Tom Brown

Founder & Managing Director

I have been working with computers and data throughout my entire career. After leaving Bristol University, I spent nearly 10 years programming with green and black terminals on mainframe computers. These are the types of computers that still run the airline and insurance industries today, although many people don't realize they still exist.

During this time, I used my programming skills to address the Year2K problem by adding 2 extra characters to thousands of date fields in databases. This proved to be quite lucrative for about 6 months.

More recently, I have founded two companies. Currently, I have the privilege of leading a fantastic team at The Information Lab in London. This role has been the most satisfying, thrilling, and nerve-wracking of my career so far. I doubt that I will have the fortune of leading a better team in the future.

The Information Lab was born out of my passion for Tableau Software, which I discovered in 2009. Tableau has revolutionized the way we approach data analysis and has fundamentally altered people's thinking. Inspired by this, I set out to connect with like-minded individuals who shared my enthusiasm. The Information Lab is the outcome of this search.

Any and every sport.

I don't work all the time, although my family of young adults might disagree with that. When I'm not working, I mostly spend my time playing and organizing sports. I have been playing golf and racket sports since I was a child, and I have long since accepted the fact that I'll never be very good at either. However, that doesn't stop me from trying. I've been taking lessons in both for 30 years or more.

The intersection of my efforts to start things and to play sports can be seen at my local tennis/squash club where I am currently responsible for building a large Padel development which will facilitate approximately 750 players once it is built. Though this I have developed an addition to Padel which is currently occupying far too much of my mindshare and spare time!

I've traveled whenever possible, completing two round the world trips and spending a year living and working in Hong Kong. I'm now trying to pass this love for travel onto my two children, spending as much of their holidays as possible outside of the UK.