Geoff Harmer, PhD is an independent consultant specialising in IT governance and best practices for IT service management based on COBIT, ITIL, ISO 20000, ISO 38500 and other lesser-known frameworks and standards. He is the principal and founder of Maat Consulting Ltd (www.maatconsulting.com).

Since 2001 he has specialised in communicating and developing ideas and approaches around standards and frameworks for information technology through courses, workshops, seminars and consultancy. He is an accredited lecturer in ITIL, COBIT and ISO 20000 and is an associate lecturer in Technology with the UK Open University.

Over 28 years he has worked as network manager, technical trainer, consultant, training manager and presenter of courses, workshops and seminars in 23 countries.

He has trekked the Annapurna circuit in Nepal, trekked coast-to-coast across the Scottish Highlands several times and his ambition is to visit the South Pole, but not by trekking there! He lives in the UK, but his wife, an Egyptologist, would prefer it if he moved to Luxor, Egypt.

Since 1986 he has been known to hide his identity under the pen-name Deaf-Llama; a name he was given by delegates from a well-known investment bank when overnight they changed everyone’s name-card to a “sounds-like” name.