Flack Profile: Duncan Burns

Duncan Burns is the head of the technology department at Hill & Knowlton. He manages a team of seven and works on a range of clients including Qualcomm and eBay.

Name and job title: Duncan Burns, Senior Vice President and Head of Hill & Knowlton's DC Technology Practice

Hometown: London, United Kingdom

How long have you been in your current position? 8 yrs with H&K, 2 yrs in DC and 6 weeks as Head of Tech

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grow up? A diplomat like my father or a rugby player for Scotland. Ideally both.

What college did you go to and what was your major? I went to the University of Essex in the UK for a degree in American Studies, including a fascinating year abroad at UC Berkeley. I also have a Masters in American Politics from the University of Essex.

What was your very first job? An enthusiastic but erratic summer caddy on a small golf course in New Hampshire, but I did earn enough to buy a set of starter clubs. Now I'm an enthusiastic and erratic golfer! My first proper job was for the British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong - an amazing city to work in. I went back in July for the first time in 8 years and was astounded at the changes but also at how vibrant and innovative a city it still is.

Where do you get your news from? Washington Post, Financial Times, NY Times, Wall Street Journal and the BBC website. I've then got RSS feeds for about 40 different tech, business, energy and sport sites. Two technology sites I've been reading a lot are the Wall Street Journal's Business Technology blog and our own Washington Post's tech blogs. Two non-tech I'd definitely recommend - Chris Cooley's blog and the Freakonomics blog at the Times.

IPhone or Blackberry? Blackberry for the moment, but there's so much cool stuff coming in wireless that it may be different in 6 months.