was the Senior Responsible Officer launching the Identity Assurance Programme and striving the Digital Development programmes for HMRC and has a great record of accomplishment in successful programme delivery. For example, as a Portfolio Director, she was responsible for successfully managing hundreds of high-profile projects managing capital expenditure of >£100 million through a Strategic IT Supplier known as Aspire (and other supplier partners in their ecosystem).

Her first leadership role in the IT Profession was as the Head of Electronic Business Unit (EBU) when she built and subsequently managed the first electronic business unit in Government, providing both business and technical support to users of the new and fast-growing range of then Inland Revenue Online systems.

As part of that programme, Joan forged strong links with the Software Industry and through the release of XML schema, business rules and APIs, partnered with them to achieve interoperability and drive-up usage between their commercially available products and Inland Revenue systems. She also created an Online Services Helpdesk providing telephone and email customer service channels to taxpayer, agent and business users of Inland Revenue Online Services.

Prior to moving into the world of IT, Joan worked her way up through the ranks and various tiers of the civil service, undertaking a very diverse range of roles. She has knocked on doors to collect taxes due to be paid and has levied ‘Distraint’ and taken court action against those who did not! She has worked as an Auditor inspecting business records and has been a technical caseworker too. Therefore, an eclectic mix and backdrop but her heart lies in IT enabled business transformation.