I discovered networking, which in 1998 was developing rapidly in the US,much of which was due to Ivan Misner and BNI, but was in its infancy here.. I set up, together with my business partner, Business Referral Exchange (BRE later BRX) which were primarily weekly breakfast referral groups based loosely on BNI but with a more relaxed format Andy Lopata, joined us six months after we started and took responsibility for developing the training and education that was offered to members and discovered his true calling. I sold my interest in BRE at the end of 2007, initially to work with Andy on developing Word of Mouse, an online version of the referral groups, and then focused on working with him on developing his, now very respected and successful business networking strategy practice.My background previously was 25 years as a retailer including 18 years in M& S as Store Manager and developing a small group of greeting card and gift shops. I later became involved in the Financial Services industry focusing on commercial and residential lending. and a leisure development in FranceSpecialties: We work with all types of businesses helping them understand how networking can be used as an effective business tool to break down silos,support staff development and dramatically improve the results of their marketing and generate new quality business and referrals