Dawn Beaumont

Senior Customer Services Manager, ICT

“I work in ICT as a Senior Customer Services Manager responsible for a team of Customer Services Managers. My main responsibility is looking after the Faculty of Medicine staff and students - I am the go to person for all IT related operational issues and act as the interface between our customers and ICT.

“I started my career at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School before it became part of Imperial as a junior programmer/receptionist. A strange job combination, but the receptionist part was soon lost when they removed the switchboard from my office. Over the years, I have held various roles in ICT including working as an IT Support Engineer, Site Manager and Faculty Support Manager before taking on my current role. My current role is varied, and you do not know from one day to the next what you might be working on or who with.

“The woman role model who has inspired me most would have to be my own mother. Despite leaving school at 14 with no formal qualifications, she worked hard to improve her situation, putting herself through evening classes and Open University courses whilst holding down a job and bringing up a family. Each new qualification gained helped her move up the career ladder. 

“A staunch trade unionist, she was always supporting the underdog and fighting for equal rights for all. I have memories of her going to support the migrant women workers on the picket line during the Grunwick Dispute and her travels to South Wales to help the striking miners and their families.

“The advice I would give to a younger colleague is a quote, which I believe is attributed to Steve Martin: ‘Be so good, they can’t ignore you’.”