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Meet The MD – Bob Moore, Utility Alliance

Can you tell the readers about yourself?

I’m born and bred in Hartlepool, and after leaving school I joined the Army where I was a HGV driver for the Royal Logistics Corp.

I got to see the world and went to places like Poland, Germany, Bosnia, Croatia, Canada and the US.

I carried ammunition into military bases and was a close protection driver in Northern Ireland. It made me grow up quite a bit and gave me a good work ethic.

After that I returned home and moved into the energy sector. I learned a lot in that time and eventually got into a position where I set up my own business.

What does your role entail?

I run the company along with Darren Sutherland, who is our Chief Executive, and Phill Moore who is Chief Operating Officer. Between us we oversee the running of the business, with a senior management team in place across all areas of the company.

We have an open door policy for staff from all levels, and we regularly work across our offices in Newcastle and Sheffield as well as our HQ in Hartlepool as we all feel it is important to be visible throughout the business.

When was Utility Alliance set up, and how has it grown since then?

Myself and Darren set the business up in February 2015, and were later joined by Phill. We had all worked together at another energy consultancy which unfortunately collapsed in 2019, and we all did very well for that business individually. We reached a point where we just thought ‘lets give this a go ourselves’ and we went for it.

We had a team of four staff in a small office in Hartlepool, we bought a printer off eBay and off we went. It was a gamble for all of us and there were times when it was tough, but we created a business plan at the start and we have stuck to it religiously ever since.

We created relationships with suppliers at the very start and as those relationships have grown stronger, so has the business.

We now have more than 450 staff across Hartlepool, Newcastle and Sheffield as well as a strong field sales team, and we’re continuing to grow.

We have been named in the Top 100 Places to Work in the UK by The Sunday Times for the last two years, and we have won various awards locally and nationally. We’re turning over more than £25m now which is phenomenal considering we’re still only five years old, but the long-term aim is to keep that growth going rather than resting on our laurels.

What is it about your organisation that motivates you and excites you the most?

It’s the constant drive to keep on improving. We operate within a highly competitive sector, and each day there is a different challenge for us. We want to continue to grow the company, but at the same time making sure our staff are happy and we run what is considered to be a good place to work.

Looking back on the past year, what has been your biggest achievement?

I think when we look back over the last year, like everyone else in all walks of life the main thing we have had to deal with has been the Coronavirus.

Obviously as things got more serious, we had various emergency meetings with senior management to make sure we had a plan in place should the worst happen. Once that announcement was made that we were all on lockdown, our plan was implemented and a large proportion of our staff were able to work from home.

We revised targets, we got used to remote meetings and we tried to keep things as normal as possible in what were unprecedented times. As we got to the end of June we started a phased return to work for staff, we invested heavily in changing the office environment and we’re proud of how we have come out of the other side.

What have been your biggest challenges during your time at Utility Alliance so far, and how have you overcome them?

The biggest challenge for us was right at the very start when we first set the business up. As I said earlier in this interview, it was a gamble. I have a young family and bills to pay, it was a risk. Once we struck up a relationship with a supplier, things started to move. You build up a trust and a reputation, but without that first supplier taking a chance on us we couldn’t have got to where we are now.

What does the future hold for your company? Any exciting projects in the pipeline we should know about?

We have to have plans in place, because if you stand still in business you end up going backwards.

We’ve strengthened our management team with some key appointments, and we’re always striving to make improvements.

In terms of exciting projects, there are plenty of things in the pipeline – watch this space!

Contact Utility Alliance: www.utility-alliance.com

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Utility Alliance .