I first met Gareth eight years ago when the Faculty Manager brought him to the IT office and introduced me to my new boss. He was my Faculty IT manager for the following eight years and in his stewardship IT Services as a whole and the team he managed have gone through many changes. In this time we've gone from physical servers in cupboards to a virtual infrastructure and storage area network spanning multiple data centres- thanks largely to Gareth providing the direction and securing the funding. He moved onto pastures new the week that Windows 10 was released, giving me the opportunity to look back at how we've transitioned from installing Windows XP from CD and memory stick, via network based build systems which Gareth put together, to a common desktop platform deploying Windows 7 across the University. He was a key player in the SCCM rollout project which aside from providing technological benefits really brought our disparate cross-campus IT Services organisation together. Gareth has always been a pioneer of innovation within IT- supportive of his team trying new technologies, or letting them take time to improve something even if no-one is complaining that it's broken. For example, within IT Services at Surrey we wouldn't have the robust, comprehensive knowledge base we have today without Gareth championing the idea, and things like the SurreySoftware application portal and the Computer Availability site might never have happened if he hadn't allowed his staff the flexibility to explore solutions outside the borders of the Faculty which might benefit IT Services and the University as a whole. The Faculty itself has changed in those 8 years- with academic departments coming and going, structures changing, and new opportunities - such as the new Veterinary Sciences School- being created. Gareth has successfully adapted his IT team to all these changes. The day before Gareth arrived, the IT team in the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences had just one FTE. He left behind a strong, balanced, diverse team of 8 ready to take the University of Surrey even further up the league tables.

I first met Gareth eight years ago when the Faculty Manager brought him to the IT office and introduced me to my new boss. He was my Faculty IT manager for the following eight years and in his stewardship IT Services as a whole and the team he managed have gone through many changes. In this time we've gone from physical servers in cupboards to a virtual infrastructure and storage area network spanning multiple data centres- thanks largely to Gareth providing the direction and securing the funding. He moved onto pastures new the week that Windows 10 was released, giving me the opportunity to look back at how we've transitioned from installing Windows XP from CD and memory stick, via network based build systems which Gareth put together, to a common desktop platform deploying Windows 7 across the University. He was a key player in the SCCM rollout project which aside from providing technological benefits really brought our disparate cross-campus IT Services organisation together. Gareth has always been a pioneer of innovation within IT- supportive of his team trying new technologies, or letting them take time to improve something even if no-one is complaining that it's broken. For example, within IT Services at Surrey we wouldn't have the robust, comprehensive knowledge base we have today without Gareth championing the idea, and things like the SurreySoftware application portal and the Computer Availability site might never have happened if he hadn't allowed his staff the flexibility to explore solutions outside the borders of the Faculty which might benefit IT Services and the University as a whole. The Faculty itself has changed in those 8 years- with academic departments coming and going, structures changing, and new opportunities - such as the new Veterinary Sciences School- being created. Gareth has successfully adapted his IT team to all these changes. The day before Gareth arrived, the IT team in the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences had just one FTE. He left behind a strong, balanced, diverse team of 8 ready to take the University of Surrey even further up the league tables.

I first met Gareth eight years ago when the Faculty Manager brought him to the IT office and introduced me to my new boss. He was my Faculty IT manager for the following eight years and in his stewardship IT Services as a whole and the team he managed have gone through many changes. In this time we've gone from physical servers in cupboards to a virtual infrastructure and storage area network spanning multiple data centres- thanks largely to Gareth providing the direction and securing the funding. He moved onto pastures new the week that Windows 10 was released, giving me the opportunity to look back at how we've transitioned from installing Windows XP from CD and memory stick, via network based build systems which Gareth put together, to a common desktop platform deploying Windows 7 across the University. He was a key player in the SCCM rollout project which aside from providing technological benefits really brought our disparate cross-campus IT Services organisation together. Gareth has always been a pioneer of innovation within IT- supportive of his team trying new technologies, or letting them take time to improve something even if no-one is complaining that it's broken. For example, within IT Services at Surrey we wouldn't have the robust, comprehensive knowledge base we have today without Gareth championing the idea, and things like the SurreySoftware application portal and the Computer Availability site might never have happened if he hadn't allowed his staff the flexibility to explore solutions outside the borders of the Faculty which might benefit IT Services and the University as a whole. The Faculty itself has changed in those 8 years- with academic departments coming and going, structures changing, and new opportunities - such as the new Veterinary Sciences School- being created. Gareth has successfully adapted his IT team to all these changes. The day before Gareth arrived, the IT team in the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences had just one FTE. He left behind a strong, balanced, diverse team of 8 ready to take the University of Surrey even further up the league tables.