Swinstead steps down from Parity

Philip Swinstead has stepped down from his role as Deputy Chairman at Parity.

Swinstead is one of a rare breed of UK IT services entrepreneurs to make it really big. Although he is now most associated with Parity, it was his role as the founder of Systems Designers in the 1960s for which I will truly remember him. Systems Designers went onto acquire SCICON and SD-Scicon was the foundation of EDS UK - now the UK's largest IT Services player. Indeed many at EDS - like Bill Thomas - date from those Swinstead days. Parity was a 'second coming' for Swinstead. In 1993 he spotted that IT staffing (ITSA) would be big but was highly fragmented on the supply side. He brought together a host of smaller IT staff agencies to create what was to be known as Parity. Its zenith time was in the build up to Y2K. But after that, like all other ITSAs, it really suffered in the downturn. Unfortunately ill health hit Swinstead but he really came back in every sense and has seen Parity really recover.

I wish Philip and Parity every good wish for the future.