Hugh Darwen was employed in IBM’s software development divisions from 1967 to 2004. In the early part of his career, he was involved in DBMS development; from 1978 to 1982, he was one of the chief architects of an IBM product called Business System 12, a product that faithfully embraced the principles of the relational model. He was an active participant in the development of the international standard for SQL (and related standards) from 1988 to 2004. Based in the UK, he currently teaches relational database theory at Warwick University and is a tutor and course development consultant for the Open University. He has written two books on database management as well as coauthoring several with C.J. Date. He has received honorary degrees from the University of Wolverhampton and the Open University.