John Knowles Email & Phone Number

Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland

Whitewater Group has been established since 1932 and is currently in its third generation of family ownership. The Group has its Head Office in Ireland with Subsidiary Offices in Spain, Sweden, UK and Italy. The Group specialises in water purification systems for the Medical, Data Centre, Pharmaceutical, Industrial and Municipal Sectors in Ireland, UK, Mainland Europe and the Nordics. The Groups key differential is the offering of the complete turn-key solutions to include design, manufacture, installation, commissioning and the long-term servicing of the Solution.

Ireland

Finance and Commercial Director for FLI Precast Solutions who provide Precast Concrete Solutions to the construction industry in the Data-Centre, Pharmaceutical, Water, Transport, Housing and Energy Sectors across Ireland, UK, Europe and the Nordics. The company was purchased by the FLI Group from Administration in 2018. Over the following 4 years the company went from significantly loss making to a profitable self-sustaining business. This was achieved by an investment plan which meant a doubling of manufacturing capacity and an increase in product offering. From being 95% reliant on the UK water sector prior to Administration, the company became a multi-sector/multi-region organisation whose turnover trebled in the 4 years to near €25m. My role involved:- Board member with overall responsibility for all financial and commercial aspects for the company.- provide overall financial strategy, leadership and direction to the company.- responsible for all commercials from estimating, quantity surveying, project costing and final accounts.- management of the treasury function to include working capital and investment proposals.- management of the relationship with external stakeholders to include clients, suppliers, banks, auditors, taxes, insurers, credit insurers and R&D specialists.- appraisal of all proposals for capex and new products.- management of the HR and IT functions.

Glasgow, United Kingdom

Barhale PLC is one of the largest privately owned infrastructure specialists working UK-wide across the water, transport and energy sectors. The group has an order book in excess of £1bn, an annual group turnover in excess of £150m and has more than 800 employees.As General Manager for the Scottish Region my main duties involve:- Overall responsibility for the region and all its functions;- Compliance with the Groups Three Pillars of Sustainability (Profit, Safety and Environment).- Lead and support the regions Senior Managers.- Formation of long term strategic plans.- Ensure quality service for all stakeholders.

Ireland

The Response Group is the collective name for a group of companies involved in the water, wastewater, recycling and plant operations market which is headquartered in Cork with a turnover of over €30m and 70 employees. Originally head-hunted for the position of Commercial Operations Manager for the UK business, and after this was sold in 2012, was offered the position of Group Finance and Commercial Director by the Chairman. This role involved:- leading and developing the Finance, Procurement, Commercial, Administration and IT Teams. - management of the cash-flows and treasury. - restructure of the group to concentrate on core activities. - management of key stakeholder relationships with banks, auditors, insurers, bondsmen and credit insurers.- my initial role in the UK involved leading the largest divisions of one of its subsidiaries through an Administration and Resale process. This division consisted of a Dry Material Recycling Sites, C&D processing plant and a Landfill. Division went from loss-making to profit prior to the sale process.

Kildare

AES (Ireland) Limited is a Waste Management company with revenues exceeding €45m, employees of over 230 and is part of Bord na Mona Group (Revenues +€400m, employees +2,000). I was employed as Finance Manager of the East and Midlands regions which consisted of 3 depots and annual revenues exceeding €20m. In this role I worked closely with the General Managers supporting the decision making process to improve site performance and worked with Board on Special Capex Projects for circa €17m.

Ireland

Medium sized accountancy practice which had a diverse portfolio of clients and 8 - 10 staff members. I joined as Trainee Accountant in 2002, promoted to Practice Manager within 2 years and, when I qualified in 2005, I was further promoted to the position of Partner/Director.

Acca, Accounting, Qualified

Bachelor Of Arts - Ba, Accounting And Finance