People: Deborah passes new milestones

Yorkshire-born Deborah White, chief executive of bombed-out but newly ambitious digital media and technology outfit Milestone Group, is poised for a bracing few months as the company emerges from two years of ‘fire fighting’.

A former City pensions adviser who came to Milestone when it acquired ailing web-TV hopeful The Flex from Jamie Bloom and family, she holds a sizeable chunk of the AIM minnow, which she is nursing to profitability through a series of well-timed deals.

A new chairman and a possible fundraising are now on the cards as the company celebrates halved annual losses of £383,4000 and the winning of a contract with football shirt seller 4 Club and Country. Milestone’s role will be to redesign 4 Club’s website and develop a bespoke e-commerce ‘solution’ for the sports retailer.

But White, who says the old Milestone lost its way by failing to adapt to rapid technological change, is pinning much of her hopes for the company’s future in working with Jump Start Wireless. This company boasts a technology developed by former IBM boffin Dr Geoffrey Boner allowing users to deliver data, systems and processes over any hand-held device, enabling banks to integrate offshore systems or construction sites to communicate instantly with head office.

White enthuses that Jump Start, which could be in line for a flotation itself, has clients including US Homeland Security and, perhaps slightly less glamorously, Toyota.