People in Sapphire

John Morrison – Managing Director
Joe Deane – Financial Director
David Horn – Sales Director
Simon Butterick – Technical Services Manager
Lisa Maynard – Professional Services Manager
Chris Spencer – Forensic Services Manager
Vernon Poole – Business Consultancy Manager
Andy White – Software Development Supervisor
Tina Deighton – Marketing Manager

John Morrison 
John has worked within the IT industry since 1984.  In 1996, John set up Sapphire to meet the demands of an industry using an insecure World Wide Web for the first time.  His vast experience in assisting organisations deal with major security projects provides John with an excellent all round portfolio and as a result he is a recognised security expert and sits on a number of advisory panels.

John’s areas of expertise include Secure Flexible Working, Data Leakage, End Point Security, Identity and Access Management, ISO27001, Forensics and Information Assurance Strategy.  

John has been invited to present by various organisations including the North East Fraud Forum, The National Information Security Conference, CA World, Channel Focus, SOCITM and Net Focus.  Over the years, John has participated in several live radio interviews discussing relevant information security issues and has a number of press articles to his name including the Financial Times and Computing magazine.

John takes a very hands on approach to management and works very closely with both the sales and security teams to ensure the success of the business now and in the future.


Joe Deane
Joe joined Sapphire during 2001 as Financial Controller. He qualified with Ernst & Young in 1994, although prior to this, his initial career choice was within software development. Since qualification, Joe has spent a number of years in senior financial positions in both field and head office roles for a blue chip European company. He was appointed to the board as Finance Director in 2003.


David Horn
David joined Sapphire in 2002 and was invited to join the board in December 2009. As Sales Director he carries full P&L responsibility, via his team for business development and account management at Sapphire. The role also involves managing relationships with vendors, partners and suppliers to ensure that Sapphire remain an acknowledged authority in the information security arena. David is a recognised speaker on computer forensics and has contributed to two qualifications on this subject including a foundation degree and a PGCE. Prior to joining Sapphire, David worked for a number of technology plc’s in senior management roles.


Simon Butterick
Simon is the longest standing technical expert at Sapphire. Previously a consultant at Croft Computers, he has worked in the IT industry since 1989. Simon specialises in Stonesoft implementations and MS UAG; both technical installation and training. More recently he has begun to broaden his scope by completing training to enable him to carry out computer forensic investigations, Simon has worked across all public and private sectors.


Lisa Maynard
Lisa has worked for Sapphire since 1998. Originally managing and designing with a team of programmers, Lisa’s skills in project management and logistics did not go unnoticed and Lisa was promoted to become Sapphire’s Professional Services Manager (PSM).
The role of PSM is crucial to the efficiency of the organisation and Lisa’s main duties involve managing the security consultancy resource and coordinating their activities with the sales department.


Chris Spencer
Chris has worked for Sapphire as a Security Consultant since 1996 and is now the company’s Forensic Services Manager. Chris specialises in data recovery, incident response and forensic analysis. Chris enjoys sharing his knowledge with others and currently heads the Sapphire security training department providing technical courses on Computer Forensics.


Vernon Poole
Vernon is Head of Business Consultancy responsible for Sapphire's team of business consultants who deal with Information Governance and all best practice standards on Information Security Management and associated areas (ISO27000 series; IT Continuity Management; ITIL; COBIT; ValIT). Vernon is well respected in the Business Consultancy profession - holding senior positions on several professional bodies like ISACA & CIPFA. At ISACA, Vernon is the UK representative on the global Security Management Committee; and at CIPFA, Vernon is the UK IT Audit/IS representative. He holds several respected information security qualifications including CISM, CGEIT & CRISC and provides tailored advice on these qualifications. Prior to joining Sapphire, Vernon was the UK/European Security Manager with Deloitte's for over 7 years.


Andrew White
Andy has been with Sapphire since March 2005.  After graduating at Teesside University with a degree in Computer Science, Andy joined Sapphire as a web developer.  Concentrating on sophisticated web enabled applications Andy specialises in .NET, Cold Fusion and SQL.  Andy leads a team of developers and co-ordinates the technical efforts along with project management, support and customer care.


Tina Deighton
Tina has worked at Sapphire since 2003. Her role as Marketing Manager is pivotal in the day to day running of the marketing department and she works very closely with the sales team. Her responsibilities include organising all of Sapphire’s events and seminars, including Sapphire’s annual conference, NISC. Tina is key in managing the content of the Sapphire website and liaising with Sapphire’s partners and 3rd party event organisers for joint activities throughout the year.


To contact any of the individuals above, please email info@sapphire.net.  

• Support 0845 58 27999
• General 0845 58 27001
• Request a Call / Quote