Justus Brown

Your Story:

Justus is an experienced software professional and product thinker, with over twenty years’ experience in the Software industry. Justus leads Acre, a blockchain-based financial advice platform for mortgage and protection advisors which will help 25 000 families finance their home this year. Formerly responsible for the venture studio at Founders Factory, as Chief Product Officer he led product management and design teams, focusing on the incubation process, taking new ideas from concept to spin-out in over six sectors: edtech, fintech, media, AI/big data, wellness & beauty, and travel. Tasked with creating a startup a month, then with strategic projects and expansion into new sectors (such as retail with Marks & Spencer), as well as internationally (for example South Africa). Justus’ experience also includes roles at HERE and Nokia, where he architected a new content management system to process and deploy transit data including real-time information on an up-to-the minute basis for customers such as Amazon and Microsoft. Justus holds a BSc in Computer Systems Engineering and a BA in History from Stanford University.

Your Impact:

I've been building teams in technology and financial services for ages, but I don't feel like the queer community is visible enough in these industries. In my own teams, I've been a champion for diversity in gender, sexuality, and nationality - not easy in a straight male-dominated industry like ours. Protecting and nurturing team members who are transgender or HIV+, who have often faced discrimination in past roles, has been rewarding and taught both me and my teams so much. Pushing Nokia / HERE.com to join the HRC Corporate Equality Index and aim for a perfect score across its global locations, as well as taking part in the It Gets Better campaign, were particular highlights in previous roles. I want to work together with other Pride Powerlist leaders to drive visibility in UK financial services.

Your Advice:

It starts with being yourself. I remember at the beginning of my career when serving Wall Street clients being worried about being authentically myself and my sexuality. Turns out this helped me identify with others rather than holding me back, and I would recommend authenticity to anyone working in our space.