Hugh Williams is the principal of Via Alto Advisors, a technology advisory practice. Companies he has advised include Doordash (US) and Moonpig (UK). He currently advises Ocado Technology (UK) and CommentSold (US). He also works with private equity firm Permira and venture capital firm Rampersand.

Hugh is the co-founder of CS in Schools, an organisation that is creating sustainable change in digital technology education in Australia. In 2022, CS in Schools is working with 64 schools and 250 teachers to deliver world-class coding classes to over 20,000 students across Australia.

Hugh is also an Enterprise Professor at the Melbourne Business School and an Adjunct Professor at RMIT University. He is a member of the board of the State Library Victoria and an ambassador for Museums Victoria. In 2021, he was made a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering.

Hugh was a Vice President at Google and eBay, and a Partner at Microsoft. Early in his career, he spent over 10 years researching and developing search technologies, and 5 years running his own startup and consultancy.

Hugh is one of the inventors of Infinite Scroll and he holds 38 US patents with another 41 US patents pending. He has published 115 works, mostly in the field of Information Retrieval. He is the author of two books, including a best-seller on programming that sold over 100,000 copies. He has a PhD in Computer Science from RMIT University in Australia.

He’s an obsessive fan of the Seattle Mariners, a 25-year Richmond Tigers member, and a Queens Park Rangers fan. He was once the drummer in Snout.

If you’re interested in Hugh’s background, visit his linkedin profile.