Stuart
Stuart is the Owner/Trainer/Dogsbody behind Burningsuit Ltd; he is a Member of the Institute of IT Trainers and a Microsoft Certified Professional. He delivers training for Burningsuit, specialising in On-Line training and Presentation Skills, Microsoft Project and Business Contact Manager, but can train on most Microsoft applications and a number of esoteric subjects such as Ubuntu Linux and Python Programming.
Stuart began working in Information Technology when Computers were bigger than your living room but had less power than your mobile phone. He has progressed through all the jobs you can legally do in IT from Operator to Programmer, Systems Analyst, Manager and Technical Director. He managed a group of 50 programmers at the American computing giant Unisys but left to save his home county of Sussex from the ravages of the year 2000 bug. He started Burningsuit in August 2000 to provide help for organisations to make the best use of IT in Business. His combination of both practical Business and Technology skills has kept Burningsuit successful. As one of his clients was kind enough to put it:-
“The combination of understanding both of business and how IT relates to business is rare; having both, and using it to client advantage, is worth loads.”
A partial list of companies that Stuart has personally assisted with Consultancy or Training include Linklaters, Specsavers, BP, Tandberg, John Wyllie and Company, The Institute of IT Training, A J Walter Aviation, The NAAFI and Doughty Hanson.
Stuart has been hugely influenced by Colin Steed, Roger Courville, Garr Reynolds, Lawrence Lessig, Leo Laporte, Guy Kawasaki, Nancy Duarte, Fred Brooks Andy Bounds and Douglas R Hofstadter. As a result he is passionate about teaching people there is much more they can do with the magical devices we call Personal Computers than just adding up a list of numbers or putting a bulleted list of ten points on a slide.
Outside work, Stuart is an accomplished amateur Stage Director. A production of "The Mikado" he directed won the award for "Best Traditional Production" at the Buxton International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival in August 2011.
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
-Robert A. Heinlein
Alison
The quiet genius that keeps Stuart in check, Alison joined Burningsuit in February 2001. Previously employed as a senior trainer with a major training company, she has over 25 years experience of IT training, fifteen of which have been in Microsoft Applications.
Alison is a Fellow of the Institute of IT Training, an Institute Certified Training Professional and a Microsoft Certified Trainer. She also holds the Training Foundation's TAP Accreditation in Delivery Skills.
Alison's introduction to Computers came when Stuart spent fifteen minutes showing her how to use TIPE-990, an early word processor on a Texas Instruments Mini Computer. Despite Stuart's poor attempt at training (well it was 1981), Alison went on to master this application, and every other program she has used subsequently. She now has an in-depth knowledge of all Microsoft's desktop suite, from Office 2000 onwards.
She regularly delivers courses in office applications at all levels of expertise, from absolute beginners to "high flyers". Her specialist areas are Microsoft Project, Microsoft Access and OpenOffice.When not working, Alison likes to go running.