RORIE DEVINE

Rorie has been a massive asset to Moneyfarm. He helped the team through a busy period, taking technology closer to the business, enabling the delivery of challenging projects on time, and mentoring the people around him (both his reports and executives). That’s exactly what we were looking for and what we needed when he joined Moneyfarm. In addition, he’s a great person to have around in the office! Personally I’ve learnt a lot from him and I highly recommend him if you need an interim addition to your executive team.

Rorie is a great leader with long term vision and passion for execution. He was one of the main drivers behind Hailo’s new highly scalable micro-services platform. Rorie is a pleasure to work with, he is always there to provide help and guidance and he is fully committed to the success of the team. The kind of CTO that makes a difference.

I learnt a lot from Rorie, he brought a real start up mentality to Yell at a time when I’d begun to work with the flow. He challenged everything in his desire to get things done more quickly. He also makes me laugh! He’s like Tom Jones in not taking himself too seriously but knowing everyone. A great man to have on side.

I worked with Rorie whilst he was CTO at Hailo. Rorie made immediate impact when joining the team by leading them through a complex and high risk platform migration, increasing performance whilst dramatically reducing cost in the longer term for the business. His direct and open leadership style was refreshing to experience. I knew exactly where I stood and what I needed to deliver to earn trust with Rorie. I would recommend him for delivering strategic change projects.

Rorie is a killer CTO. He has that rare combination of big, long-term thinker and practical tactician. I’ve personally seen him lay out and execute on a transformative vision piece and yet stay nimble and responsive to changing circumstances. We spent plenty of time together in the trenches and I’d happily work with him again.

Rorie is an expert in his field with the ability to deliver innovative solutions in super-quick time. He was the main driver around Hailo’s new H20 platform (their new micro SOA backend platform) which is 99% written Google Go. Rorie is highly motivated, creative and a pleasure to work with.

Rorie is a hands on, business results focussed CTO. He presents technology purely in the context of solutions and has an infectious impatience for getting things done. Was a joy working together.

Rorie had an instant impact with broadbandchoices.co.uk revitalising technology strategy, team structure and IT processes. Rorie specialises in change management, which has been vital for broadbandchoices.co.uk transitioning through a phase of rapid growth and international expansion.

When Rorie arrived at Yell it was like a breath of fresh air…right from the outset I could tell that this guy was going to bring change and make a difference. He opened his door to the whole department, listened to what people had to say and then took decisive action to start delivering business impact. Rorie provides clear direction, empowers his team and leads by example. He’s not just a manager, he is a leader and an excellent one at that.

Rorie Devine is a transformational CTO/CIO, a thought leader and I had the pleasure of working with him. At Yell, Rorie made a tremendous impact in optimising and moving the company toward a new digital economy. His successful launch of Yell Labs in London, which delivered many innovative mobile apps, is the testament to his visionary character.

Rorie is a visionary, with the ability to set and direct strategy whilst putting in place the processes and approach necessary to test and learn at a tactical level. His focus is always on benefit delivery, quickly, something any commercially biased leader will welcome. Rorie exemplifies technology led change more than any other CTO I have met.

Rorie is one of the brightest CTOs around and he has a fantastic track record at Betfair where he led the tech team and the company through a period of exceptional growth – something for which my publication, silicon.com, recognised him as one of the UK’s top IT leaders two years running. He’s also a great guy to deal with – energetic, passionate and extremely knowledgeable.

Rorie is a strong leader with a take-charge personality and a strong work ethic. He defines a direction, drives change and makes decisions quickly.

Rorie led a team of technologists who, under significant and chronic pressure, delivered both short-term and structural solutions that were both robust and sympathetic to client demands. This was no mean feat as he didn’t inherit a home run.

As a colleague in the betting and gaming industry in IT, Rorie is someone who has stood out as a leader and an innovator. He has shared experiences in the industry and brought success, stability and a great reputation to Betfair.

Rorie has a real talent for balancing technical innovations with commercial realities. He drives suppliers hard, but with a consistent approach to give maximum value to the business.

I’ve always found Rorie to be a leader in his field – both in terms of his ability to communicate an approach, proposition or thought, and in terms of his wider standing and perception within the industry. It’s always a pleasure speaking to Rorie and knowing he’s a safe pair of hands to explain issues to a range of key audiences. Always affable and erudite and clearly a great communicator and connector. I’d work with him any time.

During my time working in a team under Rorie’s governance we produced a substantial amount of high quality, profitable work. Only with the gift of hindsight can I fully appreciate that the environment, strong vision and means to create this work was provided to the developers by the leadership that Rorie displayed and the way in which he championed the technology team. I would have no hesitation to work under that leadership again and none in recommending the benefits of having Rorie onboard at a senior level to other organisations.

In my job almost everyone I meet is involved in technology but few people really understand or are passionate about how to apply it to innovate and transform business performance. Rorie is one of those people. He is also a skilled communicator and an inspirational leader – oh and we have also laughed alot!

Rorie is a highly professional and effective CTO. By working closely with key suppliers he has built a strong reputation for his business by leveraging some of the best talent on the planet. He is a delight to work with and his achievements are a testimony to his dedication to the business.

Rorie has led our IT department to numerous industry awards and achieved enormous success in his time at Betfair. He works in a very high stress environment that demands 24/7 uptime and has managed to implement procedures to deliver this and to recruit and retain a great technology team. He has collected the award for the Best IT place to work and the Best IT director, which says everything on its own. Betfair has grown at an astonishing rate and the fact that Rorie has managed to keep our systems working throughout this period is an enormous testament to his skills.