NAVIGATOR SYSTEMS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director
- Managing Director
Innovator, boffin and director of Navigator Systems, David Rose is an entrepreneur, lover of good food and father of three adventurous & enterprising children.
His interest in stage lighting started at school when he realised he'd rather be active backstage, than performing on stage. Following school, whilst at Portsmouth Polytechnic studying Electronic engineering, his love for lighting and production bloomed as a principle player in the students' union entertainment committee.
After Portsmouth, David joined fledgling business "Midnight Design", which, over the time he was part of the team, grew to be one of the most respected lighting and event production companies in London.
After ten years, David, seeing a gap in the market, left and along with Richard Cresswell started Navigator Systems, a company specialising in software for the event industries.
David's not just limited to "techno-speak", he can often be found on social media reviewing restaurants & sharing food tips. As a Coeliac David is also actively involved in helping restaurants cater for all dietary restrictions.
Whether you need help configuring your software, building reports or simply a restaurant recommendation, David will be happy to help you.
Emma Cresswell's background was in the City of London, providing computer support for financial institutions.
Greg Smith has run Navigator Systems US for the past 22 years. He specialises in assisting clients in their deployment of the HireTrack software system and provides training and consulting services on operations, management and best practises.
Greg possesses a deep understanding of the entertainment production business, which helps him to successfully mange our customer's daily challenges.
Originally interested in back stage work through his school theatre, Greg studied graphic arts at junior college before graduating with a degree in Radio & television communication at Harding University. Whist there, Greg spent time touring with McDonald's creative services with Jermain Jackson, Tina Turner, The spinner etc.
Prior to Navigator Systems US, Greg then spent 10 years in the audio reinforcement business covering a wide range of disciplines, from working in the warehouse, through on site audio engineering, to corporate audio division manager for Masque sound, developing new markets.
When Greg's not working, he enjoys following NASCAR, travelling and doing humanitarian work by focussing on decent affordable housing.
Job Titles:
- Marketing and Administration
At a rock concert back in the distant past, Jenny Rose realised how good stage lighting can have a positive influence on the enjoyment of an event.
Later, at college, she joined the entertainments committee where she took an active interest in lighting shows, developing both her knowledge and skills. After graduating with a degree in Pharmacy, Jenny developed her retail and management skills working in community Pharmacy for a number of years before the lure of the entertainment industry beckoned her back.
She used he experience, knowledge and passion to become sales manager of Midnight Design.
Working with David Rose and Richard Cresswell, and being impressed with the products that they developed, a move to Navigator Systems was a natural progression.
Jenny now mainly works "backstage", helping David with the day to day administration and marketing of the company.
When she manages to escape work and family, Jenny loves to swim or can be found walking the dog in the country side around her home.
Leanne Parsons joined Navigator Systems in September 2017 as a Customer Liaison/Administrator. After graduating with a degree in Quantity Surveying, Leanne has worked in a variety of industries including construction, medical equipment and IT Software and has gained skills in procurement, contract management, office administration and customer service. Leanne is part time and assists Jenny with the day to day administration and contact with Navigator's customers.
Out of work, Leanne enjoys spending time with family and friends and trying to keep fit by walking, cycling, swimming and pilates.
Job Titles:
- Senior Software Developer
As Senior Software Developer at Navigator Systems, Paul Toms often confounds his friends and family who, knowing that he has very little interest in computers and gadgets, can't understand why he doesn't make his living from writing, or selling second hand cars!
Entirely self-taught, Paul came to programming partly out of intellectual curiosity and partly because, as a former HireTrack V1 customer, he couldn't help think that he could make the program better and better.
Initially taken on to write reports and add-on tools for HireTrack customers, Paul eventually moved into the role of writing the core code for both HireTrack Eclipse, HireTrack NX and RentalDesk NX, a job that he thoroughly enjoys. But he rarely uses a computer when he isn't working!
Customers who need to chat to Paul will testify that he doesn't fit the stereotype of your average "techie"; and his candid, often salty verbal style is known for putting even the most "IT timid" customer at ease when they need to work out often quite advanced software requirements. A talk with Paul is always a jargon free zone.
Paul is married, has two children, and counters his somewhat sedentary working life with regular 10k runs, plenty of swimming, and the occasional triathlon.
Job Titles:
- Technical Director
- Father
Richard Cresswell, father of three and self confessed geek is the Technical Director at Navigator Systems.
Richard introduction to the industry started in the 70's, running a small PA and disco but spending all the money he earned on designing speakers and new equipment.
After studying Physics at university, Richard spent a year designing military radio with Racal Electronics plc, before starting Midnight Design, a lighting company in London. This was a hectic time designing the first digital dimmers and computer controlled lighting desks. However 3 years later, Richard left to get married and get a 'straight job'. Within 4 years, he had become the head of an electronics / software consultancy company and working on early parallel processing and robot vision systems.
However the call of the entertainment industry was just too strong and so he rejoined Midnight Design to run the growing specialist technical parts of the company.
Whilst designing bespoke systems for many clients, Richard noticed there seemed to be no way to reliably manage the shows and equipment within the main hire part of the company and so getting together with David Rose they decided needed to write something to do it. As this was too far outside of the the main business of Midnight Design, Richard left with David to start Navigator Systems.
Within Navigator Systems, Richard's role is to use his talent for doing things differently, to find new ways of solving problems.
Outside of work, Richard enjoys playing in a band, Amateur radio and other nerdy hobbies. Richard can still be found on site a couple of times a year to keep in touch with the show side of the industry.
Rod North arrived in the software industry by the somewhat unusual route as an ex skipper on the inland waterways. He noticed the similarity between maintaining the various systems on a boat and the interactions between processes on a computer and progressed from there.
From 2000 to 2006 he worked in the window manufacturing industry - rising to become Group IT Manager of Advantage Windows in Cheshire.
Natural progression then led him to the software industry directly, spending a further 8 years with First Degree Systems, who specialise in manufacturing software. During this time he became expert in report writing and developed the ability to communicate customers requirements to developers and vice versa.
Rod is still heavily involved on the inland waterways and lives with his wife on a replica Dutch barge in the North of England.