LEADERSHIP TEAM

Ron Pollin, Chairman

Ron is first and foremost a marketing man. Years on the client side in senior roles with Dunlop and the Rank Organisation among others, were followed by time in the marketing services sector, including spells as MD of a large regional ad agency, running his own sales promotion company, acting as a freelance marketing consultant and coordinating the work of an international marketing communications network.

A post at Blakes Holidays as Business Development Director led to his subsequent buy-out of their telemarketing and call centre operations in 2000 – the genesis of OpenContact.

Inevitably, with this background, Ron brings a strong marketing and customer focus not only to OpenContact, but also for the benefit of their clients. Something of an incorrigible perfectionist, Ron has a keen eye for the little details as well as for the big picture.

Fiona Temple, Managing Director

After graduating from university with an honours degree in BSc Geography, Fiona began her life in the commercial world as a Customer Services Representative for a telecoms company in Manchester, before beginning a career in Human Resources, firstly within the same telecoms company, before moving on to internet giant, Tiscali. It was a further move in an HR role at Sainsbury’s that brought her back home to Norfolk. During this time she began assisting her father, Ron, in the HR and payroll activities at OpenContact.

In June 2004, Fiona joined OpenContact in a full-time capacity as Commercial Manager, and her first significant achievement less than a year later came when the company was accredited against Investors in People for the first time. Fiona has since managed the business through some significant growth and created a strong brand locally, making us an employer of choice in Norwich.

After a short spell as Deputy Managing Director, Fiona was promoted to Managing Director in July 2008, and is leading the business with ambitious growth plans, whilst continuing to retain our existing clients by providing excellent service to both them and their customers. Fiona’s strong people focus and ethical HR strategy ensures OpenContact delivers on it’s promises, with this simple formula: “happy staff = happy customers = happy clients”.

Robin Mussell, Head Of Technology

Robin started his career as an IT Technician after graduating from University with an honours degree in Music. Demonstrating his flair for technology he quickly progressed, holding positions of Telecoms Manager, Group Technical Coordinator and Applications Developer.

He has a passion for IT, and has acquired valuable experience in a broad range of technologies. A keen exponent of continuous professional development, Robin gained a Masters degree in Computer Science.

Robin is now Head of Technology at OpenContact, having been with the organisation for 8 years. He is committed to best practice and providing the best technological solutions for both clients and staff. Robin enjoys developing long-term relationships with clients, working to understand their needs and implement appropriate solutions, frequently offering creative responses to unique requirements.

Robin's continued aim is to make technology invisible to the end user – allowing them to complete their tasks without being distracted by complexity. He is the human interface between the client and the technology at OpenContact. Robin understands that modern technology can appear daunting and formidable; he says “Fortunately, I seem to have the knack of explaining complicated concepts, which helps to reduce the fear factor for non-technical people.”

Pete Atkinson – Head Of Operations

Pete attended the University of East Anglia studying for a BA in Business Economics. Whilst there he also completed additional units in Computing and Mathematics, and played an active part in University life, becoming vice-captain of the department’s inter-society sports team and representing the University for two years as part of their national American Football team.

After graduating with an honours degree in 2005, Pete took a fixed term position with Avis – a company he worked for throughout his time at the UEA – as a Data Analyst for their Peterborough Head Office. The finite nature of the position pushed Pete to seek alternative employment, and in December of 2005 he joined TPS (Insurance Admin Services) Ltd.

During his 3 years with TPS Pete held a variety of roles, including Trainer and Team Leader, and was promoted to Operations Manager in November 2008. Pete was involved in the transfer of TPS to Open Contact and has continued his position within the new setup.

In his spare time Pete continues the enjoyment of sport that he picked up during university, playing for a variety of local Football teams and Cricket teams, and Snowboarding each winter. Outside of sport he enjoys socialising with friends and is currently completing renovations on his first house.

Steve Gregory, Head of Client Services

Steve has spent his whole career focussed on exceeding his client’s expectations. Starting his working life at Lotus Formula 1, he progressed through the Lotus Group to work as a development engineer, European Sales manager and then heading up the Marketing of all Lotus Products. He moved on to head up a national service organisation that supported companies like Tesco and Sainsbury’s with their food logistics.

Steve’s experience of the call centre world started when he took on the running of client services for a company that supported the likes of VW, Audi, Nissan and Bentley with over 150 agents running inbound and outbound campaigns and fulfilment of press and demonstration programmes to increase sales and awareness.

In 2006 Steve moved back to East Anglia with his family and successfully ran a national car hire service with a call centre looking after all customer needs, and then his own consultancy focussed on helping companies deliver great customer experiences. In 2011 Steve joined as Head of Client Services to work as part of the leadership team on new business growth, strategy and ensuring we always exceed our client’s expectations. Steve’s believes his collaborative approach and passion for delivering client objectives are the keys to his success.

SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM

Andrew Daniels, IT Manager

After graduating from University in 1996, with an honours degree in Business Information Systems, Andrew began his life as Database Coordinator with Scottish & Newcastle retail, managing databases for over 300 restaurants & public houses. On his move to Ross Systems, he developed large-scale bespoke database modifications for the Crown Prosecution service, The Home Office, and Muller Yogurts. Finally Andrew also developed software for the departments of Education & Social Services at Northamptonshire County Council, before spending a year travelling round the world.

On his return to Norfolk in 2001, Andrew began at OpenContact as Application Developer, primarily focusing on the web development of a holiday booking system. On his promotion to Database Manager in 2003, Andrew began modernising the development of bespoke applications by developing new web based systems, which provide greater flexibility for our clients and their customers. Andrew has also improved our database technology, migrating systems towards enterprise strength databases, as well as harnessing the benefits of Windows Server 2003, disaster recovery virtualisation, and 100% call recording.

Andrew’s focus is towards developing tailor made applications that perfectly fit our client’s needs, and importantly, applications that can easily be modified on request as our clients businesses grow.

Susanna Yellop – Client Relationship Manager

After spending three years studying an honours degree in English Literature and Media at the University of Gloucestershire, Susanna decided a break was in order and jetted off to New Zealand to spend 9 months travelling and working. Despite learning some very valuable life skills, the skills of thinning mandarins and packing apples was not enough to build a career on so upon her return in 2002 she began her career at TPS as part of the Account Management team.

Over the 7 years Susanna worked at TPS her role rapidly changed via a number of promotions starting as Sales Assistant and progressing within the Account Management team to Account Manager and finally, Business Implementation Manager. These roles involved working towards raising the company profile by providing an effective and professional point of contact for client services and ensuring the business retained key clients. She was also a key member of the project team involved in successfully transferring the TPS business to OpenContact in September 2009.

Since the transfer, Susanna’s role has been to ensure that all areas of the TPS products and processes are as efficient and concise as possible and that new and renewing business is effectively implemented across the company.

In her spare time, Susanna enjoys listening to music, especially live music, spending her summers sitting in muddy fields at music festivals. She also enjoys watching and participating in sport and has a love for travelling and socialising.

Wendy Rees, Training Manager

Wendy’s talent for customer service was initially gained through running her own successful café business. The hard work was rewarded by the sheer variety of customers who walked in everyday – and it’s this experience which is at the heart of her approach that customer service should always go that extra mile.

A change of direction followed in 2001 when Wendy joined TPS (Insurance Admin Services) Ltd. Her strong customer service skills were key to her swift progress through the ranks as Team Coach, Senior Account Executive and Trainer.

In September 2009, Wendy transferred with the TPS business to OpenContact Ltd bringing with her, her wealth of training resource and experience. In 2011 she was promoted to Training Manager at OpenContact taking overall responsibility for all aspects of learning and development within the company.

Having completed a Certificate in Training Practice qualification, Wendy’s research has lead her to study the merits of all styles of training; from online systems, classroom based and ‘on-the-job’ coaching. Her ethos is that individuals are vital to contributing to the organisational success of a business and this can only be achieved through a dedicated and robust training programme.

Simon Kett, Business Support Manager

Simon graduated from Bath Spa University with an Honours Degree in Performing Arts. He quickly put his acting skills to use and began touring with an acting group performing around the UK. One of his notable achievements was taking the starring role as Nicolas Nickleby in the show of the same name.

Simon eventually settled back home in Norwich and started working within the niche insurance sector at TPS Insurance Admin Services. In the autumn of 2009 TPS was transferred to OpenContact Ltd and Simon played a significant role in the transfer, acting as a spokesperson for staff. Simon’s career at OpenContact started quickly and he was soon promoted to the role of Team Manager. Since then he has gained numerous experiences and qualifications and now holds the role of Business Support Manager and takes responsibility for the smooth running of the contact centre on a day-to-day basis.

In his spare time Simon is a very sociable person and enjoys spending time with his friends and family and holds an ever growing interest in film and music. He has a great passion for sport, particularly football which he plays 3-4 times a week and can be regularly found at his local gym.