In the Spotlight… Mark Buckmaster

Welcome to the third in our series of ‘In the Spotlight’ blogs where we’re introducing you to some of our colleagues from the BAME+ community who help keep our essential services running smoothly.

Meet Mark!

I’m Mark Buckmaster, the Head of Modern Workplace in the Integrated Technology Services team here at Welsh Water. It’s a fancy title which essentially means I’m responsible for making sure everyone who works here has the right devices and tools to do a good job of serving our customers as effectively and efficiently as possible.

I also take care of introducing technology that enables greater automation in our processes and policies so they’re as quick and smooth as possible as well as ensuring our technology systems and solutions are “integrated” (which basically means making sure everyone’s tech works every time without anyone noticing or having to think about it)! My role here is an essential one because whatever role you play here at Welsh Water, customers can be impacted if your devices, tools, or systems don’t work properly.

I have the privilege of leading a superb team who are professional and committed to going the extra mile to get the job done. The team does so much work behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly. We were responsible for rolling out Microsoft Teams for the company in response to the Covid 19 pandemic, allowing many of us to switch to remote working. We may have made it seem easy - it was anything but!

The pandemic means we’re still going through a lot of transformational change here in the ITS department. I’m sure that over the coming years and months myself and my team will face some of the toughest challenges yet – but we’re determined to take them on.

I’ve been at Welsh Water for just under two years now having joined from Dyson. Before that I worked for the Civil Service as a Programme Manager on some high-profile initiatives ranging from drug reclassification, MPs Expenses, electoral reform and delivery of digital services into our Courts and Justice system. I’ve also been a Contractor working in IT across both the Private and Public Sectors. I’m not truly sure how I got into IT as I started working life as a Hotelier!

Both the senior leadership team and my own team have a great sense of fun (usually at my expense) which is an important part of being part of a team. As you can imagine, being an Englishman in South Wales can get a bit tricky during the 6 Nations and Rugby World Cups!