CEO – Chapel Down Group plc, Curious Drinks plcAfter a few post graduate roles, and two years running pubs in the North for Whitbread, I became Marketing Manager-Ales for Whitbread in 1987. At 29, in 1989, having acquired and integrated the Boddingtons brand and a successful strategy as response to the Beer Orders, I was made a director of Whitbread plc. It's still one of my proudest moments!I led the team that created the Boddingtons Cream of Manchester advertising and draughtflow widget before taking the lager portfolio of Heineken and Stella Artois. I then moved into business development and strategy. I joined Heineken in Amsterdam in 1995 as Global Brand Director. I travelled the World selling beer and trying to make a difference - the brand outpaced growth in all significant markets. I left in Sept 2001 to further the education of my three sons and moved into English Wines to prove something to myself. Since then the success of the Chapel Down brand has transformed the industry and created demand vastly exceeding supply, transforming it into a profitable company, well financed through rounds of external fund-raising. The wines have won many International awards as an obsession with quality service and brand has paid dividends. I assembled a board almost unparalleled for a company of this size including Martin Glenn (CEO FA, PepsiCo), Sam Wren of IPGL, Stewart Gilliland (Tesco NED, Chairman C&C Magners) and Nigel Wray (Britain’s Buffet), as non-executive board members. We have attracted Lord Spencer and BlackRock as investors and 8,000 private investors via Crowdfunding and are listed on the AQSE exchange. After 20 years, I have retired and I am succeeded by Andrew Carter who’d be delighted to hear from any wine contacts.I'm proud to be a Kent Ambassador. I live in Fordwich near Canterbury in Kent with Susan. Having now retired from Chapel Down, I'd love to hear from any contacts in my career for business, beers or bacchanalian nights out. After a period of rest, of course...