Exec Insight by Jackson Hogg Recruitment

In this week's episode, we spoke to Ian Ritchey, former Chief Engineer at Rolls-Royce. Ian has been involved in some of the most demanding engineering projects, whilst leading a highly capable team of specialist engineers. During our chat, we talked through his career at one of the most prestigious engineering companies and his near-miss of being at the forefront of AI research.

In this episode, we spoke to Jonathan O'Halloran, Founder and CEO at QuantumDX, a molecular diagnostics technology company based in the North-East. We talked to Jonathan about his journey from academia to business, his travels around the world working on diagnostics for Tuberculosis (TB), and the challenges that come with quickly scaling production of a product in the face of huge demand.

In this episode, we spent some time with Andrew Hodgson, portfolio chairman, talking about ethical capitalism and the wonderful work that Recycling Lives is undertaking. Recycling lives is both rehabilitating offenders whilst being a strongly performing private-equity backed acquisitive recycling business. It’s fantastic to see a business that is adding significant social value whilst thinking out the box for recruiting high calibre employees from new talent pools, and we hope you enjoy the episode.

In this edition of Exec Insight we spoke to Sarah Ellerby, CEO of Nova Pangaea and former elite professional pool player. Nova Pangaea is a technology business dedicated to changing the way we think about biofuel processing times with its groundbreaking process, REFNOVA®. During the interview we spoke to Sarah about her break from sports, the challenges she faced in switching industries, the problems Nova Pangaea are solving to create biofuels and how mentors helped her along the way.

In this episode, I spoke to Matt Boyle, MD of Collingwood Solutions, and former national Interim Challenge Director for Driving the Electric Revolution, a part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund set up by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. This week we touched on his career at Sevcon and its sale to BorgWarner for $200m and the challenges the UK is facing in its quest for electrification by 2030.

In this episode, I spoke to Rob Law, CEO and Founder of Trunki. Trunki is a children's lifestyle brand, made famous by its ride-on suitcases. We talked about his journey from the flames of Dragon's den, building resilience in the face of adversity and the process of writing his new book, 65 Roses and a Trunki.

In this episode, I spoke to an Robin Ferris, CEO and Founder of Bankuet. Bankuet is the UK's first online food bank donation platform, and has revolutionised how people support food banks. We talked about his journey from the music industry to the third sector, transferring ideas between sectors and using technology for the benefit of everyone in society.

In this episode of Exec Insight we speak to Rob Moore. Rob is the co-founder of Progressive Property, the UK’s leading property training company, the founder of digital agency Progressive Media, and is known globally as the host of the “Money Podcast” and the “Disruptive Entrepreneur”. In this episode we talked to Rob about running a business during the Covid-19 pandemic, the importance of flexibility in business and the power of social media.For more information about Jackson Hogg, please visit www.jacksonhogg.com, and to find out more about Rob, visit his website www.robmoore.com.

In this episode of Exec Insight we meet with Bill Scott OBE. Bill is CEO at Wilton Group and needs no introduction to many in the offshore sector. Wilton Engineering specialises in complex structures for the renewables, oil and gas, defence and marine markets. Bill shares his story from apprentice through to high-growth business, company acquisition, buying a 50-acre facility and private equity. Wilton Group was the fastest growing company in the North-East 2011 and 2012. Aside from being recognised with numerous Business Exec of the Year awards, Bill is a natural giver, liked by everyone, and has some highly relevant experience for business owners navigating rapidly changing markets.

In this episode, we get away from all the coronavirus gloom and sit down with CEO of AI company Wordnerds, Pete Daykin. Wordnerds is a SaaS company that is on the cutting edge of natural language processing artificial intelligence. They are currently working with train companies, car manufacturers and other global brands to discover what customers think about the services and products they supply and in this episode, we spoke to Pete about how this could change the way companies interact with customers, what AI actually is and how it could be a paradigm shift on the scale of the internet.

In this instalment of Exec Insight, we interviewed Stephen Doran of the Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult. Stephen talks to us about how UK engineers are perceived internationally, how to ensure a strong engineering future for the UK and the importance of intellectual property in the UK's growth plans.

This month, Richard talks to Dr. Arnab Basu, CEO of Kromek Group Plc. Kromek is an international AIM-listed technology business involved in the development and supply of high-performance radiation detection products and other advanced technologies. In this episode, Arnab talks through the challenges of building Kromek, international attitudes to innovation and the value of STEM education at all ages.

In our first instalment of Exec Insight, we interviewed Will Butler-Adams OBE. Will is the CEO of Brompton Bicycle Limited, a manufacturer of folding bikes based in London. Will started his career as a project manager in the Chemical industry before joining Brompton in 2002. Will's journey has taken him from chemicals to consumer goods, but the principles of management have stayed the same. In this episode, we talk to Will about his journey, the value of long-term planning, innovation and organic marketing.

Exec Insight is a delve into the minds of the leaders of some of the most innovative companies in the UK today. In this series, Richard Hogg (CEO, Jackson Hogg Recruitment) finds out how engineering, manufacturing and technology business leaders got to where they are now and what challenges they encountered along the way.