Laurence Shafe has a strong business background, a broad knowledge of the latest technology, and the communications skills and analytical ability to advise on market and growth strategy and exit options. He has worked in the technology sector for 37 years, for the last 20 years at board level. Voted one of the top 25 most influential people in the Internet business world, Laurence has also written three books on technology.

Before working with Catalyst, Laurence carried out advisory assignments for various companies, in areas as diverse as location-based data, document output management, internet web optimisation, internet security alarm and remote camera monitoring, VOIP, speech recognition, asset management and expert systems. Laurence founded and, together with Tim Cooke, floated the first Internet company on the London Stock Exchange, Intelligent Environments, which achieved a peak market cap of £100 million. He raised venture capital for the company, took it to profitability and floated it on the AIM market in 1996, achieving a return of over 300% for the investors. Laurence then focused on corporate strategy for the company, raising £30 million in the City, acquiring a US consultancy company, and selling a software asset in the US. Responsible for product strategy and business development, he created, positioned and launched an innovative range of financial software products taking the company in a new strategic direction.

In earlier roles, Laurence founded Helix Expert Systems, a software products business in the investment banking sector, and led systems implementation projects for Marconi Research, Leasco Software and Conversational Software.

Laurence has a PhD and MSc in Computer Science from London University. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Member of the British Computer Society.

E-mail address: lshafe@IT-catalyst.com