The Team at Influential is based upon a core group of employees at various levels plus specialist consultants brought in to fulfil the requirements that new projects dictate. The senior employees all have a minimum of 10 years' IT experience, primarily in the Publishing sector. The core group are:

Andy Richardson (Managing Director)
Andy, Influential's founder, began his career in IT in 1987 and has been successful in delivering projects for major Publishing and Banking institutions and in transport and logistics ever since. Whilst in education, Andy was writing commercial gaming software in the Home Computing market and also won several nationwide competitions for IT, science and technology (including the Marconi Award for Applied Science & Technology). Since incorporating Influential in January 1993, Andy has concentrated his efforts primarily in the Publishing sector and has accumulated an unrivalled knowledge of the Publishing industry from all perspectives. During these years, he also developed a vast network of associates in both the Publishing and general IT industry, which has proven invaluable as Influential has expanded and required the best people to help it do so.

John Simpson (Technical Director)
John started in IT in 1994 and his many years of experience have been centred around the Publishing sector where he has been a successful project manager, analyst, designer & developer however his other IT experience includes working on Logistics, Web Design & Transportation. John joined Influential as Technical Director in 2004 and it was at this point that the current structure of Influential was formed

Richard Walls (IT Manager)
Richard started his IT career back in 1982 as a junior programmer for a software house providing systems to hotel trade. Since then he has held various development and support positions for fruit importers, office product wholesalers, wine merchants, publishers and bailiffs. Richard heads up Influential's support and development operation in their Maidstone HQ. He lives locally in Aylesford with his wife and daughter, his son will be returning home soon after graduating BA Hons in Photography.

Sarah Shah
Sarah has been working in IT for the last 10 years, starting in IT shortly after leaving university where she studied for a computer science related degree. Her experience has been mainly in large UK companies, namely MFI, BYSIS-Rothschilds Financial Services, Elsevier Publishing and Taylor & Francis.

Des Crocker
Des has been working in IT for over 15 years, in a variety of roles from software development to project management (including Prince2 accreditation). He has spent time in both the public and private sectors, spending 7 years working for Elsevier (formerly Harcourt Publishers) one of the leading medical publishers of textbooks and journals. Here he specialised in Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing. A few years ago Des established his own music publishing company dots4strings which sells string quartet arrangements to a global audience. This combines his technical skills with a great love of music. Away from work he is a jazz musician, playing bass in various ensembles in Kent.

Simon Bennett
Simon has worked for 10 years in enterprise systems development and support. He spent most of this time in the electronics industry but has also worked in other sectors including publishing and insurance. In 2007 he completed the 1200 kilometre Paris-Brest-Paris cycling endurance race in just over 73 hours. He is now taking it slightly easier, but keeping up the miles for the 2011 event.

Paul Forsdick
Paul has worked in IT, on and off, for 20 years, in a variety of roles and in different sectors. The last 7 of those years have been as a consultant in the book publishing industry. In his spare time he is interested in travel, the environment and wildlife, and is a keen ornithologist.

Ian Woodhouse
Ian has worked in the IT industry for over 20 years starting off as a software developer. For much of that time his efforts have been concentrated in Project Management and Business Analysis areas and is Prince2 qualified. Ian has worked for a variety of companies from large software consultancies to large financial organisations.

Dominick Rankin
Dominick graduated from university in 2007 with a BSc in Computer Science. He joined Influential in 2008, after spending a year developing his skills. Outside of work he enjoys photography, reading and working on his own web development and mobile applications projects, and is always trying to learn something new.

Ashley Snowdon
Ashley finished college in June 2008 after studying for a BTEC National Certificate for IT and almost immediately landed a job at Influential. Ashley has also accumulated software development experience by working on mini projects for non-profit organisations in his spare time. Since his arrival, Ashley has been working on a variety of Influential's development and integration projects.

Denis Martins
Originally trained in biological sciences, Denis developed a keen interest in software development in the late 90s whilst studying for a degree in Fisheries and aquatic biology. Denis has recently completed a HND in IT with the Mid Kent College at the University of Kent in Chatham. Outside of work Denis enjoys spending time with his family and playing soccer.

Sam Norman
Sam studied for a HNC in Electronic Engineering and has always enjoyed working with web applications in his spare time. When Sam finished studying he went to live in Australia for a year. On his return to the UK he started working with Influential in March 2009. In his spare time he enjoys reading, music, electronics, chess and SCUBA diving.

Adam Palmer
Adam has worked in IT for over 20 years, in a variety of roles, primarily in the retail and publishing sectors. He joined Influential in 2007 and specialises in PHP development.

Heather Medcraft
Heather started her professional career working for the Government sector in a hectic Administration role. After several years she moved into Leisure industry management, becoming one of the youngest duty managers within the organisation. Since 2002 Heather has gained valuable experience across the consulting, retail, finance & banking industry and is fully versed in all aspects of both secretarial and administrative subjects.

Kieron Mitchell
Kieron started his IT career in 1987 working on operations within the Oil exploration industry. Since then he has progressed in the IT industry working within operations, development, information security, project management, business analysis and most recently Head of IT for the financial services division of a £1bn turnover company within the retail sector. He has solid experience working for businesses within the publishing, shipping, transportation, warehousing, logistics, retail and financial services industries.

Pete Halloran
Pete is a software engineer with over 12 years experience, most recently in the print and advertising arenas. He specialises in Java but also has an interest in computer graphics and the games industry. Outside of work he develops mobile applications and he's also a fully qualified martial arts instructor.