Somerset Business Awards

Helen Lacey has over 25 years recruitment experience, having successfully sold her company Red Berry Recruitment  Ltd in 2021, she stayed on as a consultant supporting her clients for permanent staff. Helen covers a number of sectors from Administration , Sales and Marketing , Finance, Manufacturing , Management, Engineering and Commercial.
Helen’s wealth of experience and large network of contacts means Helen is the right person to help business find the right staff
?HR GO is.......
 

Hello.

We're an award winning ethical thinking integrated creative agency. We use design and digital creativity to transform our clients' businesses.

We create change and collaborate; our designers and developers take your ideas and work together, with you, to transform your business.

Brand design, graphic design, web development and eCommerce, SEO and digital marketing… whether we are developing your marketing, or starting from scratch – fresh thinking and energy from our team will help you raise your business profile.

Fisher & Company ™ designs and manufactures Belisha Beacons, Electrical Feeder Pillars, Solar Belisha Beacons, Enclosures, Column Brackets and a host of accessories and other related equipment to the Street Lighting and Highways industry from our factory in Somerset, England since established in 1982.

We work closely with local authorities, contractors, wholesalers and electrical engineers to deliver products that meet rigid specifications for longevity while maintaining an economical price. Our flexible approach to manufacturing enables us to produce bespoke products for almost any application and environment from Aberdeen to the Bahamas.

Somerset Skills & Learning (SS&L) makes positive changes to people’s lives, through learning. We work across Somerset, providing adult education, apprenticeships and traineeships. As well as offering skills and qualifications, we also invest heavily in community projects to help disadvantaged groups to improve their lives through learning. 

Our work based learning team specialise in training for business & administration, customer service, team leading & management, childcare and teaching assistants.

We offer flexible learning with on-line support and deliver training, workshops and courses across our 4 Somerset based centres in Taunton, Bridgwater, Yeovil & Frome.
 

As the General Manager of the Quedam Shopping Centre, I manage our marketing, operations, administration, cleaning and security team. You can contact me for any enquiries regarding the Quedam including local leasing. 

I have 30 years’ experience in the retail trade, mostly as a buyer and over 14 years working in the charity sector. As a Corporate and Community Development Officer for children's charity bibic in Somerset and will work with anyone across the UK who shares our vision. Seeing the difference our therapists make to the life of a child with learning difficulties is just amazing!
Over 4 years ago I  moved from Scunthorpe to Weston to be nearer our daughter, probably the biggest and scariest thing I've done in a long while.
Never let it be said that I resist change!
I am passionate about rugby, nature photography and will drink wine on a school night.
Specialities: Loud shirts, networking, blagging, never missing an opportunity, negotiator, pedantic, loyal to an employer and thorough. I love cooking all types of food and will even follow a recipe if it is written well.
That's enough about me...what about you?

Cluster Director of Sales covering the ibis Bridgwater and the Holiday Inn Express Bridgwater.  

Hospitality is my dream career!  I relish the variety and challenges, and believe me, the Bridgwater hotel market is no picnic! 

Having worked in Taunton and Bridgwater for the past 9 years, I've seen Bridgwater evolve from very few hotels to having some great branded and independent hotels; all jostling for the same business.  The challenge of being the best and winning business over our competitors, it what motivates me and gives me a great sense of achievement when I'm successful.

I am responsible for contracting all business, talk to me if I can help with preferred accommodation rates, meeting and event space, group bookings or if you just need somewhere for your friend and family to stay when they visit.  I am her to help and always with a smile!


 

As well as running the historic family home (Cossington Park) as a self-catering business since 1997, Graham Wason is also: Chairman of the Cut Hospitality & Tourism VAT Campaign; Co-Founder of All Being Well (personal and business development and coaching, since 1999); Founder-Director of the Professional Association of Self-Caterers; Board Member of the Holiday Home Association.

Graham was previously: Deloitte Tourism Consulting Partner (responsible for strategy development, hospitality and leisure project appraisal worldwide); Vice-President of Strategy & Development for the World Travel & Tourism Council; Consultant to the United Nations World Tourism Organization; Special Advisor to the House of Lords (review of EU Tourism); Chairman of The Tourism Society.
 

West Country Drainage Services Ltd carry out all off mains drainage, drainage and water investigations. We are a 5 star reviewed company and have been lucky to scoop up two awards in the Sedgemoor Business awards and were finalists for the Somerset Business awards in the service excellence category. 
We work hard in the trade industry to rebuild trust within the trade and to give free professional advice to all of our clients. We believe that good old fashioned customer services alongside fantastic workmanship is the key to our success. 




 

Sheila Ottavianelli – Founder of Swan Retreat

I, Sheila Ottavianelli, founder of Swan Retreat, transformed my life through mindfulness after overcoming a traumatic past. This personal journey inspired me to help others find the same sense of healing and peace. Alongside my husband, I established Swan Retreat just before the global pandemic, creating a sanctuary for individuals and groups to experience true relaxation and spiritual growth.

Swan Retreat is a purpose-built centre offering nine tranquil bedrooms, a yoga studio, a fully equipped kitchen, a cozy dining area, and a serene treatment room. It is a safe and welcoming space for coaches, trainers, and wellness professionals to host retreats, workshops, and mindfulness programs. The retreat also accommodates events, conferences, and training sessions. Swan Retreat, a family-run business prioritises personal connection and a human touch.

An experienced Organisational Coach and HR Consultant, with over 20 years' experience in structuring and growing businesses and teams from inception, through periods of change and growth and finally structuring them ready for sale. I have extensive experience in working with growth businesses and a proven background in delivering operational, people-based solutions that are commercially focused whilst enabling growth through the development of employees against business goals.

Cognique is a leading Somerset Website and Digital Marketing agency. Since 2003, we’ve been combining technical and creative skills to help businesses throughout the southwest. As you would expect, we do the best we possibly can for our clients and we’re proud of the trust they put in us, of the work we do and the difference we make to their businesses.

When you choose Cognique you get access to website development, graphic design, content marketing, digital marketing, PR and much more. But it’s what you do with those services that counts. Naturally, you’ll want the best results and ROI from your marketing strategy and good marketing needs planning, implementing, monitoring, measuring and reporting.

Good marketing needs Cognique.

I'm a creative and marketing guru, and a motorcycle racing fan. I’m proud to have become known for my high levels of imaginative creativity, marketing flair and an unwavering commitment to every client. My personal strength has always been my total focus on creative excellence and client service. Yes, I am a stickler for detail, squeezing the last ounce out of every concept and often polishing a design into the very early hours!

President of Yeovil Chamber of Trade & Commerce 

Matt heads up our Sales and Customer Service team and is responsible for ensuring that our clients receive the highest possible levels of customer service from initial enquiry through to end delivery. He works hard to develop strong partnerships and working relationships with companies across the region and raise the profile of SSG within the business community.
 

I specialise in helping business leaders unlock, develop, and realise their full potential. I work with clients at a transition point in their business or career, such as preparing for growth or exit or stepping into a new role.

I focus on motivating leaders to act and realise their goals. Whether unlocking hidden potential, developing new skills or strategies, or discovering an ambitious vision, I enjoy helping people achieve remarkable things.

Being a business leader should be enjoyable and rewarding. Through coaching, my clients can rediscover purpose and simplify things to help gain clarity of purpose. I help clients name and explore their goals, raising their awareness and responsibility while promoting a desire to act. This narrows the performance gap between the clients now and their full potential.
 

Stuart is Director of Stuart Todd Associates, a town planning consultancy based in Wellington.  Stuart has been a chartered town planner and member of the Royal Town Planning Institute for 25 years and having spent the first 15 years of his working life in the public sector, Stuart set up his consultancy in 2011.  Stuart enjoys his time outside of work with his wife and two daughters (who keep him in check!) and making the most of Somerset's and the wider south west's great outdoors.  A keen fair-weather cyclist and known to "enjoy" the perils of circuit training, he believes passionately in the benefits of being active, at any stage in life, for the improvement of both physical and mental health.  For his sins, Stuart is a long-suffering Southampton FC fan, has been known to dabble in a spot of photography and constantly struggles to get seamlessly from one chord to the next on the guitar (it can only get better!)!

Managing Director of Jatech Limited incorporated in 1996.
We offer innovative and imaginative software engineering services across a broad range of industries with an emphasis on solving difficult technical problems in a secure and cost effective manner to save businesses time and hence money.
We offer the following:

• Product Development
• Bespoke Software
• Database design (SQL Server)
• Integration of Systems
• APIs
• Digital Document production and version control

Chief Scientist and Founder at Kaiasm. I lead a team specialising in large scale information engineering, ontology creation, data analysis and visualisation for retail and public sector applications.

Pre data-science days, worked in web development, web standards development, mark-up and universal access since 1995, alongside brief stints at BBC Science & Nature (on the Ballad of Big Al!), AOL news, and the Environment Agency. Proud to have served for many years as a W3C Invited Expert as part of the organisation's Web Accessibility Initiative. Wrote 50 ways to make Google Love your Website with Kaiasm co-founder Steve Johnston, published by Random House.

Bristol-based, I am IMechE-chartered, hold a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering and have 15+ years of experience as an engineer, project manager and business manager in highly regulated industries such as Aerospace and Oil & Gas.
I have repeated success guiding cross-functional engineering teams and $multi-billion programme portfolios. I have worked in an engineering consultancy capacity for over 10 years, and managed high value projects in a manufacturing environment.

As the Business Manager for SEIMAF UK, a team of experts in engineering, mechanical design and technical studies, I look forward to raising SEIMAF's profile, and growing our business by building a long term relationship with our customers across the Energy, Construction and Transport industries.

Please get in touch for more information about our unique offering. We are here to help!

CIPD Level 3 qualified with over 10 years’ HR experience, Becky has worked across industries ranging from the care sector to manufacturing and even agriculture.

Runner-up at Employee of the Year at the Blackmore Vale Business Awards in 2017, Becky is calm and organised and thrives as an HR Consultant. She loves the variety of working with different businesses and ensuring HR helps them achieve the best with their teams. A huge lover of detail, you’ll often find Becky checking through a contract or employee handbook for accuracy. Becky’s calming approach makes her ideal for those challenging difficult conversations with employees.

Specialisms: Employee relations e.g. disciplinaries, capability, grievances, performance and associated investigations; contracts of employment; difficult conversations; employee handbooks; managing long term sickness absence; building training programs

As a Director at Auxilium HR Solutions Ltd, I provide generalist HR, recruitment, and training solutions for small and medium size businesses, leveraging my 20 years of HR experience and my Chartered Membership of CIPD. I am passionate about delivering creative HR solutions with commercial reality, and empowering my clients and team with the best HR practices and knowledge.

I have also taught and managed the Level 3 Certificate in Human Resource Practice at Yeovil College, where I mentored and inspired the next generation of HR professionals. I am a certified Mental Health First Aider, and I value the well-being and development of myself and others. My career highlights include managing a team of highly skilled colleagues, leading bespoke Management Development Programmes, managing complex HR projects, such as site closures, culture change, and TUPE, with successful outcomes and minimal litigation.

Chloe manages the marketing team working on the coordination, development and implementation of our strategic marketing plans. Over the years she has specialised in online advertising, redeveloping and managing our presence on Google.

Founder of the Ignite Business Club >> The only business club to join where Business Owners come together, support each other to grow their businesses. A brilliant blend of masterminding, strategy, coaching, support, and friendship

High Performance Business & Leadership Coach >> Trusted partner for CEO's, Founders & Directors of growing businesses. For the last 20 years Leanne has worked with 100's of business owners and leaders to define and achieve business goals, develop winning teams, and build a high performance mindset to increase revenue and profit

Leadership Training & Consultancy >> Unlock the potential of your leadership team and top employees with the tools they need to solve their problems. Commercially driven, no fluff programmes that provide practical and enjoyable training that gives you a good return on your investment

Hello I am David Brock but known by all as "Brock" - I am originally from Orlando.

After a 25 year military career in the US Navy I ended up in the UK with my wonderful British Bride.

I was asked by local business owners in Cornwall to build a business networking platform and now that is my passion which has now grown and to date Your Partnerships has 50 - 70 events per month covering nine counties and with online networking partners we have access to businesses worldwide. The platform currently connected to over 200k connections.

You are invited to experience Your Partnerships which thrives on helping first. Look up current progress here - https://yourpartnerships.co.uk

I have over 20 years of experience in the Telecoms space. I am an expert in partnering and run some of the most demanding projects in direct contact with the main networks. I am also proud to have 10 years of experience of managing the UK telecoms operations for some of Irelands largest business names.
I love building close relationships – with companies large and small, and getting into the nitty gritty of what helps to make companies work better and smarter, and helping to deliver the very best in Customer Service!
 

7FigureBackOffice.com is a husband-and-wife team that supplies outsourced Marketing and Operations help to growing companies. 

We offer director-level support on a part-time basis, from one day a month, up to two days a week, giving you director's level input and expertise without the full-time executive-level salary commitment. 

Although we are a husband-and-wife team, we don't always work on the same projects. Current projects include a radio station, a global personal development company and a coaching company.  

I have established a unique business in the wedding industry, by providing exceptional chaperones who offer assistance to elderly guests in need of additional support to attend family events. This service is indispensable for families seeking to guarantee their older relatives can partake in special occasions and fully enjoy the festivities.

I’m a family man with a grown up son of 23 who became a fully qualified teacher this year and started employment this September. I’ve been married for 28 years and live on the edge of the Mendip hills.

I have a passion for life, love the outdoors, enjoy sport (watching and playing) and believe strongly in having a work life balance. To this end my hobbies / interests include:

Walking, Gardening (have an allotment), bonsai and cacti, Bristol City, theatre, cinema, bowls, mah-Jong (run a club meeting twice monthly), and dancing (swing dance and ceroc).

I am an EMCC & ICF Accredited Executive Leadership Coach – leveraging 25 years in management including 16 as an HR Leader in multinational organisations in the energy industry . I have moved from Switzerland to Somerset and keen to expand my global clientele to support business owners and leaders locally. My clients  are leaders in organisations in multiple sectors including Energy, Health, Banking & the Environment and I enable them to overcome their individual challenges and problems such as lack of confidence, poor time management and work/life balance, inability to delegate and/or manage upwards, and I help them develop emotional intelligence
I am also doing some HR Consultancy work, in particular on the Performance Management  side. I am bi-lingual English/French and fluent in Italian and Spanish 
LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/heatherbellin/ 
or you can visit my website www.4cexecutivecoaching.com 

Hi, I am the director of Peacock Sourcing, a new Bristol based recruitment agency specialising in the hiring of manufacturing and engineering staff for all industries (Aviation, Nautical, Aerospace, etc) between myself and the rest of our team we have a collective experience of over 3 years in recruitment and over the company’s short lifetime we have recruited well over 30+ people.

I’m a committed individual seeking new clients to help add value to their business and for all first time clients seeking more than 1 member of staff, we offer the first hire completely free with no ties.

I’m always available to chat and eager to hear from anyone who’s interested in our service.

 

I help leaders elevate their people experience to drive business growth.  If your business is growing, you know what you need to deliver operationally but need some help with your people plan, get in touch. I can help you:  

• align your people plan with your business strategy
• think about employee communication and engagement
• identify any talent or skill gaps in your team
• implement meaningful reward and recognition programmes
• bring your people proposition to life when you bid for business as part of a formal procurement tender process
• build a plan that brings different teams together following an acquisition
• elevate the experience your team have at work.

With over 20 years of experience across British & European manufacturing, Donald has recently joined his wife at Coconut Lime, bringing a strong background in technical fields and solution sales.

Starting his career in design before moving into account management and business development, he’s passionate about finding the right solutions for clients and building lasting relationships.

A self-professed tech enthusiast, Donald loves exploring the latest hardware and software innovations and isn’t afraid to try new gadgets on launch day.

Based on the Dorset/Somerset border, he combines his expertise and curiosity to help clients find the right talent to grow their businesses.

Rowena has been running Coconut Lime since 2018, specialising in technology recruitment with a refreshing, candidate-centred approach.

After a successful start in telecoms sales - where she quickly became a top performer and moved into sales management - Rowena noticed a need for a recruitment agency that genuinely listens to candidates and clients alike.

Today, she partners with clients to find top talent in technology sales, support, and leadership roles.

Living on the Dorset/Somerset border with her husband and three children, Rowena values building lasting relationships and helping others find roles where they can truly thrive.