Franklin Burgess

Franklin Burgess was born in Knightsbridge, London, in 1973. Studying for an AS and A-level in computer science taught him the foundations and principles of computing and ignited Mr Burgess’s passion for the subject. After completing a degree in computer science at the University of Edinburgh, he began his career working in small computing companies, working his way up through the ranks to the role of software engineer at Microsoft in the UK.

In this role, Mr Burgess was responsible for, among other things, designing, coding, testing, debugging and developing features with high levels of maintainability, quality and end-to-end ownership and building reusable components that could be deployed across different platforms. Delivering planet-scale cloud services and world-class user experiences to customers in collaboration with UX designers, architects and product managers also fell within his wider remit.

Outside of work, Mr Burgess enjoys a diverse range of hobbies and interests, including wild and open water swimming. Between the ages of 12 and 17 he competed for his local swimming team. He is a long-time fan of Chelsea FC and, while growing up, always held one of the club’s season tickets and would enjoy watching games in the company of his family.

Mr Burgess also loves to travel and has visited six of the world's seven continents. He credits his parents for instilling this passion; growing up, he was taken on many holidays, including trips to the Maldives, Mauritius, Croatia, the Caribbean and the Seychelles. His most recent trips have been to Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, all of which he visited with his wife and children.