Member Article

Great Annual Savings Group make senior management appointments

The Great Annual Savings Group, a North East-based cost reduction business has made a trio of senior management appointments to help drive the business through its ambitious expansion plans.

Taking up the newly created roles are Paula Jones, a HR professional with over 18 years’ experience, who has been appointed as Head of HR at the Group. Paula has previously held operational and strategic leadership roles within both public and private sector organisations including the NHS, Sage and the Caudwell Group.

Commenting on the role, Paula says “It is an exciting time to be joining The Great Annual Savings Group as the business is growing rapidly. As we expand, we are looking to recruit the best talent in the marketplace, which will enable us to continue to offer the highest level of customer service to our clients and focus on career paths for our staff.”

Matt Herrell has joined the Group as Head of Finance. Previously working with The Onyx Group during their period of growth and several acquisitions. Previous to which Matt had a background of working with the top three finance practices, Matt reports into Group CFO Mark Gwilliam and will help steer the financial direction for the Group and also ensure that the Sales Admin team continually drive efficiencies through the technology platforms.

“I am delighted and excited to join the Group during their period of expediential growth and look forward to ensuring the Group has robust processes and platforms in place to support this growth” says Matt.

Head of IT, Paul Friday will manage a dynamic new approach to IT for the Group, and will oversee business systems infrastructure to support anticipated growth. This will include the automation and development of systems, with a particular emphasis on the use of low energy cloud-based services.

No stranger to expanding businesses, Paul is also author of “Move IT” a definitive `how-to’ guide for those seeking expert guidance and advice on office and data centre moves. Paul has previously worked with NPower plc, Skipton Building Society and West Yorkshire Police.

Paul’s first project is to ensure that the new Seaham offices are ready for the move on 1st June.

“I am thrilled to be working with such a professional organisation. I am particularly looking forward to enhancing the IT function in line with business requirements, helping the business to prepare for a prosperous future using the latest technologies,” says Paul.

Overseeing the growth of the management team, Judith Bennison, Group HR Director comments; “We have appointed exceptionally experienced and professional people who will support the vision and culture of our business. These are key appointments that, together with our other department heads, will be instrumental in supporting our growth and success.”

“It is a very exciting time for The Great Annual Savings Group. We have achieved fantastic success so far, and are now moving into a period of planned growth that will see us build on this further.

“As well as substantially increasing our staff headcount in the coming months, we are investing heavily in skills development. We don’t just want to be an excellent partner to our business customers, we want to be known as a top employer for our people, too. We place an incredibly high value on the people in our business.”

The North East based-business, with a national client base, is the first company in the region to receive a cash injection from the Santander Growth Capital fund. This has enabled the Group to further build on its success. Its Business Solutions Team work with businesses across many sectors reducing variable costs and ultimately saving money in a range of areas including energy procurement, energy and water cost management, fire safety, telecoms and insurance.

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