Relentless and creative of spirit, engineer and erstwhile entrepreneur Harry Clarke (FT MBA 1991) is Group Commercial Director of ParkNow and as such a leading influencer in the means by which the Europeans search and pay for their car parking.
Born in Brentwood, Essex, Harry was schooled locally subsequently leaving Hull University to be commissioned into the British Army - a formative and engaging time spent largely abroad & rounded off by mine clearing in wartime Iraq. Demilitarised by the Cranfield MBA he spent a fairly ineffective few years in the political swill of junior UK corporate life before realising that directive action suited him best. Unwilling to afford a garage he hired a portakabin in 1997 in which to launch Cobalt Telephone Technologies his bootstrap start-up which grew to become best known for its “”RingGo” phone parking brand that now serves over ten million UK motorists. Selling out his more than 80% stake in 2012 he flirted with relaxation only to eschew early retirement to remain in the engaging and fast evolving parking sector beyond his earn out. He currently contributes as one of the three man board of ParkNow, Europe’s leading parking payment company currently 100% owned by BMW and has primary responsibility for sales, marketing and European market development.