Phil Pavitt

Described as ‘A Giant of the IT industry’ by the IT press, Pavitt has the unusual combined qualities of an IT expert and a captivating and inspirational leader. As he puts it he’s ‘a business leader who just happens to do IT'.

British Computer Society CIO of the Year, 2009 and a finalist in both 2010 and 2011 Pavitt is recognised by his peers as a strong business leader and a change agent who can revolutionise any enterprise. He has featured in Silicon.com’s ‘Top 50 CIOs’ for four years in a row and has been the focus of a Gartner case study concentrating on his approach as a Change Leader.

Recently made Global CIO at Specsavers, Pavitt (via Pavitt Associates) was formerly at Aviva, as the Global Transformation & Operations Director responsible for the major IT change programme across the group. He was also responsible for global IT operations, the CISO, global procurement, rationalising Aviva’s IT estate, building a digital architecture & business practice and reducing significantly IT expense costs.He also runs the strategy & architecture function.

Prior to Aviva, Pavitt was Director-General and main board member for HMRC, responsible for all technology across the estate and managed a total annual budget well in excess of £1billion. Under his watch, HMRC simplified its IT estate reducing its run costs by hundreds of millions of pounds. Pavitt was also responsible for delivering the change agenda for HRMC resulting in a strategic investment of over £1.2 billion and a reduction in costs of 25%. The National Audit Office remarked this was the most complex and successful change programme in Whitehall.

Pavitt’s core strength is transforming IT functions and the key to effective change, believes Pavitt, is people. He has worked hard to engage, motivate and empower teams, who have often experienced significant change.

A fascinating and entertaining speaker, Pavitt has also been the subject of many computer industry articles.