Anthony G Watson

Career

A Christian who studied theology, Watson initially considered becoming a minister, but discovered he enjoyed working with technology while working part-time for AOL Ireland during his degree. As a result, he started working for First-e Bancorp (Europe's first internet bank), going on to take senior roles at Microsoft, CitiGroup and Unisys. Between 2006 and 2009, he was the senior vice president and global head of technology services at Wells Fargo, where he ran technology for the bank across 44 Counties.

Watson worked as chief information officer for Barclays' retail arm from 2009, overseeing the launch of several mobile apps including the bank's Pingit service for sending and receiving money, about which he said "The feedback we have had around Pingit in the media and on Twitter was amazing, we were in the top spot for a while with that launch, only porn stars get that sort of traffic." In interviews, he reported being responsible for a £3 billion annual IT budget.

In February 2014, Watson left Barclays to move from the UK to the USA, where in April 2014 he begin working as chief information officer for Nike. In that role he signed a significant deal with Juniper Networks, and completed a five-year road map for IT strategy at the company.

After 10 months at Nike, Watson left the company in December 2014. This was announced as being for "personal reasons." Business Insider and Fortune both quoted unnamed sources who explained he was dissatisfied with life in Portland, Oregon, where he lived in order to work at Nike's Beaverton headquarters. However Watson has stated neither Portland nor Beaverton contributed to his decision to leave.

Shortly after leaving Nike, Watson joined Bitreserve in April 2015 as its president and chief operating officer. The then six-month-old company allows customers to trade in Bitcoin and hold more stable investments (currency or commodities) that are denominated in Bitcoin. Watson has stated he believes the company will help make the financial system fairer, saying "I wanted to do something that is valuable for people broadly, not just in one industry. And what Bitreserve is looking to achieve really democratizes finance. It's going to help people all over the world. The financial system is inherently unfair—it's always the richest who have access, and the poorest don’t have access, or when they do, they have to pay astronomical rates."

Watson has also been a director of Digital Globe Services since 2013.

Activism

At Barclays, Watson was the co-chair of the bank's "global diversity & inclusion panel". In 2013 he became the first non-US citizen to join the board of directors for the LGBT charity GLAAD, and he is an ambassador for the LGBT charity Stonewall. He is a chair of the European Diversity Awards, as well as acting chair of the judges, and is a patron of the UK charity Diversity Role Models. He has spoken in schools about LGBT issues and careers.

Watson came out to his family at age 21, but did not come out at work until about six years later. The Guardian quoted him saying, "I remember being shocked by a colleague using the term 'filthy queer' in a meeting, so much so that I had to pull him aside and say, 'I'm gay, and you don't get to use that language here. If you want to use it at home, that's your call, but in this context, you don't get to use that language.' That's actually why I came out at the time. It's important that people take a stand on these issues."

Fortune has described Watson as "an outspoken gay rights activist," while The Guardian has described him as "one of the most influential gay men in the world."