NUTEL - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Corporate Finance & Business Insights Director
- Finance & Business Insights Director
Alex joined in January 2021 and brings deep sector expertise from his five year tenure at Oakley Advisory as a TMT mergers and acquisitions advisor. Together with supporting the business through the identification and management of new M&A opportunities, Alex was a key member of the team who supported our management team during the 2020 minority private equity investment process.
In his day-to-day role at Focus Group, Alex oversees data and analysis across all of our products and departments, with the aim to better serve our customers and understand their needs. Having worked with most companies in the industry he also helps integrate the processes and systems of our acquisitions.
In his leisure time, Alex enjoys running and swimming almost as much as dealing with complicated datasets. He is also a keen Arsenal fan, nostalgic of the Wenger days.
Job Titles:
- Head of Financial Operations
Amy joined Focus Group in 2018, seeking a change of pace after a 10 year tenure at a local accountancy practice. After diving (…being thrown!) into the financial management of business acquisition in her first week, the new role certainly delivered from a pace perspective and hasn't slowed up since!
Amy's energy has ensured she's remained firmly ahead of the game and she now heads up the finance department for the group. This includes financial planning and reporting, together with the general running of day to day operational financing, from banking to statutory accounts, and taking good care of the team.
Amy's award in 2021 for outstanding leadership shows her passion for her team and pride in its development over the last 3 years.
Beyond the office Amy loves walking along the seafront, eating out, and coming up with excuses for swerving the gym!
Andrew joined Focus Group back in 2010, as one of our Mobile sales executives. He brought with him a commitment to driving growth across the division and the energy to continually evolve business mobile expertise - ultimately in order to deliver the best mobile solutions for our customers.
Now, as our Head of Mobile Sales, Andrew takes ownership for driving this mobile expertise across the group - imparting his aforementioned commitment, knowledge and energy in order to enhance customer, team and individual success.
Outside the office, Andrew is dedicated to football. Weekends are spent coaching his son's grassroots football team and enjoying watching his daughter play in her football matches.
As Chief Executive Officer of Focus Group, Barney has responsibility for our overall strategy, day-to-day operations and business performance. Focus Group has built its foundations on being a great place to work, so our culture, our people and our customers are the driving force behind maintaining and accelerating our growth ambition under his leadership.
Barney joined the business in October 2021. Prior to Focus Group, he held a number of senior positions at Dimension Data (now NTT Ltd), including UK&I Managing Director. He joined us having most recently served as SVP and European Managing Director at Cloud and Infrastructure Managed Service provider Ensono, prior to its successful acquisition by KKR.
Barney feels passionately in the power that technology has to drive business transformation and believes people and culture are at the heart of the most successful businesses we see today.
Away from work, Barney lives with his family in Surrey and loves to run, cycle and play golf in his spare time.
Brian joined Focus Group in 2019 and steers our operations in the southwest. Previously MD at swcomms, Brian led his teams and managed the migration through Focus Group's acquisition of the highly reputable Exeter-based business.
Brian trained in London on the first private telephone systems released under BT's liberalisation and has since gone on to become an expert in the field of IT and communications. He is passionate about our people and enjoys creating opportunity for them to develop and realise their ambitions in a supported and motivational environment.
Away from IT and communications, Brian enjoys watching rugby at Exeter Chiefs, loves the water and generally messing about in his boat. As a father of two, Brian likes a challenge having climbed Kilimanjaro and the Mönch in Switzerland, crossed the Himalayas AND completed the Three Peaks in under 24 hours!
Caroline joined Focus Group in 2019 and manages all legal matters within the business. She provides legal support to each and every team across the business and is responsible for building Focus Group's legal function. Caroline also plays a central role in business acquisitions and integration.
Caroline's legal credentials and multi-sector experience ensure Focus Group is in safe hands. She trained with Addleshaw Goddard and spent 10 years at global law firm Squire Patton Boggs. She was involved in various client secondments including running renewable energy projects at EDF.
Having since returned to her hometown of Brighton, Caroline enjoys jogging along the beach and negotiating ice-cream consumption levels with her little boy.
Charlene is our Group CFO and joined us in 2022. With a strong track record of driving organic growth and a reputation for delivering highly successful M&A completions, she leads the company's finance teams together with supporting the overall group strategy.
Charlene qualified with PwC and since this point has spent 12 years in financial leadership positions across a variety of renowned technology and data led businesses, with a firm focus on building recurring revenue, data-based financials. Charlene has worked in both listed and private equity backed businesses and brings a passion for driving the use of data across businesses, system transformation and developing people.
Beyond the workplace, Charlene enjoys spending time with her two school girls, travelling, eating out and going to the Gym.
Charlotte, as Executive Assistant to the Co-Founders and Board of Directors, quite possibly has the busiest role at Focus Group! Armed with over 20 years' of experience in both Personal and Executive Assistant roles across the insurance and telecommunications sectors, Charlotte joined Focus in 2018. With a proven track record in demanding, fast-paced environments...she is highly adept at keeping multiple administrative plates spinning whilst coordinating the diaries of our leadership team.
Charlotte is an advocate of the unique culture at Focus Group and firmly believes the people are at the heart of its success. And the reason she enjoys her role so much!
Outside of work, Charlotte will be found running around after her young twins, Josh and Imogen; and spending time with close family and friends together with good food and a well-earned glass of wine.
Chris is one of our Founder Directors. An early background in business development led to the launch of Focus Group in 2003, in partnership with former colleague Ralph Gilbert. Starting out in a tiny office in Hove, with just enough room for 3 desks and a kettle, Chris & Ralph's determination and entrepreneurial spirit, together with the strategic diversification of their product portfolio and commitment to building a strong and loyal team, soon led to consistent growth of the business. Fast forward to the present day and Focus Group now has a team of over 600 employees, delivering innovative business solutions to over 25,000 customers across the UK.
Chris's two decades of leadership experience in the IT and telecoms sector covers everything from the development of effective sales teams, cohesive people and culture strategies and robust financial analysis, together with having led and completed numerous M&A and private equity transactions.
Chris remains deeply committed to ensuring Focus Group has a positive and sustainable impact on those in and around our community. He leads on agendas such as employee wellbeing and business culture. More recently, Chris has founded the Focus Foundation, a charity designed to connect our community of employees, customers and industry partners in order to make a positive impact on people's lives.
Chris, after a relatively short span of time working and studying to become a civil and structural engineer, was attracted by the bright lights of the IT sector and decided to pursue a career with one of the UK's largest Systems Integrators, Capita.
Fast-forward to 2013, and Chris - together with Russell Farley & Leigh Sanders - joined Focus Group to build its Cisco networking division. It's fair to say Chris made the right move from engineering to IT as Focus Group now ranks within the Top 10 across EMEA for Cisco's cloud-networking technology.
Away from the office, Chris has a passion for music and design and is still trying to master the game of golf. Give him time though, he's only been playing for 30 years!
Job Titles:
- Head of Technical Internal Infrastructure
Job Titles:
- Business Operations Director
Job Titles:
- Head of Service Operations
Job Titles:
- Head of Mobile Commercial
Job Titles:
- Head of Enterprise Technical
Job Titles:
- Head of Enterprise Solutions
Job Titles:
- Head of Voice & Data Sales
Job Titles:
- Head of Business Development