Stephen Simpson, Director of Consumer Marketing at AVG tells us a little bit about his time at the company and shares some of his interests away from the world of antivirus.

Describe what you do at AVG.

It’s my job to make sure that our customers can easily understand what products we have available, and help them decide which product is best suited to help them and the way they use technology. It is also my job to listen to customers and make sure that we are taking on their feedback and building products that constantly innovate to meet their growing and changing needs. I am mindful that technology and the internet can be a very complex world, so I want to ensure that AVG does everything it can to simplify and improve our customer’s experience of using technology, and that when they use an AVG product, that it delivers exactly on the expectations our customers have when they installed it. I have a great team of people that I work with who are all passionate about the needs of customers, and making sure that AVG lives up to their expectations.

What’s been the most exciting moment for you at AVG?

I think it would have to be our latest product launch – AVG 2013. This is my 3rd major release with AVG, having joined the company just before the launch of AVG 2011, and each one keeps getting better and better. We had all been working so hard for so many months, and to finally deliver the product to market, and see it finally ‘go live’ was both a relief and an exciting moment. We’ve already had some great feedback from both the press and our users, who have all applauded our focus on simplicity and ease of use. I was in New York City for our major launch event, where we were joined by more than 60 journalists from every continent and were able to spend a couple of days with them helping them to get to know our latest product range better. This finished with an evening event on the 5th September, where we had keynote speeches from our CEO, JR Smith, and our CTO Yuval Ben-Itzhac, who both gave some great insight into our goals, both with this product launch, and with AVG in the future.

If you could meet any actor, director, or writer, who would it be – and why?

Baz Lurhmann (Director of Moulin Rouge, Australia, Strictly Ballroom). I am originally from Sydney, Australia, and Baz has done so much to elevate Australian art and cinema in the global environment – I would love to sit down with him and learn about his experiences and how he managed to become so successful, and break through the often closed Hollywood scene.

What’s your favorite film or stage play and why?

Hamlet. I am a Shakespeare buff, and I think Hamlet is my favorite. It’s rich and complex, and there are so many different ways to interpret it, that it means that different actors, directors, theatre companies and film makers can just keep re-interpreting it and keep it interesting. I like that it keeps constantly evolving as a work of art, 500 odd years after it was written.

Would you rather travel back 500 years or forward 500 years – and why?

500 years forward, definitely. There has been such technological innovation in the past 100 years, that I think it would be amazing to see the world 500 years from now and see what impact technology has had to human beings and the way we live, work and play.

And lastly, what is your favorite internet safety tip?

That everyone needs to think very clearly about the fact that they most likely now use their Smartphone to do many of the things that they used to only do on their laptop or PC, and that this means that they need to be careful to ensure that their Smartphones are as well protected as their computers!

Check out Stephen in action: