Mark Stodgell is a trained architect and chartered IT professional. He has had a successful career advising asset intensive organisations on digital strategies, technology implementations and the ‘people/cultural’ aspects that accompany them.
But outside of work his passion for technology and leading teams lives on in another guise – in helping to organise and manage world-class orienteering events.
Fresh back from his role at the Sprint World Orienteering Championships in July, we grabbed coffee to talk master data, maps and mountains.
First – the day job. Tell us about your role and responsibilities at Cohesive?
I’m the Support Services Director here for the EMEA region. I lead a team of 35 people based around the globe. We support clients in all sectors – transport, marine, manufacturing – with advice and knowledge relating to the technologies they use to manage and maintain their physical assets.
The level of support depends on their requirements – whether helping to onboard a new technology like IBM Maximo, providing emergency cover, hosting, or providing a fully outsourced service. Where they don’t have the skills in-house, the latter is often what clients like as it removes the need for them to upskill internally.
The assets might be a powerplant, a paper mill or an offshore rig – and the technology we are supporting with could be anything from IBM Maximo to Planon (a leading facilities management application) or our Cohesive DataConnect solution. The challenges and needs are though, generally the same.
How did you land up in this role?
I started using CAD when I was 16/17 in school and had a keen interest in architecture. My career since then has followed the advance of digitalisation in the architecture and civil engineering sectors and its ever-growing use in the construction and operations phases.
Prior to this role I had built up an extensive portfolio of high-end advisory work. This centred on supporting organisations with large portfolios of physical assets to manage them more effectively through the use of structured data and digital technologies. I have advised and managed strategic direction and implementations for major retail organisations and universities and for high profile programmes such as Wimbledon No 1 court. I’m also a Chartered IT professional and fellow of the British Computer Society.
It made total sense for me to use all of this experience and knowledge in this new support leadership role.
”Orienteering is my ultimate form of wellness –it takes 100% per cent concentration and a massive physical effort and it takes me away from everything else – gets me in the zone!
Outside of work it’s all about technology too – but in a different guise?
Yes, in the IT leadership of major orienteering events. I have taken my risk management, people management, and strategic skills and used them to help drive the successful and efficient delivery of international orienteering events.
Most recently this was as IT Director of the Sprint World Orienteering Championships – three days of elite races and six Tour races which were held in Edinburgh, Scotland in July.
This was a vast undertaking – involving over 330 athletes from 45 countries and 1200 public participants who took part in events over five days.
The Champs were broadcast live. So it was a little stressful……
How did you get into the discipline?
I started foot orienteering at school, aged 10. I used to go off in a minibus to a wet, cold forest at weekends. I enjoyed it and got into the South West junior squad. As mountain bike orienteering emerged in the early 2000s, I started to compete in that too and reached national level – representing GB at the European Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships in Lithuania in 2008.
I started moving towards the organisational and leadership side of the sport at university and when the sport started to go digital – with electronic timing, electronic entries etc I had precisely the skills needed to help with smooth delivery.
And it’s in the family?
Yes, my wife Cath is also an orienteer and my daughter, Holly, is a chip off the old block. She has restarted Stirling University orienteering club and commentates at UK major events as well as running in home international races for Wales vs Scotland and England and Ireland. She commentated at the World Championships in Edinburgh.
We live on the side of Cannock Chase in Staffordshire – ready-made for training as it’s an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and mountain bike heaven!
What has your passion for orienteering brought to your professional life?
Managing volunteers to deliver IT brings a whole new skillset . It reminds you that you can’t manage successfully by authority in a business environment.
Orienteering is my ultimate form of wellness – it takes 100 per cent concentration and a massive physical effort and it takes me away from everything else – gets me in the zone!
Do you feel that outside interests contribute to high-performance in the workplace?
One of the attractions of Cohesive for me is its enthusiasm about people having outside work interests and its recognition that those interests help you to be a well rounded individual and brings different perspectives to the workplace.
I am also impressed by their determination, as a successful organisation, to give back. We have had a Ukranian family living with us since May 2022 and Bentley (Cohesive is a Bentley Systems company) helps considerably towards their food and transport costs which allows them to go back a couple of times a year to visit family.
Do you still compete? If so, what are your current goals?
I do but my current sporting focus is something a little different. I’ve signed up for the Everest Marathon in May – the highest marathon in the world. I only ever intend to do one marathon – so why not make it one to remember….
Quick-fire questions:
1.Bitter espresso or long latte?
Flat white – best of both worlds
2.Sporting hero?
Never really had heroes just people I admire ….. Probably Mark Cavandish in current times.
3.Most loved tech?
Low cost GPS sports tracking and heart rate monitoring — puts some data behind performance
4.Home, office or hybrid?
Home – giving me flexiblity to also work from my parents house as they get older and need more support.
For more information on how Cohesive supports asset owner operators with digital transformation and the change programmes which are such a vital part of them, please contact us here.
Verdantix, the independent advisory and research organisation, gave us the top score in its ‘green quadrant’ report both for our Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) software implementation services and for our skill at supporting organisations with the cultural and process changes necessary to make digital transformation programmes a success. You can read the report here.
