Biographies |
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Lorraine Baker, Accounts Controller
Karolina Blechova, Recruitment Administrator Karolina joined B & M Europe in March 2010 as a Recruitment Administrator. Karolina comes from the Czech Republic. After completing her A-levels, she came to the UK to work as an au-pair to help improve her English. She spent two years living with her au-pair family, looking after two children. She very much enjoyed the role and found that it came with plenty of excitement such as one occasion where she had to rescue the family dog from a police station! After passing her English exams, Karolina decided to stay in the UK and in 2007 began working as a recruitment consultant for a legal recruitment agency in Reading, dealing with the recruitment of qualified solicitors in London and the South East. This role gave her the opportunity to build her skills in the recruitment sector, and gave her the chance to take on a great deal of responsibility and to work independently. In her spare time Karolina enjoys a good book or film, attending exercise classes, skiing, cooking and visiting family in the Czech Republic.
Claire joined B & M in May 2007 as Financial Controller to oversee the day-to-day running of the Accounts department. She started her career eighteen years ago working with Deloitte Haskins & Sells (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers) as an Auditor. In 1991, Claire joined Piper Trust where she worked with two of their retail ventures, Postcard (a small group of card shops), and Pitcher & Piano (a national bar chain). She spent a total of nine years with Pitcher & Piano where she was instrumental in their fast-track expansion programme. During her time with the company she studied both AAT and ACCA, and obtained a Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Certificate in Wine. In 2000, Claire moved to Tootsies Restaurants where she developed both an accounts team and financial systems, neither of which existed before. During her time at Tootsies, the company expanded from having eight sites to thirty. Outside work, Claire likes to travel when given the opportunity. Following her interest in wine she has travelled extensively visiting vineyards as far as the Casablanca Valley in Chile and Montana Valley in Australia. She is also a keen sailor and completed her Day Skipper seven years ago, although she has not had much opportunity to pursue this since having her baby son. She is currently teaching him how to swim so that he will be confident when she next ventures on a sailing trip.
Maxine Duffett, Business Development Director
Paul joined B & M in April 2011 as Account Director following five years living in Desertmartin, Northern Ireland. Paul graduated from Loughborough University in 2006 before moving to Northern Ireland to begin a career as a sales representative and later as an Account Manager with Randox Laboratories selling medical diagnostic supplies into hospitals, universities and research labs across the south of England. This was followed by a six-month period working in vehicle rental at Belfast International Airport before relocating to his original home of Newbury. Paul still enjoys playing rugby at his local rugby club having earned a cap for England as a schoolboy.
An IT sales professional with over 30 years' experience within the industry, Seamus has had a number of roles predominately within the services sector. Seamus began his career with a subsidiary of the Glaxo Group, training staff to use computer systems for such activities as telesales and stock control. In 1984, Seamus began working in sales for Nixdorf Computer (now Siemens-Nixdorf), where he handled accounts in the government and financial sectors. He later worked in sales management for Omron Systems and Datalect Computer Services, before being appointed European Services Sales Director for Hitachi Imaging Solutions in 1998. In 2000, Seamus moved to the Gartner Group and then to Allnet Limited (a subsidiary of Cable & Wireless) before joining B & M in July 2004. Here, Seamus manages our Dutch and Irish accounts as well as a number of high profile UK-based organisations. Seamus enjoys sport and has played football at a senior amateur level. Nowadays he prefers golf, which he plays with a handicap of 13.
Ed Hopper, Business Director Ed Hopper joined B & M after graduating from Durham University in 1997, since when he has developed wide-ranging expertise in the provision of technical support services and consultancy. His particular specialisation is in providing specialists for projects within the banking and insurance markets, where his knowledge has been instrumental in providing highly experienced specialists for a variety of projects with customers such as the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Abbey and Norwich Union. Ed is also responsible for helping to develop new business markets for B & M, growing our business to ensure that we build on our thirteen years' experience and continue to provide services that are relevant to our customers in the UK and Europe. Ed has led the development of our business in France, Luxembourg and the Republic of Ireland. In addition to his responsibilities as Sales Manager, Ed is the B & M Account Manager for five of the UK's 'big six' high street banks and some of the country's largest insurance and retail organisations. In his leisure time, Ed spends his time freestyle kayaking and represented Great Britain at the 2003 Freestyle World Championships in Graz, Austria. He has also retained a link with his alma mater, providing advice and helping to fundraise for the Durham University Canoe Club.
Matt Jones, HR Manager Matt Jones joined B & M in February 2008 having worked in human resources and recruitment for several years. Matt's main duties at B & M include managing the HR team, planning and implementing strategies to source specialists and dealing with all internal human resources issues. Matt's first position in the industry was at Manpower where he worked as a recruitment consultant for over three years. He progressed from ad hoc recruitment in a town centre branch to running Manpower's newly-won Hewlett Packard contract, working on site at HP's Reading and Bracknell premises. Matt then moved to a more HR focused role, working for a small IT software company. His primary task was to implement an HR structure and to grow the company from 30 staff to over 100, which he successfully achieved. Matt dealt with all aspects of HR including ultimately making himself redundant when his work with the company was completed! Matt also managed several newly formed departments on an interim basis including a team of 20 telesales graduates. He took up a new challenge, managing a recruitment team within a private healthcare company, dealing primarily with a new diagnostics project in the West Midlands. The project quickly grew to over 200 medical and administrative staff, at which time Matt's focus changed from recruitment to employee development, including working on several training modules. Matt spends his spare time immersing himself in any sport he can find, whether it be watching or taking part - captaining his local football and pool teams and supporting Reading FC.
Jerry Smart, Managing Director An IT professional with over 38 years experience, predominantly in the IBM mainframe arena, Jerry has spent the last 26 years focusing on the provision of technical services for large enterprise systems. Having initially trained in accountancy, Jerry moved into IT in the early '70s. He worked with the British Printing Industry Federation to develop new computer systems to reduce industry waste. In 1980 he joined Avis Europe to manage the development of new customer marketing systems. He joined service provider Coveford Data Systems in 1984 as Account Manager, then UK Business Manager. Jerry subsequently integrated the UK and Swiss operations. Joining B & M in 1993, Jerry's primary objective was to create an infrastructure and to build the newly formed business. He subsequently developed the marketing and human resources functions as well as taking responsibility for finance and legal. Jerry's current focus is on corporate development and in providing a challenging environment to enable staff to achieve and to be successful. In his spare time, Jerry enjoys bridge, chess, photography and travelling.
Sarah Potts, HR Team Leader Following the completion of her BA in Business Administration at the University of Glamorgan, Sarah began her career as Payroll Assistant for a Social Services division in South Wales. She subsequently moved into a support role for the Children’s Service Department. Sarah relocated to Hampshire and joined B & M in 2003 as HR Administrator and has developed an expertise in identifying suitable specialists for our customer requirements. Sarah has succeeded in cultivating relationships with our specialists and has helped to tailor how B & M focuses its attention to meet their needs. Sarah is also responsible for delivering valuable and essential administrative support to our Account Managers, thus helping to increase our core business productivity. In 2007 Sarah moved back to South Wales to be close to her family and now works for B & M remotely. In her spare time, Sarah can be found visiting family and friends, cycling in the Welsh valleys and renovating her new home.
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