A former Salford City College student is featured in the esteemed Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list for 2016. Steve Marsh, who studied A-Levels at Pendleton Sixth Form Centre (known then as Pendleton College), is listed among the top young leaders, creative inventors and entrepreneurs in the Science and Healthcare sector.
After completing his A-Levels at Pendleton, Steve studied for a degree in Computer Science at the University of Manchester, before going on to do PhD at the University of Cambridge. He was the first person from his high school, Irlam and Cadishead College, to earn a PhD.
Steve, who comes from Irlam, is the Founder and CEO of GeoSpock- a big data search engine for the rapidly-changing, multi-dimensional, physical world. The 27-year-old came up with the idea whilst working as a PhD student at the University of Cambridge, where he was developing a real-time, extreme-scale super computer for simulating human brain function.
The company was founded in 2013 with fellow entrepreneur Dr Darrin Disley, and Steve’s vision is that Geospock will become the go-to solution for complex big data. In 2012 Steve was named as Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the University of Cambridge, and last year his company won a Business Weekly Award.
Simon Ellershaw, Curriculum Manager for IT, taught Steve at Pendleton Sixth Form Centre. He said: “Steve was an absolutely fantastic student- he was well liked and had outstanding grades. I always knew he would go on to achieve great things. He is a superb role model for all of our current students.”
Steve commented: “”The announcement came as a bit of a shock. Being named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list is obviously a huge honour and it’s great that the all of the hard work is starting to pay off.
“I left Salford City College in 2006 (then called Pendleton College) with A-levels in Maths, Physics and IT. What I learnt at college gave me a great opportunity to go on to study Computer Science at two brilliant universities, first Manchester for my undergraduate then Cambridge for my PhD.
“If I had to give my 18-year-old self a piece of advice it would be to never let an opportunity pass you by and to work harder than everyone else around you – if you do those two things the rest will come.”
