I want to start this month’s gossip with some sad news. If you have not heard Sue Seaby has sadly passed away after a short illness. Sue was a character larger than life in our industry having worked with the likes of Barclays, Aon and more recently Securitas. I really got to know her when she became one of the first winners of our Women in Security awards. I will miss her as I know many of you will too; but enough from me, as Una has picked this up in her article, on page 30 of the September print issue of the magazine. Meanwhile my thoughts go out to her family, friends and associates.
On another note, did you notice that as you pulled this month’s magazine out of the bag that it’s not plastic any more? We thought we needed to do our bit to try and save the planet, by switching to this new packaging called Polyair. Rather than being oxy-degradable, this new Polyair material is bio-based. Made from sugar cane it’s the process of photosynthesis as the plant grows that makes this product carbon-positive. The sugar cane actively captures CO2 from the atmosphere, while at the same time releasing oxygen – making this material not just green, but proactively green. I am not sure that means – you can eat it?! – but we hope to reduce the number of plastic bags that need disposing of – that is, 120,000-plus of them a year.
Chris Parry? Where has he gone? I hear, or in fact have been asked,. He is now at Honeywell as, wait for it, Senior Business Consultant – Commercial Projects at Honeywell Building Solutions. Chris told me that this means he is not just looking at security products; he is looking after building management systems which takes in security, cabling, lighting and so on. Seems very excited with it too, good luck mate.
John May has joined Mayflex as an area sales manager. Now I have know John for many years and as John is reading this he is starting to twitch on his chair wondering what am I going to say about him. Because yes, John, I can tell a few stories about you, but I’m not going to do that. He has been in our industry for a long time mainly in distribution which is where I first met John in the old MVD days. My, we were young then, what do I mean, yes I was young; once upon a time! Good luck John. You can go phew, you got away with that didn’t you mate!
Mike Mitchell has joined DVS in Scotland and Jake Britten there at DVS in south Wales told me: “His name is Mike Mitchell and he’s Scottish as %$&# [not sure what happened there, perhaps a cat ran across the keyboard], so as you’ve probably guessed – Mike will be covering Scotland (and North East and Northern Ireland base).” Mike comes with 20 years in the industry working at previously Grosvenor Technology, Videcon and ADI. He’s living in Aberdeen and DVS say that they’re extremely pleased to have some one on the patch for Scotland.
Andy Cross joins CDVI as Regional Sales Manager – North, in charge of sales and promotion activities in the north of England and Scotland. He’s responsible for national installer accounts. Andy joins with over 30 years of experience in the security industry. He’s held at Paxton, HID and TDSi, and hence understands the fast-developing access control market.
Tony Redden joins Thinking Space Systems as International Sales Manager. Tony joins the control room furniture company with over 25 years’ experience in IT security and the telecoms market across EMEA. Tony has held positions in the Middle East, UK and southern Africa, so is no stranger to international business.
Mark Elligott joins Oprema as Business Development Manager for the Midlands. Mark, brings over 20 years’ business development and sales experience, having worked for ADI and Norbain. Mark will form part of the Oprema national field sales team and be responsible for fostering client relationships in the Midlands region. Not many of you will know this but in his spare time, Mark volunteers as an instructor for a youth voluntary training service. For the past eight years he has been responsible for training 50 people on a weekly basis.
Norbain’s north office has moved to accommodate their growing team due to sustained growth, so they tell me. Norbain have larger premises in Bispham. These new premises mean an upgrade in facilities, allowing them to hold training sessions and host customer meetings. They’ve not gone far, as before they were on the outskirts of Poulton-Le-Fylde, which is also outside Blackpool. Jeremy Hockham, Managing Director for Norbain Holdings, says: “We’re really excited to have made this move. It’s been a long time coming – the North team has been growing steadily for the last couple of years and the move has given us the opportunity to provide them with the space they need. The new facilities offer a real upgrade all round, and there’s a palpable sense of excitement and enthusiasm across the Northern team as a result. Everyone is looking forward to welcoming customers and showing off the new facilities!”
