Meet The Team

Adrian is a business professional with over 25 years of commercial experience in UK, pan-European and Global markets – at Board and Managing Director level. As a MAS Advisor, he has used this experience by working with senior leadership teams to determine strategic plans and the associated implementation of practical, measurable steps towards improvement and growth.

Degree in Economics, Politics & International Studies from Warwick University, member of Chartered Institute of Marketing and of Guild of Motoring Journalists. Adrian is also married with two teenage children, enjoys tennis and cycling when time permits.

adrian.waters@egs.live
07790 358 557

Daren is an experienced business support professional working across a number of sectors delivering high quality and client centric support, working with small business owners to develop growth plans and scale opportunities. Previous work has helped enable growth aspirations to business to accelerate growth, improve productivity and profitability, develop new and alternative routes to market and identify development opportunities.

ILM L7 qualification in Executive Coaching and Leadership Mentoring amongst other accreditations. Daren is a keen Formula 1 and football fan, enjoys walks and cycling by the coast in Kent.

daren.booth@egs.live
07971 062 279

Michelle has over 17 years’ experience in the Business Support arena including being an Investors in People Advisor/Assessor supporting manufacturers with health checks and developing action plans with Owner Managers. Michelle is a Leadership Specialist who has worked with a large number of manufacturing businesses providing strategic guidance and delivering business and leadership solutions. Michelle understands and appreciates the issues that face business owners with her pragmatic approach enabling clients to access support to grow their businesses and achieve results and support them to achieve their growth ambitions.

Michelle has a Bachelors degree in Business Studies amongst other accreditations including the SFEDI qualification in Business Development and Skills Development. Michelle likes to travel and spends time in West Cork, she is also a keen walker and gardener.

michelle.connor@egs.live
07790 358 674

With over 17 years of experience in the business industry, Phil has previously tackled multiple high value projects for companies such as BT, O2 and Motorola. Paired with 7 years’ experience as a Business Manager in the banking industry providing SME’s with financial support and business planning, Phil has used this to support high growth businesses and manufacturers in identifying barriers to growth, re-aligning senior teams and compiling action plans and strategies to aid business growth.

In his spare time, Phil plays basketball for Tamworth Tigers in Warwickshire, while also playing competitive golf; aiming to make it on to the Trilby Tour.

Phillip.somers@egs.live
07790 358 561

Sarah has extensive experience with working with a wide range of businesses helping them grow, accessing grant funding and growth opportunities. Previous experience at the local Growth Hub, Sarah supported manufacturing businesses of all sizes in Essex to identify new routes to market and product development.

Sarah’s first career was competing as a rider and schooling horses. A switch to media took her to becoming a sales director and then running her own magazine and website. Moving into business support two and a half years ago she enjoys working with the huge variety of businesses. Out of work Sarah enjoys everything that a large family and dog offer, attempting to keep fit and making candles.

sarah.goodwin@egs.live
07973 778 255

Steve has previously worked at director level within both small and large companies, primarily within sales, marketing and brand development, and has worked with many SMEs in the marine, renewables and atomic sectors through government and EU-funded projects.

Steve has a BSc (Hons) in Natural Sciences, a postgraduate diploma in marketing and a MA in Business Management. When not working, Steve enjoys getting out on his motorbike or trying to emulate his favourite chefs in the kitchen.

stephen.sharp@egs.live

07973 778 222

Amanda has over 25 years of experience in developing and managing SME business support programmes. Her previous role was as Head of Service for Hertfordshire Growth Hub. She enjoys working with clients to support and implement growth strategies, and with stakeholders to help their members and contacts find out about the support available to them. She has also developed programmes for specialist consultants and coaches to enable their expertise to be accessed easily by local firms.

A long-time resident of Hertfordshire, she is keen to support its manufacturers to benefit from the opportunities provided by the Manufacturing Growth Programme. A fluent French speaker, in her spare time Amanda enjoys travel, cooking, gardening and reading.

amanda.freeland@egs.live
07973 946 529

Marcus has worked in a vast number of manufacturing businesses across all sectors in his 15-year career in business support. Particular areas of specialism include helping managers to identify and understand key and critical barriers to performance, the development of appropriate plans and strategies to address these and through an extensive network of contacts and providers introduce highly skilled individuals/organisations to provide direct intervention support.

When not at work, Marcus can either be found in the gym, on the golf course or taking the family dog – a boisterous and highly spoilt German Short Haired Pointer – for long walks.

marcus.pearson@egs.live
07790 358 517

Neil is an experienced professional with over 25 years accumulated knowledge in the manufacturing industry, which includes 15 years at Senior Management level. Neil is a passionate, self-motivated and tenacious business improvement professional with a proven track record of building and leading high-performance teams. Delivering sustainable change with projects across multiple functions, including projects that improved efficiency within steel inventory that released cash, at the same time as improving customer service.

With a Masters Business Administration degree, Neil is also an avid Rugby Union fan, he likes to travel, enjoys good food, quality wine and spending time with his growing family.

neil.harriman@egs.live
07790 358 637

Robin has an extensive client history, working with FTSE100 and Fortune250 concerns, as well as providing support to hundreds of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A specialist in business growth and development, he has previously helped many of those Companies through the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) and Growth Accelerator (GA).

Robin has an MBA, an MA in Strategy, and a Diploma in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). Personal interests include maritime history and he is a keen coastal walker… which most recently has been with his baby son.

robin.simpson@egs.live
07773 228 147

Sharn is an experienced professional with over 10 years accumulated knowledge in the manufacturing industry and has worked with ambitious SME’s who have the passion and need to grow. Sharn has supported clients by listening to their needs and directing them to the best support available. Delivering sustainable change in a vast range of industries, whilst constantly updating and developing her core competencies and domain knowledge.

Prince2 Practitioner qualified amongst other certifications, Sharn is married with a son and spends her spare time supporting her son’s hobby – football.

sharn.haywood-higgs@egs.live
07790 358 654