As of last November, Richard Corbridge is Chief Information Officer at SEGRO plc, the leading European owner, manager and developer of industrial, warehouse and logistics properties. With more than two decades of experience as a technology leader across multiple sectors, Richard brings diverse insights from his journey through healthcare, retail and government.

Previously, Richard served as Director General and Chief Digital Information Officer at the Department for Work and Pensions, overseeing one of Europe's largest IT estates. Prior to this, he held technology leadership roles at Boots UK, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, and was CEO of eHealth Ireland.

Richard will be speaking at DTX Manchester, taking place on 2nd and 3rd April at Manchester Central.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: What will you be speaking about at DTX Manchester and how does this align with this year's theme: Innovation with Integrity | Driving Value, Delivering Purpose?

My conversation will be about creating and maintaining our ability to be a Connected Leader and how to drive impact through team engagement. I have worked in a number of different sectors as a CIO over the last 20 years, and one thing I keep coming back to is the need to be part of every team element and to drive a mindset change in your organisation where 'digital' and its permutations come to the forefront.

I want to offer some experience in creating authentic connections and driving impactful leadership, creating a positive work environment through different engaging ways. The practical steps that can be taken to instil a more profound sense of ownership, accountability, and a shared purpose and vision throughout an organisation are important and may even be essential for success in 2025.

The differences across industries are ones that we can overplay if we're not mindful of the core of what we do. We need to engage our organisations in transformation and with them go on a journey where digital can be a foundation and a catalyst for change. The skills to do this are transferable from industry to industry. Building the business knowledge to be credible inside each industry is a trick that we all need to master.

Q: How will your session help attendees balance technological advancement with purposeful, responsible innovation?

Understanding how to truly impact team dynamics and identify the skills and preference gaps in your team and how to ensure this impacts the experience and output of the broader organisation gives us a chance to be innovative responsibly. We need to take organisations on a journey with us, and a key to doing this is creating a shared purpose built on an ambition for the future.

Organisations in 2025 are trying to balance the pace of change and the cultural ability to change constantly, which is hard. As digital leaders, we need to be a voice that calms down the reaction to change by making it simple, inclusive and transparent.

The key to responsible innovation is the integration of solutions we implement. We're in danger of many point solutions being the answer to 'monolith avoidance', and therefore, making sure that how we deliver is based around customer experience for the multiple solutions we have rather than expecting users to navigate numerous applications will become key. The idea of placing solutions behind a 'single pane of glass' for users and integrating the wires behind that is one I feel we need to explore more and more.

Q: If you could offer three takeaways from your speaking session, what would they be?

1. How one of the most trusted retail brands in the UK became a data-first retailer that engaged the bricks and mortar retail organisation along the journey, and what digital leaders need to do to replicate this.
2. The story of one of the UK government's biggest departments as it placed digital at the heart of change, particularly its adoption of AI, and how it succeeded initially but stalled as it moved to scale.
3. How does a CIO move to a new sector and take lessons from what has gone before to be applied to a new sector at pace while maintaining credibility and delivery of value at the core? 

Q: Why should others attend DTX Manchester?

Seeing this event outside the capital and inspiring so many people across the industry is brilliant. The tech industry is in a great place in the UK, and the 'tribe' of leaders in the north of England are coming together more and more to share, learn and support one another, inspiring to see.

Many years ago, I claimed that the CIO tenure was around four years; if you were a CIO in the same place for longer than that, then you needed to reinvent yourself and 'create' the next challenge. If you were just doing more of what you have always done, then you were no longer adding the value a CIO brings. Some people agree, some disagree but it is still my hypothesis. Events like DTX Manchester are vital for continually refreshing ideas and approaches.

This year at DTX Manchester, I want to be able to see the diversity that has increased in our industry. I want to see this in the messages we hear, the content we observe and the follow-ups we make and take away. We are here as leaders to support one another, and DTX Manchester is uniquely placed to make this happen on a scale we don't see too often.

Richard Corbridge will be speaking at DTX Manchester, taking place on 2nd and 3rd April at Manchester Central. For more information and to register – for free – please visit: https://dtx-manchester-2025.reg.buzz/