After ten years as one of Sheffield Digital’s founding directors, Andy Mayer is stepping down from the Executive Board. It’s a significant moment for the organisation and for the city’s digital community; one that offers a chance to reflect on how far we’ve come, and the role Andy has played in shaping the ecosystem we now enjoy.

It started with a pint

Sheffield Digital began, as many good ideas do, with a chat in a pub. Back in 2015, Andy and fellow senior tech figures were sharing their frustrations that Sheffield’s digital businesses didn’t have a voice or representation. There was no coordinated way to influence policy, no unified sense of identity, and very little visibility beyond a handful of established names.

“I was deeply involved in the business scene back then,” Andy recalls. “We were just having a moan that we didn’t really have representation locally, or much of a voice in terms of policy.”

While for some of the founding team, policy and representation formed a big part of the drive behind Sheffield Digital, Andy’s motivation came from a different but complementary place. He wanted to build the talent pipeline, strengthen the grassroots, and make it easier for people to connect, recruit, and share knowledge.

“I really cared about talent, recruitment and community; better meetups, better support, better ways to help each other. I wanted Sheffield to be seen as somewhere you could work in a digital business, and somewhere to start and grow a digital business.”

It was also Andy who had the idea to use the .digital domain, giving birth to the iconic Sheffield.Digital brand and the distinctive red dot, an identity designed by Richard Wells at Andy’s then-studio, Yoomee.

A decade of change

Ten years on and Andy is still taken aback by what Sheffield Digital has become.

“I can’t quite believe it’s happened because it was just a chat in the pub about gathering businesses together and trying to be a bit of a thing… but here we are ten years later and we are a real thing!”

One of the main signs of progress for Andy has been the growth of the community itself. In the early days, the city’s digital scene was quietly successful but fragmented, built around a handful of well-known companies. Today, the landscape feels very different.

“Seeing 2,500 people on our Slack community, that’s huge. All the meetups, and the number of members and supporters of Sheffield Digital. Maybe there was lots of stuff happening before and we just didn’t know about it, but now there is so much more shared success and that’s how you put a city on the map.

“Ten years ago, hardly anyone even talked about Sheffield as a digital city. Now it feels normal. We have an identity.”

Andy has a long list of moments, milestones and achievements that make him proud, but there’s a few that really stand out including: the thriving membership and the organisation’s viability; the Senior Leaders’ Dinners, which have become a fixture in the business calendar; the 10-year anniversary we celebrated in May of this year; a strong relationship with The Sheffield College which is inspiring the next generation of tech talent; and the deeply engaged ‘grassroots’ community of freelancers and individuals brought together on Sheffield Digital’s thriving Slack channel.

“The Slack community blows me away. I have a lot of conversations with people who tell me, ‘Oh yeah I saw that on Slack’. There’s a real culture there of generous, talented and interesting people and that’s what a lot of people have come to associate with Sheffield’s digital scene. 2500 active members – that’s a statistic I’m really proud of.”

Challenges ahead: telling the membership story

Despite the progress, Andy is clear about the challenges that lie ahead for Sheffield Digital.

“The hardest thing has always been explaining the membership offer. People are used to a transactional membership model where you pay and receive specific things back. Our pitch is different. It’s about supporting a movement, a non-profit, rather than paying for a service.”

Making that message land consistently, especially in a difficult economic climate, is an ongoing challenge for the organisation. However, Andy believes we are well-equipped to tackle it as we continue to evolve and adapt.

“I’m a big fan of the Members Board and I’d like to see them eventually having more power and influence on the Executive Board. That’s how you bring through the next generation of leaders.

“This will mean more representation from members, more people getting involved, shaping Sheffield Digital – because we are operating in very different times to ten years ago, so we have to change and evolve.”

Why now?

Andy’s decision to step down is based on the fact that his working life has changed and he’s no longer as embedded in Sheffield’s business community as he once was.

“I’m not running a local business anymore, I don’t have employees in Sheffield or a team to represent. I’m a freelance Product Director working globally. It doesn’t feel like I have the same relevant voice for Sheffield that I did ten years ago.”

Stepping aside makes space for new voices, fresh perspectives, and the next wave of leaders, including recent additions to the Executive Board, Emma Marshall and Tom Wolfenden.

Still, Andy has no intention of disappearing from the scene. He lives in Sheffield and remains committed and active in the tech community.

Andy has founded Sheffield’s FaithTech Meetup – part of a global movement uniting people who “love tech and love Jesus”, which has already connected thousands of people around the world.

With no FaithTech presence anywhere in the UK, Andy was inspired by his own faith and a desire to create a space “where people could talk openly about working in tech and also having faith. To talk honestly about the issues we face and figure out how to follow Jesus while working in the tech world.”

The event takes place every six weeks at Sheffield Technology Parks attracting around 25 people each time, including visitors from other cities who are interested in exploring the intersection between tech and Christianity.

Plus, Andy is a Freelance Member of Sheffield Digital and is committed to using the talented community of tech professionals on his doorstep whenever opportunities arise.

“Sheffield is home,” he says, “I’m not done with the city at all and my work with FaithTech is a big motivator to stay connected with people in Sheffield.”

Andy adds, “I’ve actually just started to work with a local freelancer on something and whenever there’s a chance to use local talent on my projects, I always will.”

A lasting legacy

Andy’s contribution to Sheffield Digital and to the city’s wider tech ecosystem has been – and will continue to be – invaluable. His commitment to inclusivity, community, and long-term thinking helped shape the organisation that we are today. And his belief that Sheffield deserved recognition as a digital city has, a decade later, become reality.

As he steps down from the Executive Board, he leaves the organisation more connected, more collaborative, and more representative of the city’s digital tech scene than ever.

And that red dot is still standing strong! Thank you Andy, for everything.