Ben Wishart CIO50 2008

For the last four years as change and information director of Whitbread, Ben Wishart has embraced a shared service operation that focuses on simple business processes and improved service across the company's brands, which include Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, Costa Coffee and Premier Inn.

Wishart has 20 years of experience across management, sales, marketing, consultancy and IT for the likes of American Express, Capgemini and Tesco.

Wishart, who has a degree in geological sciences and a PGCE teaching qualification actually started out as an outdoor activities instructor and spent five years running white-water rafting operations in Kathmandu and outdoor centres in Wales.

Lured by the corporate world he joined Hoskyns (now Capgemini) in IT recruitment sales, before gaining an MBA from Cranfield University.

Although his days of white-water rafting are now long behind him, Wishart is still a keen cyclist.