A warm welcome to 2019’s President, Simon Burton. Here we sat down with Simon for a mini interview with him on his new role as President and SLA Europe in 2019.
Tell us how you started off in the information profession?
I started out in the sales team at Profound in 2009 and have worked in the information industry ever since both for information providers and in recruitment. In 2014 I set up CB Resourcing a leading provider of recruitment services to the information profession.
How did you first get involved in SLA and why?
I attended my first SLA event in 2009 and met my current business partner. Over the years I got to know some of the board members who invited me to join as Sponsorships Chair back in 2016 where I have worked closely with the events team.
Why SLA?
The information sector has a wide range of professional bodies and they all do great work. The big strength of SLA for me has always been its breadth.
I sit on a board with professionals from global consulting firms, top academic institutions, leading scientific organisations, top law firms and global investment banks. The wider SLA network has active participation from information professionals in almost every kind of industry and geography you can imagine with excellent events and online platforms to facilitate collaboration across the organisation.
Everything SLA Europe does is volunteer led and relies the incredible commitment of our committees and on the fantastic support we receive from industry.
What’s new with SLA Europe?
Over the last couple of years, we’ve built on the fantastic programme of events such as the summer party, quiz and multiple CPD based events targeted at topical subjects such as AI, Fake news and Career Stories at stunning venues such as the British Library. We’ve also begun a fantastic webinar programme with speakers from across the information industry and registrations numbering in triple figures.
What are your plans for the coming year?
Well I have big shoes to fill and would like to take the opportunity to thank outgoing President Katharine Schopflin for her work last year moving SLA Europe forward. We had excellent initiatives such as increased virtual events further engaging the SLA Europe membership as well as collaborating with the NYC chapter. Katharine even managed to launch a new book with Matt Walsh on KM last year, do look it up if you’d like to find out more.
Building on the fantastic work of my predecessors I am looking forward to further expanding our virtual events. I also believe it’s important for SLA to listen to both its members and the information industry more broadly to ensure we are focused on what the subjects that are most important to the industry. I’m very happy to hear from anyone hoping to make a contribution to our agenda
SLA Europe conference
SLA Europe will be launching our first European conference later this year Co-Chaired by Niamh Tumelty and John Coll. We have already had extensive interest in this event, and I look forward to working with the conference committee as this develops.
Working with SLA Europe
I’d like to thank our generous sponsors we’ve worked with over the past few years. Dow Jones, Fitch, Springer Nature, Hammicks, Evalueserve, Findout, BVD, Perfect Information, Infotrack, Global Business Information, TRG and Manzama. We are always keen to talk to companies who are looking to get a message across to the information community. To discuss please contact