Charlie Bennett has experience in ICT dating back to the early eighties. Since 2001 he has been dedicated to supporting the correct use of technology within education. Charlie founded Matrix in June 2003 after a 2 year study into how ICT is used and supported in schools.

Charlie Bennett’s career has provided him with experience of IT, ecommerce and communications at the highest level. Charlie spent his initial working life from 1985 to 2000 in the Financial Services Sector starting an Independent Financial Adviser firm at the age of 17. Charlie expanded the firm steadily till 1997 when it merged with Holden Meehan, the largest Ethical Investment specialists in the UK. His role of IT & Ecommerce Manager at Holden Meehan saw him at the leading edge of technology where his endeavours took Holden Meehan into the world of Ecommerce. This in turn attracted a purchase of the company by Bradford and Bingley (now Santandar).

In 2001 Charlie was asked to help a school in Croydon with their ICT strategy. He was shocked to find the lack of resources available and more importantly the lack of confidence shown by the staff in the use of ICT. This was in stark contrast to the Government spin which suggested that 3 years of earmarked funding for ICT resources and training had lead to vast ICT procurement and made teachers competent to use it. However after talking to the head teacher and to other schools Charlie realised that this Government spin was far from the truth.

Over the next two years Charlie talked to other schools to understand the main reasons why ICT was not adopted as widely as it should. He carried out in-depth research into future Government ICT directives and the education sector in general. He quickly learned that hardware and software companies were offering strategic views on what schools required and who to buy it from. This is not unlike going to a bank and asking “who is the best mortgage provider?” This led to solutions being scrapped and replaced by other just as inappropriate solutions. This was a waste of money and staff time. More importantly schools were concentrating on ICT resources and not the required impacts on learning & teaching or general school administration. In a majority of cases there were no links to school improvements at all.

During his two year research Charlie decided to create a service only company which mirrors the advice model he was familiar with in Financial Services, i.e. an independent and impartial company who act on behalf of customers to create solutions that fit a vision that the customers easily understand. These solutions are then implemented by suppliers who have gone through a vigorous tendering process. Charlie held 5 discussion groups over June and July 2003 to test the marketplace for this sort of service. This was only open to Primary schools in Croydon. 55 out of the 94 Primary Schools in Croydon came to the discussion groups which showed enough interest to ensure the viability of the proposed company. 16 out of the 55 Primary schools joined the Matrix Strategic ICT Support Service in July 2003.

To date Matrix ICT Services has supported almost 200 schools, in 15 local authorities in London and the Home Counties, towards their endeavours to achieve whole school improvement through the creative and effective use of ICT.

Up to March 2005 Charlie had been working alone building the business and market share. In April 2003 Charlie took on his first employees and expanded the business to offer Technical ICT support as well as Strategic support.

In April 2008, after a lengthy process of development, Charlie supplemented both the Strategic and Technical departments with a new Information Management in Schools (IMS) support department. This department supports school admin systems where the pupil data is stored. Matrix can now offer truly holistic ICT Support to schools so they only need to deal with one company.

At the end of 2008 Charlie disseminated control of both the Technical and IMS departments to Simon Firth and Richard Ellis respectively. The Strategic department control was later taken over by David Kempster in Sept 2009. This allows Charlie to develop the business and follow his passion to make a difference in education and to inspire generations to want to learn.

Matrix is now considered as one of the top strategic consultancy and technical ICT support companies in its sector.

Effective and creative use of ICT is a great catalyst to engage pupils and to enhance learning and teaching in our education system. Charlie is therefore extremely passionate about the Matrix vision. This vision has never changed since Matrix was founded and is followed by everyone who works at the company. Charlie knows that concentrating on this unique vision will bring more customers to Matrix and help to better educate tens of thousands of children.