Playfulwork Ltd is led by the husband and wife partnership of Mark Dodgson and Sheridan Ash.
Sheridan Ash is a nationally recognised leader on how new technologies can tackle our greatest challenges, grow the economy, and address national technology skill shortages by developing and using diverse talent. She has expertise in shaping policy and strategy in the public and private sectors for dealing with the technology, social mobility, and skills agendas. She is Founder and co-Chief Executive Officer of the charity ‘Tech She Can’, which inspires all children, but especially girls and women, to enter into careers in technology; Co-founder of Birmingham Digital Futures established to tackle the region’s digital skills gap; Co-Chair of the City of London Corporation Digital Skills Taskforce; and a member of PA Consulting Foundation Board and L’Oreal UK Advisory Board. She is also a ember of the UK Government's Digital Skills Council (DiSC), an influential advisory body that provides strategic leadership and facilitates collaborative action between industry and government.
Sheridan was named the most influential woman in UK technology 2024 by Computer Weekly
Previously she was Technology & Innovation Leader at PwC, leading its digital transformation strategy, including assessing and using AI and other emerging technologies in the firm and its clients. She has broad-based senior executive experience with deep expertise in formulating and delivering strategic and disruptive transformational changes in the private and public sector, and is most effective when driving collaboration and organisational change, and influencing senior executives and boards and national and local governments. A strong motivation lies in ensuring the equitable and ethical development and use of technology to improve productivity and quality of life in the UK.
Sheridan has wide-ranging leadership and governance experience, with excellent interpersonal and team-building skills, and experience at managing multi-million pound budgets. She adds value to high level decision making on technology, transformation and change management, purpose, diversity, the people and skills agenda, Environmental Social and Governance and regulatory matters, and, importantly, how this all fits in with commercial and public imperatives, risks, and performance.
Among her other national recognitions, Sheridan was named amongst the IT Leaders 100 list of the most influential IT leaders in the UK in 2024, one of the 30 most influential women in Cyber 2021; TechUK President's Award 2023; Novi Business Women Leader of the Year and Social Impact Leader 2022.
She was awarded an MBE in Queen’s Birthday Honours list in 2020 for services to young girls and women through technology.
Mark Dodgson is a researcher, teacher, and author with extensive experience in academia and business. He is currently Emeritus Professor at the University of Queensland; Visiting Professor at Imperial College London; and Executive-in-Residence at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
Previous roles include Senior Fellow, Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex; Executive Director, National Graduate School of Management, Australian National University; and Director of the Technology and Innovation Management Centre, University of Queensland. His PhD is from Imperial College London, and his various professorial chairs have been in innovation management and innovation studies.
He has written or edited 19 books and written over 100 academic articles on innovation and entrepreneurship, and has researched and taught the subject in over sixty countries around the world. His research addresses how innovation is changing with an especial interest in project-based organizations, science-business collaboration, the behaviours of highly successful entrepreneurs, and innovation in professional services companies and in philanthropy. He has published widely on innovation in 18th century England, and his most recent book is on innovation in China. He has recently completed a research project on the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine and is currently finishing writing a book on the development of power from nuclear fusion.
Mark has advised numerous companies and governments throughout Europe, Asia, and North and South America and has been on the Boards and Advisory Boards of two multibillion-dollar companies and five start-ups. He was for a period the Director of the Oxford Centre for the Study of Philanthropy. In 2019 he was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to the nation in the field of business innovation. He is a joint Australian/British citizen.
As well as continuing his research activities, Mark teaches on MBA/EMBA/Executive Courses in the areas of Leading Innovation, across many sectors, and including in large, professional service companies, and in megaprojects; Entrepreneurship, including the behaviours of successful entrepreneurs; Philanthropy, including how it is changing as a result of new technology; and Creative and Playful Organizations.
Website: www.markdodgson.org
