Following the successful sale of the ESS (SIMS) business to Montagu Private Equity, appointed as CEO to ensure business continuity throughout the carve out from Capita, whilst agreeing priorities for investment to ensure the business achieves its full potential. Represented ESS in front of the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) to clear the way for a successful merger of ESS with ParentPay (see: https://www.montagu.com/news/cma-approves-the-merger-of-ess-and-parentpay/). Furthered the strategy to build a world class marketing organisation and built out a strategy to place ESS' School MIS (SIMS) at the very heart of the United Kingdom EdTech Eco system.

Initially appointed by Capita to transform the business and unite the team of 750 to get behind the vision of "We exist to improve educational outcomes". Built out and strengthened the senior management team to make certain that the 19000 school customers were placed at the heart of all decision making within the business. Completely transformed and refocussed the entire sales and marketing proposition including the go-to market approach coupled with building a new support infrastructure. Played a pivotal role in persuading the main board to sell the business even though ESS was in many ways the Jewel in the Capita crown. Led the successful sale of the £90 Million turnover software business to Montagu private equity for £400 Million and then took over as CEO during the transition period.

I was brought in to the business to be the driving Board presence (only finance and manufacturing not reporting), leading all commercial functions including sales and marketing, procurement, product management, R&D, professional services, etc. The team I led were very successful. We grew EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation ) by 30% to £4.5 million. The key to this success was increasing the more profitable professional services, support and managed services elements of the business to over 15% of turnover. We changed the sales team ethos from farming existing business to hunting new business. This increased the accounts on the books by 20% (600 new business customers in total). In addition, we achieved 102% of the customer retention target. I retained final authority over pricing/ discount levels. One thing I'm particularly proud of is that I personally led and then bidded for and secured Stone's largest ever contract win (valued at £25 million over 5 years) - it is striking what can be achieved by a good team of people. Key to the success of the enterprise was setting realistic and appropriate KPI’s at individual and team level and also creating incentive schemes that, when implemented, drove the correct behaviours and only rewarded performance that translated into real business benefit. I established new supply chain partners and also worked closely with existing suppliers and this gave us a significant commercial advantage over our competition. Partners included Intel and Microsoft. In short, I was pivotal in creating a team ethos, breaking down organisational strongholds across all departments and making certain that the solutions that were developed were needed and valued by customers.

Brought in as MD, I was instrumental in two very lucrative exits, selling the business twice (retained in the business after the first sale). The first occasion was as a standalone business and then latterly as part of a PLC Group, selling for over £100 million on both occasions. The main element underpinning our performance was radically changing a highly technical big data analytics capability into a high value commercial proposition, growing revenue organically by 50% from £10 million to £15 million in only four years. We grew net profit by 85% from £6 million to £11 million in the same time, increasing net margin from 59% to 74% through aggressive contract negotiation coupled with productivity improvements. One thing that I'm particularly proud of is that I initiated the contact with then secured contracts with every major UK energy supplier. We also successfully migrated a gas industry service into the electricity supply market, increasing market opportunities substantially which, of course, we exploited to the full. In short, we dominated the market, building high barriers to entry for aspiring competitors which inevitably failed to dent our share of the market. I convinced the Board to invest heavily in core systems and processes. This drove strong improvements in productivity whilst establishing brand awareness with every key client and prospect. Finally, I prepared the business for the next growth phase by building a team in the USA, ready to exploit another market in a similar fashion.

I was brought in to the business as it was trading close to break even when there was a great deal of potential lying untapped within. The business traded in IT services and infrastructure, the remit being to bring to full potential, maximise profit and then sell on. In the first year, the trading position was transformed, achieving just over £600,000 profit from what had been a break even start point. This gave the shareholders and all other stakeholders confidence in what we were doing and they were delighted in progress and backed me to the hilt. By the end of the third trading year, the business contributed 10% of Group profit yet only employed 5% of people, achieved 17% return on net sales (against 7% peer average), employed 70 people and turned over £8.5 million. The business was ultimately sold (along with a sister business) for £13.25 million when previous commercial values would have been close to zero (asset value only). As well as the personal satisfaction gained throughout the process, I'm particularly proud of the fact that we acquired and then fully integrated the closest (loss making) competitor, turning the business around and making £1.2 million net profit in the combined business. The key element in the transformation was increasing profitable sales. In one case, I secured a £35 million managed services contract with the Isle of Man Government. Coupled with changing the embedded working culture, this changed the way the business operated and translated into strong trading figures. Some of the the successful activities I carried out included restructuring the senior management team then identifying and mentoring a successor MD to run the business post sale and earn out.

I was initially employed as Business Development Manager at ML Enterprise and stayed with the same management team to develop and implement a new sales strategy for NetConnect, specialising in internet security. We improved the performance of the business immensely and key to doing this was defining, developing and then implementing a robust and attractive managed services proposition to provide perimeter based internet security software and associated systems. I re-shaped as well as re-trained the complete sales team, gaining considerable new business success with the refreshed proposition and also played a key role in returning the business to profit and the ultimate sale to Netstore PLC.

I was headhunted to secure Cable and Wireless (the business's parent since 2000) as a significant client. We achieved considerable success, positioning the business as the partner of choice to C&W and gaining “first and last refusal” on all appropriate projects. One thing I'm particularly proud of is that I built the entire sales team, achieving over 150% of order, sales and profit targets. I was personally responsible for increasing spend through Cable and Wireless from zero to £2 million (largest account in the business). I was employed as BDM at ML Enterprise; however stayed with the same management team post integration in December 2001, moving on to NetConnect.

As Account Director, I was primarily responsible for leading a team of seven sales people who were dedicated to managing the British Airways account which was one of BT’s top ten major business customers with an annual spend of £25 million. Within BT, I was responsible for the entire relationship i.e. sales, marketing, service and profitability. The role involved setting and implementing a strategy to reposition BT in the IP, mobility, e-business and global arenas whilst defending and developing revenues. One achievement that I am particularly proud of is that we achieved 100% of revenue target in each of two years. To facilitate this success, I recruited, motivated and led a diverse team of individuals dedicated to making a positive difference to BT’s standing in this key account, making huge advances in restoring what had been a very poor and superficial trading relationship. I secured the second largest website hosting contract available in the UK at that time, namely gofly.com against all significant players in this market. I was also successful in securing a £6m pa global inbound services contract to serve BA contact centres. This was achieved in the face of strong competition from numerous global voice players.I was also able to establish and cement our credibility in the outsourcing space, aligning relationships in readiness for an unsolicited initiative to be launched in the coming fiscal year (valued at £250m over 5 years).

My primary role at Sterling was to establish a network services business that fulfilled the requirements of value added resellers, network integrators and local corporate users.During what was a very successful time here, some achievements that I am proud of included establishing the business in the market, securing and managing the delivery of projects valued at £750,000 and ultimately delivering gross profit of £250,000.Customers included major blue-chip clients such as British Telecom, ICL CFM, Siemens, British Gas, and Kalamazoo.

I was brought into Siemens Nixdorf to establish the organisation in the network integration arena. Through identifying the talent then recruiting and managing the requisite pre and post sales support, suppliers and subcontractors, I made certain that contracts were implemented successfully as well as profitably. From what was a standing start, the networking business became a stand-alone business unit over the next five years. When I left the business, the unit turned over £20 million p.a. and was the most profitable unit within Siemens Nixdorf UK.