Team

Alan Paton

Alan joined Qodea as CEO in January 2025, after a long and successful career in high profile and senior leadership roles with some of the world’s most influential technology and professional services companies. Prior to Qodea, he was an equity partner at PWC. Before that, he was Managing Director and Financial Services Industry Lead EMEA, at Google. And, previously, he was Managing Director Financial Services at Accenture.

Alan has broad and deep experience of winning and leading major transformational technology engagements in the financial services, pharmaceutical and manufacturing sectors and he has worked internationally for 25 years. He is a passionate Google evangelist and has a mission to grow Qodea as the number one Google Cloud Partner in the UK and Europe.

James Dalziel

James is responsible for all commercial and delivery operations across the group & all country operations as we drive our expansion and growth across Europe. An experienced board level executive leader, he has covered a multitude of industry vertical sectors across private and public markets and has worked internationally with responsibilities spanning across the Americas, APAC and EMEA.

After an executive leadership career with EDS, Unisys & T-Systems, Xerox & Samsung, James for the last 11 years has focused on transforming private equity portfolio companies, which he has done for Bregal Capital, EMK Capital and Soros Fund Management & Marlin Equity.

James joined Qodea in October of 2023 as Deputy CEO having worked with Marlin Equity for the last 5 years, supporting the operations group across a number of their portfolio companies.

Sarah Coleman

Sarah joined the business in 2025 and leads the people function for Qodea. With over 20 years’ experience in complex, global corporations, Sarah is a change expert and is passionate about building on Qodea’s dynamic, creative, and diverse culture, ensuring we offer compelling career opportunities for the best in global talent into our business.

Prior to joining Qodea, Sarah was Chief People Officer at Adama and during her tenure at WPP, led substantial transformation to IT people strategy and delivery model, guided implementation of innovative new ways of working, and supported DEI activity.

In her downtime Sarah likes to run, take holidays and is a full time taxi driver for her daughter.

Hugh Simpson

Hugh joined the team in 2024 and leads the engineering and delivery organisation for Qodea. With over 20 years’ experience in technology, data and applied AI, he was formerly co-founder and CEO of data and AI nearshore engineering company Liquid Technology, VP Data & AI at transformation partner Ciklum and worked at EY’s global data and analytics practice. Hugh is a former officer in the Royal Australian Navy. He holds an MBA from the University of Sydney, a GDComms and BA from the University of New South Wales and a range of technology accreditations.

Bill Bates 

Bill provides financial leadership and strategic direction, overseeing the company's financial operations, including planning, risk management and reporting. Having started his career at EY where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant, Bill spent 7 years working in Transaction Advisory Services and has over two decades of experience in senior finance positions held in acquisitive, private equity backed businesses and independent, owner-managed businesses. Bill’s knowledge and proven track record make him ideally placed to drive the company's financial strategy towards sustained growth and success.

Outside of work, Bill is a long-suffering Nottingham Forest fan and spends (what feels like) all of his free time ferrying his children to various social activities!

Leanne Kelly

Leanne joined Qodea in 2022 and leads the team in creating and executing strategies that help build the Qodea brand and drive revenue growth. Prior to joining Qodea, she spent 8 years in senior roles across business development, content, and growth marketing, with the majority of her career to date spent in B2B tech.

In her role as Director of Marketing, Leanne works collaboratively with teams from across the business, to ensure that the overall marketing strategy, and individual campaigns, are aligned with the company’s strategy and key objectives.

Leanne has a degree in Psychology and holds a number of qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.