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.”

Hugo Forster, Head Of Operations

After graduating University with an Honours degree in Law, Hugo took up a temporary position with newly founded Virgin Money. This ‘short-term’ role lasted 6 years where he held a variety of Managerial posts including co-responsibility for the entire existing customer side of the business.

In 2001 Hugo accepted an offer from National Express Group to set up and manage a 150 seat Contact Centre to provide sales and customer service for their newly awarded East Anglia Rail franchise, the busiest railway route in the United Kingdom.

5 years later he took the decision to move from a Group of 20,000 employees to a set-up online gaming company of 6 people where he assumed the role of Customer Services and Operations Director. The organisation grew to 40 people over the next 2 years including a 24/7 worldwide customer support team.

Hugo’s next role was with Longhawk Insurance Group where as Senior Operations Manager he was responsible for the Norwich office of a national Niche Insurance Specialist representing the financial services products of a variety of high street brands. The Longhawk Group decided to outsource the Contact Centre element of their operation to OpenContact in 2009 and Hugo led the project and moved across to us as part of the transfer process.

Rebecca Eade, Head Of Resources

After graduating from University with an honours degree in Psychology Rebecca moved to Norwich in 2001 and was employed by the University of East Anglia as an Accommodation Co-ordinator.

A UEA contact introduced her to the insurance business Travellers Protection Services (TPS), where she started work in 2003 as part of the Projects and Operations team. One of her first projects was to cover the maternity leave of the HR Manager and the rest, as they say, is history! The temporary cover turned into a permanent role and her career in HR began. The role developed with the rapid growth and change in ownership at TPS and she started studying with the CIPD for a Masters in HR.

In 2007 she joined the Senior Management Team at TPS, which involved strategic and operational planning and co-ordination of all areas of HR, working in partnership with the business functions across a now complex group of companies.

One of the most significant projects she has been involved with was the successful transfer of the TPS business to OpenContact Ltd in September 2009, which was also a proud month for her personally as she completed her HR Masters.

Rebecca says “I am excited to be part of the new Leadership team at OpenContact and look forward to the challenges and opportunities it will present to both me individually as Head of Resources and to the company as a whole.”

SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM

Andrew Daniels, Database 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.

Lisa Starling, Contact Centre Manager

After moving to Norwich to marry her husband, Lisa started her career working in the call centres for BT and Norwich Union. After 4 weeks at Norwich Union in 1999, Lisa became a Deputy Team Leader and realised that managing was the path that she wanted to follow.

When the opportunity came up to join and set up a company called its4me in May 2000, Lisa grabbed it. She set up the call Centre from scratch dealing with everything from recruitment, training, all HR and facilities. The call centre went from 4 staff to 65 staff in 18months with a policy book of over 100,000. After 7 years Lisa had 4 teams, 2 trainers and still dealt with all HR and facilities. She laughs at the fact that, when she left, she was replaced by 4 people!

The company was sold in Dec 2007, and Lisa then had a brief spell as a Customer Services Director in an online estate agent before joining Open Contact in Jan 2008. The drive to move to Open Contact was the culture of the working environment that was shared by all the staff, from the call centre through to the MD.

Lisa believes she has seen how not to look after staff, from her experiences in the past, and believes that if you treat people right you will get the best results. Her ethos is that the staff are the core of the business and the psychological contract is the biggest stepping stone to get right if you want a call centre to function efficiently.

Suzanne Sears, Senior Account Manager

Customer service has been a large part of Suzanne’s life having spent many years in the hospitality industry in Hotel Management. She was also the proprietor of a city centre restaurant for seven years and has, in her past life, been an air stewardess flying intercontinental routes on jumbo jets, with British Airways, in the days when flying was almost a pleasure.

Suzanne has been with OpenContact since its conception in 2000 having been part of the Blakes telemarketing team at the time of the buy out and is a member of the Senior Management Team.

Suzanne’s passion is ensuring that clients are given the best possible service, she is responsible for the smooth running and cost effective operation of all client accounts and oversees the fulfilment side of the business.