• Job title Founder
  • Organisation Cobalt Telephone Technologies
  • CourseMBA, 1992 , 1992

Why did you choose Cranfield?

Harry graduated in engineering and served as an officer in the British Army during the last years of the Cold War, before deciding to study at Cranfield in order to make the transition to a commercial career. He chose Cranfield because, having graduated in engineering and worked in the military, he felt that in both sectors the Cranfield brand had resonance.

What was Cranfield's impact

Harry Clarke is the Founding Director of Cobalt Telephone Technologies, a leading UK provider of transaction processing services, best known for its “RingGo” phone parking service, an M-payments brand which has over two million registered users.

Harry describes the MBA year as the “the most intellectually demanding year of my life”, and credits the programme with giving him the skills and understanding to operate successfully in a business environment.

After graduating, Harry spent several years working in telecoms for Mercury Communications and for the Automobile Association, before deciding to set up his own company.  He now runs Cobalt Telephone Technologies together with Joanna Miller, CEO (Cranfield MBA, 2005).

In October 2010 Harry negotiated Cobalt’s first foreign acquisition, thereby establishing a beachhead presence for RingGo's expansion into the Unitsaed States.