Before Slingshot
Back in the UK now, after over 20 years in Silicon valley and Colorado in the USA, and before that Hong Kong, Singapore and the Middle East, Alan has 30+ years as Hi Tech CEO/NEX.
"I love working with software start-ups to help the initial team take their technology to where they win their first paying clients and glowing testimonials."
Past-times and Pies
Alan is passionate about his 6 young grand-children, coffee, beer, football, mountains and singing. He has also recently re-discovered the delights of British pies!
Before Slingshot
Before starting Slingshot David was at the University of Leeds leading on the research and development of Cloud simulation platforms. David has over 20 academic publications and keynotes at tech conferences globally on topics related to simulation and smart cities. David is also a Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellow and one of Insider Media’s 42 under 42.
Books, Building and Coding
When not coding or coming up with new features for Slingshot, David loves being in the garden building something whether that be new decking or garden tiers, alternatively being indoors watching a sci-fi film or TV series. He's obsessed with coffee and enjoys trying new blends and collecting different coffee devices from a percolator to a Chemex, a French Press and more. He also loves reading anything he can get hold of and collecting vintage books.
Before Slingshot
Before joining the Slingshot team as our Chief Financial Officer, Helen had 20+ years international start-up and scale-up experience at Zoo Digital under her belt. She currently holds various NED and CFO roles.
Family, Gym and Gerbils
When she's not hard at work, Helen loves spending time at the gym, cycling and spending time with her family and 2 gerbils
Before Slingshot
Fresh from his Masters in Advanced Computer Science, Joe has been working at Slingshot before it was cool. Before that he went straight from graduating to working at the University of Leeds as a Research Associate focused around developing the core IP of Slingshot, redesigning, implementing and extending the core sim engine as well as developing the back-end infrastructure.
“There was once a dream that was Slingshot, you could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish” - Joe Leach 2020
Since working for Slingshot as a fully-fledged company, Joe is still heavily involved in the development of the core simulation engine however his main focus has moved on to building visualisations and interactions with the simulation engine, especially rendering full 3D models of any given simulation model.
Movies, Marathons and Games
Although it is currently in hiatus, running is Joe's favourite way to clear his head and was racing up to the distance of half marathon, but his preferred distance is 5K.
One of the biggest influences for Joe working in software was gaming, a hobby that he still loves to this day though this is now reserved for down time when he's been convinced to take a break.
Films are a great passion of Joe's. His favourite directors and films being: Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction), Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull), and Guy Ritchie (Snatch, Lock Stock)
Before Slingshot
Richard came to Slingshot simulations from a background in research working on various European research projects (both FP7 & H2020). This work included working with various businesses and academic institutions across Europe. This work included modelling, systems monitoring, service level agreements in a wide range of environments, from Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud and High Performance Computing (HPC).
Jogging and Japanese Martial Art
Outside of work Richard enjoys running, including a weekly parkrun, and Japanese martial art: Aikido.
Before Slingshot
Sophie came to Slingshot after spending the last few years coordinating early phase clinical trials for Myeloma UK via the Leeds Institute of Clinical Trials Research. Before that she was a technical content writer, writing articles for professionals such as Google's #1 Business Consultant. Before that she was producing films at the University of Bristol, specialising in film editing.
Walking, Cartoons and Crafts
Sophie loves to go walking, loom knit and read and is currently aiming to read 1 book a month. She is also an animation fan and loves watching cartoons and playing computer games. Her latest interest is DIY, her biggest project being sanding down, painting and varnishing their staircases.
Before Slingshot
Alex joined Slingshot simulations after completing the Northcoders Leeds software development course. Before making the switch to development Alex graduated with a BSc in Environmental Science from Manchester Metropolitan University.
Coding, Coffee and Music
In his spare time Alex is either still coding in a coffee shop, at the gym, or planning to be in another country. He also enjoys films, reading, and playing music.
Before Slingshot
Imogen has spent the last few years working in marketing and data analytics, before deciding to wave goodbye to spreadsheets and embark on a career in development. She arrived at Slingshot after graduating Northcoders coding bootcamp here in Leeds.
Cooking, Climbing and Hockey
When Imogen is not coding, she enjoys cooking, bouldering, and playing the slightly unusual sport of underwater hockey!