The White October team are a friendly, helpful bunch who all love making great stuff for the web. Here they are...

Meet the White October staff

Dave Fletcher - Managing Director

David Fletcher is the founder and owner of White October Ltd. David started his career as an analyst programmer for RM Plc in Oxfordshire, where he contributed to projects designing and building web based systems to manage the company's invoicing, order fulfilment and other business systems.

From his background in robust, business critical development with RM, David formed White October in 2003 and began building online database applications for companies around the country. From its inception David has ensured that White October has kept learning and innovating and he places a huge importance on staying at the forefront of web technology.

Outside of work David is a keen music fan, and can be found hanging out at summer festivals and London gig nights. He also volunteers for Young Enterprise, a charity committed to educating and exciting young people about enterprise and business, an area Dave feels is lacking in most school curriculums.

Kevin McGlynn - Technical Director

Kevin has been lip-locked with the web industry for most of his career. Exposure to high-profile, commercial sites in USA and Canada have made him nicely seasoned for the high-energy, high-demand clients of White October.

With a sprinkling of project & programme management and a dash of web architecture (not to mention two heaped tablespoons of development), Kevin brings a varied background to the ever increasing number & type of White October projects.

Whenever he's (surgically) removed from the keyboard, he usually finds himself on a pitch of some sort... being quite active in both football and ice hockey. Lately he's been active in Oxford & Cambridge new business groups and student societies.

Dan Goodwin - Senior Developer

Dan has been working in software and web development for over 10 years. The wide range of projects he's worked on make him a development all-rounder, but he really loves working on web user interfaces and layouts. His magical ability to actually climb into the minds of users (it's quite scary to watch) means that he can help make powerful, sophisticated web applications really easy to learn and use.

Dan's biggest projects here at White October include an online course booking system for staff and students at Queen Mary University of London and, more recently, The Collective, a stunning online showcase of locations for the film, TV and photographic industries.

When he's not immersed in all things web, Dan is usually busy taking photographs, helping people to shoot films, working in technical theatre and generally getting involved in things which satisfy his geeky side and his arty-farty side. You can see more about Dan's out of hours stuff here and here.

John Wards - Web Developer

John (A.K.A. the new kid) has been developing high usage web applications for over 5 years. After designing and developing a user generated content sports website while at University in Aberdeen, he was able to sell it to a company in Durham and work for them full time as the lead developer. 5 years later he decided to head for a sunnier climate down south and landed in Oxford just in time for the worst floods on record.

As well as high usage website development, John also brings in a knowledge for information retrieval systems and a thirst for anything new and shiny. He is also a keen open source advocate and insists on breaking the office IT standards by using Linux for his development box.

When not working, John can be found trying to find out the latest Montrose score (football), muttering about the Scotland performance (rugby, football...tiddly winks?) or cycling around the Oxfordshire countryside.

Ed Lucas - Senior Web Developer

Ed started out in Psychology, but switched to IT when he realised that it allowed him greater range to experiment without tangling with an ethics board. He has spent most of his 9 years in the industry developing web applications and diagnostic tools for legacy systems and data backup/recovery. This has left him passionate, perhaps paranoid, about data integrity.

You will probably find him working on one of a number of event management systems or enthusing about Linux and open source to anyone who doesn't suddenly remember a pressing engagement elsewhere.

Outside of work, Ed is involved with FOCUS, a charity that works with disadvantaged young people. He is also studying towards British Sign Language Level 2 Certification. After months of effort, he has succeeded in teaching his co-workers the signs for 'tea' and 'milk'.

Mary Watson - Senior Account Manager

Mary Watson is White October's latest recruit, joining us as its first account manager. Mary's background is extremely varied having tried her hand at almost everything from telecoms engineering to project management. The knowledge gained from working within many different business sectors and her extensive experience in customer services and account management made her the perfect person for the job.

Mary has already begun to whip us into shape and help to get us more organised. We've yet to persuade her to take on some Web Development but who knows ...

In her spare time, what there is of it, Mary balances being a parent with video editing, writing, and going for long walks, kept awake by coffees and alive by the friends she drinks them with. If psychology or child development are your thing she'll talk with you for hours!