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Ben Heald
CONNECT
32
Ben Heald
Chair, Sift, Business Data Group, Bristol Pay & St George's Bristol
Ben‘s professional bio / interests
Studied psychology at Bristol, then trained and qualified as a chartered accountant at KPMG in London. Left KPMG in 1992 wanting to get involved in businesses. Co-founded digital publishing business Sift in 1996, which I now chair. I also chair Bristol's payment platform Bristol Pound (an evolution from Bristol Pound) and arts venue St George's Bristol. I also do some investing - chairing Business Data Group.
I’d like help with…
Connecting is always good. Particularly keen to connect with people in the digital publishing space (Sift), those involved in the future of city based payment platforms (Bristol Pay) and anyone involved in running performance & music venues (St George's). As well as chatting about the role of the chair and the attendant exec/non-exec boundary issues! I'm not yet ready to take on anything else (although I'd love to get involved in a South West rewilding project).
An interesting, or unusual fact(s) about me…
Met my wife Mary in Malawi when she was teaching Latin there and I was on a 12 month trip by Land Rover from the UK to South Africa through 17 African countries.
I live in
GB
A career highlight
Founding and growing Sift, including starting its principle title AccountingWEB from my back bedroom in Clapham in 1997 through all the various roles I've had growing and developing the company to chairing the company now.
Links
http://www.sift.co.uk; http://www.bdgroup.co.uk; http://www.bristolpay.org.uk; http://www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk
Connections
8
Joined Guild
14 November, 2018