June 2022 – Present Day

We’re reimagining what it means to attend a wine event and making wine fun and accessible to all. Helping the UK and Londoners to experience new discoveries.

Wine is often seen as intimidating and formal, with existing wine events, experiences and retail outlets failing to attract the newer, younger wine drinkers. And wineries and brands are struggling to connect with younger consumers but don’t know how to change.

The London Wine Festival is changing this.

The London Wine Festival is addressing this issue by offering great experiences, products, and services (think Amazon for drinks) that resonate with modern consumers, benefiting vineyards and introducing unique brands into the UK market, along with year-round online wine purchasing and subscription options.

Starting in London before expanding globally.

See LondonWineFestival.org

March 2020 – May 2021

A recent venture, Gym Jam, was a fitness platform for those who were tired of fitness apps. The goal was to help users cultivate better habits that stick by using coaches trained in Motivational Interviewing technique. 

The venture closed due to funding.

March 2020 – Oct 2021

A local festival in between the two lockdowns. Comedy, music, food and drink over 21 nights at Chiswick House.

In just 6 weeks we organised 21 nights of events, ranging from comedy to rock bands. Acts included Dara Ó Briain, Russell Kane, Joel Dommett, Simon Brodkin & Tom Allen to a key note speakers like Jeremy Vine through to amazing musicians and incredible classical performers, who’ve performed with the likes of Clean Bandit, Eminem, 50 Cent, Ed Sheeran, Bring Me The Horizon, Maren Morris, Alison Moyet, Dermot Kennedy, Rhys Lewis, Marc Almond and Tom Chaplin to name just a few.

Sold out 21 nights with 5,000 tickets and finished with a healthy profit.

Click to view videos

Founded and grew Rough Runner to become the UK’s second-largest, mass participation, obstacle course sports event in the UK. Built and grew a team of 8 full-time team members, raised investment from 152 investors, and managed multiple stakeholders and 200+ crew at multiple events across the UK.

Formulated marketing plans and forged partnerships to promote the events, increase brand image, and boost sales. Delivered leadership for managing budgets, generating financial forecasts and implementing operational/business plans.

Key Achievements:

• Planned and organised annual events for B2C and corporate and Fortune-500 companies (including Lloyds Bank) with 200,000+ attendees.
• Drove B2C and B2B Corporate events from inception to completion by building strong collaboration with multiple critical stakeholders along with 150+ investors and ~200 events crew.
• Established a safe and healthy environment for the workforce and clients (during events) by following H&S regulations.
• Ensured cost-effective and timely procurement of necessary logistics for event execution by fostering productive relationships with suppliers.
• Sustained & grew the business for six years until Covid hit, and managed 60+ successful events many with over 10,000 attendees per event, raising over £1.5M+ for UK charities.

Unfortunately, we had to put the business into Administration due to Covid-19, though we did find a buyer.

Check out roughrunner.com

Dec 2009 – Present Day

A business and management consultant specialising in supporting business owners who may not have the time, resources or experience but needed someone who could hit the ground running, whilst also setting up and testing different ventures. 

I focused predominantly in supported business owners within the hotel & hospitality sector set up their businesses from scratch and get the businesses moving.

I successfully helped numerous small boutique luxury hotels open across London, Milan, Rome, and Scilly.  

• Supporting businesses to write, deliver and implement marketing and sales strategies that leads to better customer engagement, improved customer loyalty & increased sales.
• Build and project manage website development from conception through to a live site with a strong emphasis on the customer journey and UX.
• Marketing and advertising campaigns, both on and offline, actively using social media and engaging with customers, pro-actively doing B2B and B2C sales, creating events as PR stunts, creating loyalty programs

As a co-founder of a dynamic web and mobile development company, I played a pivotal role in steering the company towards success during its formative stages.

Collaborating closely with my business partner, we built and delivered cutting-edge websites and mobile apps that garnered significant acclaim. After 16 months of successful collaboration, I made the strategic decision to depart from the partnership. My departure stemmed from my ability to secure and manage client relationships, where I consistently brought in new business opportunities that exceeded our initial scope.

This move allowed me to pursue an independent path, leveraging my entrepreneurial spirit and client-centric approach to further enhance my professional growth and explore new avenues within the industry.
 

Jan 2009 – April 2010

In addition to my role as a co-founder in the web and mobile development company, Weboo, I also co-founded, with the same partner, another impactful venture, Launch48.

At Launch48, our aim was to bring together participants from different backgrounds and levels of experience in the tech industry to think/plan/develop and launch one or multiple start-ups in just 48 hours.

This high-energy initiative focused on ideation, planning, development, and launch of start-ups, fostering collaboration and skill-sharing among participants.

The success of Launch48 was evident in its growing popularity, marked by numerous events held across the UK and Europe throughout the year. Notably, we secured sponsorships from prominent entities such as PayPal and O2, underscoring the credibility and appeal of the initiative.

While contributing to Launch48’s success, I eventually chose to step away to pursue larger ventures, driven by my unwavering commitment to entrepreneurial growth and innovation.  

Feb 2002 – Dec 2009

During my one-year tenure at the London Marriott Hotel Regents Park, I undertook the pivotal responsibility of formulating, delivering, and executing a comprehensive Sales and Marketing Plan. The primary objective was to enhance the hotel’s financial standing and meet budgetary goals. This strategic initiative yielded significant success, evidenced by the acquisition of various new contracts. Particularly noteworthy were the three new airline crew contracts, which involved successfully enticing businesses away from previously contracted hotels with more favorable locations.

Subsequently, I transitioned to the London Marriott Hotel County Hall, a flagship Marriott property facing considerable operational challenges. At that time, it ranked as the poorest-performing Marriott in the UK and Ireland, experiencing consecutive declines in year-on-year revenues. Tasked with orchestrating a turnaround, I conducted a thorough business repositioning, rewriting all business, sales, and marketing plans and implementing them meticulously. These efforts facilitated an impressive transformation, elevating the hotel’s turnover from £12 million to £19.4 million in less than three years, even amid the challenging economic backdrop of the recession until December 2009. Notably, the Marriott County Hall concluded December 2009 with the highest Revenue Per Available Room (RevPar) among all Marriott properties in the UK and Ireland, marking a remarkable shift from the worst to the best-performing Marriott during a recessionary period.

Joining The Savoy Group, a distinguished collection of London’s premier luxury hotels, including The Savoy, Claridge’s, The Berkeley, The Connaught, and The Lygon Arms, I assumed a pivotal role in the team responsible for rewriting the sales strategy for driving new business.

My mandate was to explore untapped markets and spearhead “new” sales through adept marketing, sales strategies, and negotiations, targeting a fresh audience.

By crafting a comprehensive sales and marketing plan that served as a roadmap for necessary actions, I generated £4 million in the second year through successful forays into new business territories.

Building on this achievement, I took charge of managing top-tier key accounts for the collection, ensuring not only the maintenance but also the growth of business performance to align with agreed-upon budgets. This multifaceted approach allowed me to contribute significantly to the overall success and expansion of The Savoy Group’s esteemed portfolio.

Savoy Hotel

Feb 1994 – Jan 1998

Responsible for the opening of the hotel, for the development of the businesses within the immediate area to include the Airport and all the airlines, encompassing negotiations of crew contracts and all the large corporate businesses around Heathrow as far as Slough’s business parks.

Highly successful opening, becoming the most successful Marriott Hotel at the time within the UKI collection and winning various accolades to include the best sales team in the UK as dictated by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, beating IBM, British Gas and Yellow Pages sales teams (no other hotel even got in!).

Heathrow Marriott Hotel