Colin Lindsay
As head of Gallery Recruitment, I have more than 10 years of Recruitment experience gained with two of the larger recruitment specialists.
But it didn't start there. I went into the Army straight from school and spent a very successful 10 years travelling, playing sport and having new experiences - and I was also trained to be one of the best chefs in the army, if I say so myself!
When I saw the light, I decided to move on from the army and settled in Denmark for a number of years spending time working in some of the best restaurants and hotels in Copenhagen, being capped off with looking after the residence and catering for the American Ambassador in Denmark. Before leaving Denmark for the greener fields and hills of the UK, I managed the food and beverage operations of 5 large hotels in the centre of Copenhagen.
Once back in the UK, like most people I fell into recruitment for all the right reasons. I am very passionate about the industry and work hard to maintain the name of good recruiters. Over the last 10 years I have worked in various sectors, such as transport and logistics, sales and marketing, commercial, renewable energies and, of course, hotel and leisure.
When I am not at work I spend time with the family and try to catch up with all those missed hours of climbing, skiing, and anything else that is "wooly hatting".
Chris Whittam
I was born at a very young age and have lived this long due to an uncanny ability to keep breathing, one of the few things which actually comes naturally to me.
Education started late for me. At school, I learnt what I wasn't very good at, which was mainly that I wasn't very good at being taught. However, I have ended up with qualifications and letters after my name - honest ones for which I worked hard, whilst holding down both a full time job and two young children - so school wasn't all in vain.
Due to an apparent addiction to three meals a day and the lofty aspiration to keep a roof over our heads, I am always keen to promote the services of Gallery Recruitment - my business experiences have lead me to the rather old-fashioned conclusion that because I go the extra mile for my clients, they are willing to pay a fair price, thus ensuring that we get to eat a hot meal in a house.
I have always worked in the business to business sectors: I find the snobbery of being a professional such a change from reality. Whilst my background was insurance for many years (see what I mean?), my senior management experience has been in consultancy. I have a distinct leaning towards directing sales and marketing activities, as I enjoy telling people what to do.... something I am not allowed to do at home.
I also enjoy many hobbies. Some of the less disgusting and more legal ones include martial arts. Despite what my dad told me when I was young, after many years of practice, I can now punch my own way out of a paper bag! Reading and lately motorcycling also feature in my leisure time.
I have done more than my fair share of public speaking and have been compared to some of the very best on the Dinner circuit. Apparently, compared to them, I am crap.
Overall, my values are professionalism, quality and adding value to whatever I do. I believe in providing an excellent service to everyone I come into contact with (except my wife, so she tells me) and I believe that Gallery Recruitment's success to date and for the future will be well founded on these points.
Jonathan Boardman
I am the Director and Founder of a very successful Contract Hire and Car Leasing Brokerage.
For the last 10 years I have enjoyed huge successes achieving accreditations both for service and price, as a market leading brokerage, and a much valued introducer of business to Car Dealerships and Finance Companies; I have sold or leased millions of pounds worth of vehicles to thousands of satisfied customers, all over the U.K.
I'm a self motivated, ambitious professional. I have always been a high achiever and have the ability to communicate with individuals at all levels; I have great empathy, patience, tenacity and business intuition, in essence I am the definitive broker (not the middle man of old), a fusionologist which means that I identify needs and solutions and marry the best combinations. This what I've been doing for years, be it people, vehicles or business to business solutions.. I believe business success is about helping clients, whilst offering impartial advice and practical solutions.
I've got a fantastic Fiancée, an adorable son; I figured (after 10 years) it was time to work smarter not harder, the guys at Gallery have a really good ethos... a great outlook, I'm looking forward to the work / life balance / enrichment, and maybe a free golf lesson!!
Jenny Farrar
I was admitted as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives in 1999 after completing a law degree at the University of Central Lancashire and gaining several years of experience in private practice whilst studying for my professional qualifications.
I went on to specialise in civil litigation with a particular interest in employment law and personal injury.
In recent years I have worked as a professional locum in these areas for a number of different firms across the North West. This has provided me with a unique perspective on the difficulties facing both firms and candidates during the recruitment process and led me to join Gallery Recruitment specialising in legal recruitment.
Pat Hall
As an American living in the UK, I feel that I bring a multi cultural work ethic and a confident and service-centric approach to my business ventures. I came over to Cheshire for 6 months but half my life later I think it's safe to admit I now really do live here. For historical background I am a native Californian who felt the need to check out the lifestyle stories about 'West Coast v East Coast'. Crazy as it might seem, the East won and when I finished my Masters Degree, I stayed in the East. I worked with Art in Public Places in Chicago, taught at the University of Virginia, and then managed various bars/restaurants in New York City. One night I served an Englishman, who was in the city doing a product launch. The rest of the story is a personal whirlwind, but he convinced me that since I had gone east to find culture I should come to England and find real culture! So I married him and I find myself still here!
Together we set up an advertising agency (Campaign listing of top 300 agencies) and operated three Business and Conference Centres. As a full service agency, our role was to become an integral part of a client's management team but provide an unusual approach to solving problems. My multi life experiences often came in handy with the PR and commercial marketing campaigns within the large cross section of market sectors. Within the business centres, I provided the overall management of prestigious serviced office accommodation in two Cheshire locations. The tenant base ranged from start up companies to international plc's.
In joining Gallery Recruitment, I will encounter a new set of challenges and opportunities to which I can apply my absolute dedication and skills. At Gallery, I will now specialise in the commercial sector of recruitment. Being a highly motivated and creative professional with excellent communication skills, will allow me to provide Clients with service that will exceed their expectations.
When the working hours and weather permit, most weekends I am down supporting Cheshire Polo Club, where I am the Chairman of the social committee. I also keep in touch with the art community in the USA and when the budget permits I also collect American Folk Art.
John Jones
I am described as a Sales and Marketing professional, as I have over 30 years experience of selling and marketing IT solutions to the Times top 100 companies in the UK and Europe. With a passion for exceeding customer expectations, I like to go the extra mile to ensure I understand customers’ requirements before venturing a solution.
Educated to degree level within the discipline of Applied Behavioural Psychology together with a post graduate diploma in Business Psychology, I also understand how important it is for organisations to recruit new employees who fit the job description, have the relevant skills and a personality profile that matches the corporate culture; hence my move into the recruitment profession, with a challenge to make a difference.
For me, my joining the Gallery Recruitment team was an easy decision, as it was clear they reflected a similar professional approach.
When not engaging with clients and candidates, I now find most of my leisure time is surrounded by 3G Technology including Gardening, working out at the Gym and playing Golf, albeit badly.
Simon Lockhart
I joined Gallery Recruitment after ten years or so in various management roles in hospitality. Having had extensive experience in some of the finest hotels, restaurants and bars located in London, Birmingham and more recently Cheshire, it was the obvious industry for me to specialise in.
Locally, I'm better known for being part of the team of the recently revamped and now successful Fox & Barrel and, as the manager, enjoyed a fantastic relationship with the local community. Before that I was based at Macdonalds Portal Hotel Golf and Spa as the Food and Beverage manager, which was also a fairly new site, and once again presented various challenges but I enjoyed the role immensely.
Having been exposed to such intense levels of quality control, professionalism and discipline, I will be keen to bring these particular attributes to Gallery Recruitment and my clients.
In my spare time (whenever that is available!), I can usually be found with my four year old daughter learning the latest nursery street slang and what is particularly popular at the time on the c-beebies music chart.
When the 'free' time does become available, I'll occasionally pop down to the Cheshire polo to see a few games or relax by playing my guitar while my neighbours gently weep!
Simon Martin
I joined Gallery at the start of 2009 and I specialise in recruiting for a variety of industries ranging from graphic arts through to electronic services and social sectors. Coming from a varied business background and having had senior management positions in a number of large businesses, I believe I am ideally placed to source the right candidate for you and take the headache out of recruitment.
I have had 13 years experience in the graphic arts and surrounding industries starting with advertising then moving through to purchasing, direct mail, printing and ending up in print management.
Whilst I am passionate about graphic arts during working hours, I am also passionate about my three daughters and family, who take up most of the rest of my time. In the unlikely event that I have other spare time to fill, I enjoy supporting the best team in the premiership, playing golf, cycling, travelling and most things cultural.
Jon Pacey
My areas of expertise are Sales & Marketing in Sports, Fashion, Creative & Media and a little bit of Print thrown in for good measure.
Having started out as a Sports Coach I moved into sales with sports brand Le coq Sportif then Dunlop Slazenger and latterly Yonex, holding positions from Sales Executive through to Sales & Marketing Director. I then moved into the Fashion Industry with a Jeanswear company and then to Van Gils (Dutch Menswear Co) as UK & Ireland Sales and Marketing Director. Changing tack I spent a year and a half as a Consultant at a friends print business and then took up the role of Commercial Director at a Manchester, city centre Creative & Marketing Agency.
Like you I have now taken the step of becoming self-employed at Gallery.
On a personal note I am 48 years of age, married to Kerry and have a 13-year-old daughter Emily. We live in Adlington a rural village between Stockport and Macclesfield and enjoy good food, wine, and time with friends plus long walks with our 10-month-old German shepherd dog through the great countryside on our doorstep. My main hobby is golf and lets just say I am a keen 5 handicapper, I can give that away now I'm self-employed.
I look forward to working with everyone involved at Gallery and ensuring that we achieve both personal and financial success along the way.
Ted Sellwood
I have spent most of my working life in the Financial Services sector; the majority of my career with Colonial Mutual and latterly as an Independent Financial Adviser.
Having built and sold two Financial Practices, I had visions of moving to France and working with expats as a Financial Adviser. The credit crunch put paid to that dream and I am now committed to using my experience in Financial Services to develop my business as a Recruitment Consultant with Gallery Recruitment.
My main interests outside the workplace are cricket (now as a spectator), our house in France and spending time with my wife and grown up children, all three of them.
I am also studying for a Masters Degree in Life Planning, which is exceptionally hard going but very rewarding. I have no doubt that it enhances my ability to provide an exceptional understanding of the needs of my present clients.
Chris Witterick
Whilst at school, I developed my natural talent and love of golf and played in as many local and national amateur events as I could, with some considerable success.
After leaving school it seemed like a natural progression to turn professional and I decided to pursue a career in golf. In 2001 I left the U.K to begin my P.G.A training at Golf Club Zell am See in Austria; it was there I discovered there is a lot more to the commercial side of the golf business, aside from teaching andplaying, which stretched me and greatly interested me.
In my third year in Austria I was asked to manage and improve one of central Europe's most successful golf retail stores and I was highly involved in us winning the award for Austria's No. 1 Golf Shop 3 years in a row!
At the beginning of 2009 I decided to return to the U.K after 8 fantastic years abroad to find a new challenge. Although golf is still a huge passion of mine, my experiences in sales and people management lead me to believe that my true talents lie in retail, sales, marketing and anything involving dealing and getting the best out of people, which will be a great benefit to my clients here at Gallery Recruitment.
I currently live in Liverpool City Centre and outside of work I still try to play as much golf as possible but I am also a very keen football player and supporter (Liverpool) and go to as many games as I can.
