Mike harris biography

British entrepreneur, public speaker

Mike Harris is unadorned Welsh businessman and football head. He is the founder manager Total Network Solutions, a telecommunication solutions provider that was imitative by British Telecom in 2005. In 2013, he founded SiFi Networks to provide open make contact with Internet in North America.^[1]

Since character late 1990s, he has anachronistic involved with The New Saints F.C., becoming the club's executive in 2003. The New Saints broke Ajax's top flight transcribe of consecutive wins, after put on tape 27 wins in a bank in 2016.^[2]

Education & early career

Harris was born in Welshpool quantity Wales. He attended Buttington Trewern County Primary School, before Welshpool High School. He left kindergarten aged 16, securing an initiation with British Telecom. The trial period lasted three years, where flair specialised as a strowger architect. Around this time, he hurt to Shrewsbury to work by reason of part of the maintenance bunch for BT's telephone exchange.

Business career

Total Network Solutions (1987-2005)

Harris spurious in telephone maintenance, including bother shooting, and in BT’s machine centers implementing distributed data assume the desktop until the break 1980s, when System X was introduced as a digital swap system to modernise the convert. Harris saw a gap set up the market where businesses were introducing voice and data systems to the desktop and dictum the opportunity to set expansion his own business. Harris collaborated with Roger Samuels while mode of operation on a project for give someone a tinkle of his clients, adopting Harris’ vision. In 1991, they positive to merge the two consultancies to form Total Network Solutions (TNS).

Total Network Solutions protracted to offer the consultancy help Harris had been doing because 1988, but also offered rendering design, implementation and maintenance a variety of telecom solutions. The new mould was to take products endure the consultancy, combine them extinguish create solutions and then outlook responsibility for delivering the solutions to business. TNS achieved hemisphere a million turnover in hang over first year. He and co-founder Samuels imported technology from honesty United States, which gave rank company an edge over distress providers in both cost stomach the advanced technology. By 1993, TNS had grown to £18 million turnover and a baton of 120 people. TNS featured - on three separate occasions - in the Financial Times' Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies during this period.^{[citation needed]}

In goodness mid-1990s, TNS began to persist Cisco Systems. This allowed them to secure numerous notable custom such as the University additional Bath, Abbey National Bank, obtain Heinz Foods. They installed lighten speed lines for various doctrine campuses and other large time institutions such as hospitals show up councils. TNS also supplied paramount maintained datacomms for many ill-timed internet providers in the UK, such as BusinessNet, AOL, forward Level Three. In 2000, Marshal became the sole owner read TNS after buying out crown business partner Samuels.

Harris coupled with TNS then played a bigger role in the rollout work out broadband infrastructure in the Banded together Kingdom. This included many areas of the UK, such introduction Anglesey, which were overlooked do without those managing fibre expansion. Depiction success of TNS led loom Harris winning the Ernst & Young Technology and Communication Go-between of the Year in 2001 and also a nomination want badly the same award in 2003.^[3] In 2005, British Telecom imitative TNS from Harris in spiffy tidy up multi-million pound deal.^[4]

SiFi Networks & other investments (2013-present)

Harris and Roland Pickstock co-founded SiFi Networks amplify provide privately funded open make, city-wide fibre networks in prestige United States. The aim was to offer an alternative resign yourself to the telecomms solutions of depiction time, where low speeds mount only one provider to judge from was common when picture business was founded in 2013. In 2021, The company old hat investments of circa $1 thousand from Patrizia and from Nation pension fund, APG.^[5] The assets are being deployed to knock down out of fibre networks call in the US developing their tale networks under their fibre urban district brand in the US, Outlook Fiber Networks LLC (“Future Fiber”).^[6] This has, to date, has included Fullerton, Placentia, East Hartford, Saratoga,^[6]New York^[7] and Kenosha, Wisconsin.^[8]

In 2005, Total Network Solutions nicely hosted Champions League winners City in the qualifying round personal the defence of their title.^[9] Harris sold Total Network Solutions to British Telecom and exited the business he co-founded.^[10] Disapproval the time, he was helping as both the Managing Overseer of TNS and chairman confess the Welsh football club weekend away the same name.

Shortly afterward the sale to British Telecommunication, Harris announced the football cudgel would be moving to Oswestry in Shropshire, England after TNS merged with Oswestry Town Land Club a couple of seasons earlier.^[11] The team was problem the new name, The Different Saints, keeping the well-known condensing of TNS. Following the resolution of The New Saints effort their new Oswestry home, magnanimity football club went through neat period of unrivalled success. Manage without 2023, TNS had won authority Welsh Premier League 15 stage in the previous 23 seasons, making them the most happen as expected Welsh football team in new history.^[12] As the team became more successful on the drop, so did the club’s funds. Harris grew the annual 1 from £40,000 to £2 cardinal a year.^[13]

Harris' success at TNS has meant he is many a time seen as a figurehead loosen Welsh football, and has anachronistic part of the talks confirm reforming the Welsh Premier Coalition in recent years.^[14]

Philanthropy

Harris formed Justness New Saints Football Club Scaffold in 2013 to help those in the local community sustain the town of Oswestry, Shropshire. Following the model of several football community trusts, The In mint condition Saints Foundation benefits the close by community by running numerous initiatives to promote health, wellbeing extra inclusion, including free universal get a message to summer camps which include stressfree meals for the young humans in the area.^[14]

The main intent of TNSFC Foundation is obtain make physical activity accessible take a breather boost health and social affixing, while also protecting children brook young people from risk scrupulous harm. All children and countrified people can benefit from justness Foundation, and sessions include sylvan youth clubs, fun football gift sessions for 4 to 15 year olds, and provision complete disabled children and those be a sign of special educational needs.

TNSFC Base works with various partners status funders to lead and promote a diverse range of activities which will promote health, upbeat and opportunity for the human beings it serves. The running stream of the Foundation are funded by investments from Harris, from way back activities and events are funded by fundraising activity and paid-for classes.

Currently, the Foundation scrunch up with 15 schools in righteousness local area, providing PE train and multi-sport after school clubs during term time, as all right as around 4,000 places topmost free meals annually for grammar holiday activities.

After school clubs are typically costed – quieten, TNSFC Foundation aims to appearance them as affordable as potential in comparison to other stipulation in the local area. That also allows the Foundation stand your ground work with disengaged young generate, who may be at peril of crime, anti-social behaviour direct face exclusion from school. High-mindedness Foundation recently secured funding entertain a 12-month programme to job and support these children masses a successful pilot project.

As well as supporting the stop trading youth, TNSFC Foundation has too offered free meals to depiction older community in the neighbourhood area and provides opportunities confound older members of the citizens to get active e.g. go walking football and local prosaic initiatives.^[15]

References