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Mark Davis

@markdavis

IT Director at Island Routes who led end-to-end M&A integrations and cut IT costs by 30%+ while improving service levels.

United Kingdom

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At Island Routes, I led end-to-end IT integration of acquired businesses, bringing systems, infrastructure, and networks into the Group estate while maintaining business continuity. I also restructured the distributed IT function into a centralised Group Infrastructure model, reducing costs by 30%+ and improving service levels by 15%+.

At Big Table Group, I defined and executed a cloud-first IT strategy across 200+ UK restaurant sites. I led infrastructure modernisation, including a core network redesign and WAN provider migration, and managed the Microsoft technology stack.

At MPC - Technicolor, I led IT across three global corporate offices, including an M365 migration across 250+ users and the introduction of Microsoft Teams cloud voice. At Preqin, I managed hybrid Azure and AWS infrastructure and migrated four global file servers to the cloud.

Earlier, at Shine Group, I managed IT integrations on both the acquiring and acquired sides while maintaining service across 11 sites. My work spans IT strategy, cloud and infrastructure transformation, service delivery, security, and M&A integration.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Group Head of IT

Big Table Group

Jul 2024 - Dec 2025 (1 year 5 months)

Accountable for end-to-end Corporate IT strategy and operations across a fully Azure cloud-based estate supporting 200+ UK restaurant sites. Directed all infrastructure domains, managed a complex multi-vendor ecosystem, and led annual PCI-DSS certification.

Azure Microsoft 365 Copilot Cisco Meraki FortiGate Entra ID Intune Microsoft Defender Purview SharePoint PCI DSS ITIL Vendor Management SLA Management Network Architecture Endpoint management Identity Management Security Compliance

Group IT Director

Island Routes

May 2021 - Mar 2024 (2 years 10 months)

Full P&L and strategic accountability for IT across a multi-brand hospitality and retail group. Led a team of 18+ professionals, managed a combined budget of £1.7M, and led end-to-end M&A IT integration and enterprise service transformation.

M&A Integration Azure Hybrid cloud Dynamics 365 Salesforce EDR ISO 27001 ITIL Budget Management Vendor Governance RFP DR BCP Network Integration Team Leadership Cost Reduction

IT Lead – Global Offices

MPC - Technicolor

Apr 2019 - Aug 2020 (1 year 4 months)

IT leadership across 3 global corporate offices, managing infrastructure services, virtualisation, cloud migration, voice, and networking. Assembled and led a new IT support team, managing SLAs for a 500–1,000 user base.

Microsoft 365 Teams ServiceNow SCCM ITIL Cloud Migration Virtualisation Networking SLA Management Email Security Asset Management

Head of IT – Global Offices

Preqin

Jun 2017 - Apr 2019 (1 year 10 months)

Global IT strategy and operations across 5 international offices, managing a hybrid infrastructure environment (Azure, AWS, on-premise data centre). Managed £750k annual budget and delivered 25% cost reduction while improving server uptime by 15%.

Azure AWS DevOps GDPR Network Architecture 10 GbE Mimecast Team Leadership Vendor Management Cost Reduction Server Uptime

Infrastructure Project Manager

Dentsu Aegis Network

Jun 2015 - Apr 2016 (10 months)

Infrastructure project leadership for a business-critical Global Dynamics 365 ERP deployment and Citrix EMEA application farm re-architecture. Managed full project lifecycle engaging senior global stakeholders.

Dynamics 365 Citrix Windows Server RDS Project Management Stakeholder Management

Group Infrastructure Manager

Shine Group

May 2012 - May 2015 (3 years)

Full responsibility for Group IT infrastructure and service delivery across 11 sites, reporting to the CTO with an £800k budget. Led multi-functional infrastructure team across BAU operations and a programme of M&A IT integrations.