Year 10 Careers Evening
Thursday 20 June 2024
Phil Payne
Marine Survey Manager for National Grid Electricity Transmission
Phil workls as the Marine Survey Manager for National Grid Electricity Transmission. His work focuses on ensuring sufficient and accurate data is gathered to allow for the laying of offshore cables as part of the Great Grid Upgrade enabling the UK to achieve Net Zero in line with government policy. Phil is happy to talk about offshore careers especially in survey related fields and the National Grid in general. Phil has also worked for the UKHO (UK Hydrographic Office) and the Royal Navy and can answer questions about this are atoo.
Marie Handel
Chartered Surveyor
Marie first became interested in a career as a Chartered Surveyor when she did a week of work experience in Year 10. Following her A levels she went to the Royal Agricultural College (now the Royal Agricultural University) and got a 2:1 in Rural Estate Management. Marie went on to get a job with a firm of Land Agents and Auctioneers in North Somerset and qualified as a Member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers.
She is now a Partner in Carter Jonas based in Taunton and her day to day job predominantly involves advising farmers on all business matters, valuing farms and rural estates across the whole of the south west and advising farmers on the financial performance of their businesses and how this can be improved.
Since 1855, Carter Jonas has grown to be one of the largest and most respected property consultancies in the UK with a network of 34 offices across England and Wales, with more than 950 partners and employees.
Martine Naughton
Marketing and Public Relations Consultant
Martine is a marketing and public relations consultant with 25 years’ experience in hi-tech, telecommunications, retail, construction, commercial, and the public sector (education and local Government).
After completing a degree in English Language and a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Relations at Cardiff University, Martine worked in London at a public relations firm during the “dot com boom.” Since then, she has held several senior Public Relations and Marketing roles at multinational organisations in the IT industry, assisting companies in the United States to create a brand and voice in Europe, and helping European companies extend their global reach.
In 2012, Martine set up her own Marketing company and extended her skills to work with other sectors. Today, some of her clients include a rail infrastructure company, a care home, a commercial estate agency, an electronics manufacturer, a hospitality charity, and a law firm. She also volunteers to do the marketing for Trull Cricket Club, the local Repair Café, and Trull Parish Council.
Martine’s core skill is public relations, i. e. devising a communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organisations and their public. This means, web design, social media, Google/Facebook ads, liaising with the press, copywriting, constructing broadcasting angles, devising advertising, and direct marketing campaigns, - all important to her daily role. AI is also increasingly prevalent in the marketing function, and this is a tool she is exploring the use of as it becomes more advanced.
Joanna Dowling
Local Government Officer/Senior Project & Change Manager
Growing up, I never really had a clear idea of what I wanted to do as a career and no aspiration lasted more than a few years. (Age 3) I realised I didn't have the build or natural grace to be a ballerina, film star (age 7) was never going to fly and vet (age 10) involved too much blood and gore. In secondary school my first love was languages (and I longed to travel) and I was also good at maths. I knew in Sixth Form that I wanted to go onto university but was torn between a languages degree and accountancy.
By the time I had to make a choice I also knew I wanted to take a break from education, so I secured myself a place at Bath to study European Studies and Modern Languages, deferring my start for a year, and took a job as Junior Clerk with a local Accountant in my gap year. It bored the pants off me but taught me valuable lessons about myself and my motivations and I met some lovely people who I still count as friends today.
After graduating, the main job options seemed to be teaching and sales related, which left me uninspired until a tiny ad in The Guardian newspaper led me to becoming a Technical Author for a small software company in the City of London. From that, I moved into software training and from there into business change management and management consultancy.
I have been privileged to work with some big names across different industries and work internationally too. I currently work as a Senior Project & Change Manager for Somerset Council.
Derek Perry
Barrister
Derek Perry is a specialist in criminal, regulatory and personal injury law. He enjoys a reputation for rigorous and astute evidential and legal analysis combined with effective advocacy and client care.
He is licensed to accept work under the Public Access scheme.
Derek is regularly instructed in cases of considerable gravity, complexity and sensitivity including murder, fraud, serious sexual offences, drug supply, conspiracy, firearms and violence. Derek is a CPS panel advocate level 2 prosecutor.
Derek is experienced in cases involving technical and complex issues of road traffic law and accepts instructions in this area in certain circumstances.
He has significant experience in regulatory cases including prosecutions brought by the HSE, RSPCA, DEFRA, Environment Agency, Food Standards Agency, VOSA and local authorities. Such cases have involved domestic and agricultural animal welfare, agricultural regulation, handling and disposal of commercial waste, commercial fishing regulation, food hygiene, tachograph enforcement, planning enforcement and trading standards offences. He has experience of public inquiries before the Traffic Commissioner, actions brought by Companies House and Social Security Law.
Derek also undertakes licensing cases including contentious applications for the grant and variation of premises licences, applications relating to designated premises supervisors, transfer applications and reviews.
Kate Green
Physiotherapist
I’m a Specialist Physiotherapist working for the NHS locally at Somerset Foundation Trust. My job mainly involves seeing patients in their own homes. I assess them and help them to recovery from injuries or operations or to live well with their long term conditions such as Parkinson’s disease or osteoporosis.
I did a degree in Physiotherapy at university and then have worked in a wide variety of fields - sports therapy for England Hockey, hydrotherapy, intensive care and rehabilitation. I’ve also been able to travel and work as a physiotherapist in New Zealand . Physiotherapy is an interesting, person focussed career where you can make a positive difference to other people.
Kelvin Mackenzie
Sales Director- Smurfit Kappa Yate
Kelvin began his career at Cadbury, selling chocolate to around 200 independent retailers in the Midlands. He then joined Smurfit Kappa on their graduate scheme in 2010 and has been there ever since. Kelvin has carried out roles in operations, commercial/ finance and sales across the UK and Spain. He ran the plant in Barnstaple, North Devon before going on to manage a number of UK key accounts and then moved to the Yate site to look after the sales function.
The role is incredibly varied and has him looking after a team of around 30 across sales, design, technical, commercial, capacity and customer service at a £65 million turn over business. He gets a huge amount of joy from developing his team- particularly the graduates coming
through the business and creating innovative solutions for Smurfit Kappa’s Customers. Smurfit Kappa work with a number of brands that you interact with day-to-day, some of which you can see on the left. They provide packaging solutions that sustainably get food and drink from a
producer to the supermarket. Around 70% of the paperused to manufacture is recycled and everything they make is 100%
recyclable.
He is still not quite sure how he ended up working in the packaging industry but he’ll gladly share how his career has progressed and why he feels that the industry is important to protecting the planet.
Melanie Squires
Director at the National Farmers
Union (NFU) (South Region - Cornwall & Isles of Scilly, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, Hampshire & Isle of Wight, Somerset, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire)
Mel is from a Cornish dairy farming family and joined the NFU SW team in 2002 as a policy adviser, becoming Director for the South West in 2006 & for the new South region 2023. The NFU is the leading A political trade association representing 55,000 family farming businesses across England and Wales.
She graduated in Agriculture from Seale-Hayne faculty, University of Plymouth and prior to this an Agriculture student at Duchy College, Cornwall. She undertook the Worshipful Company of Farmers’ Challenge of Rural Leadership course in 2005 and became a Liveryman and is a Windsor Leadership alumnus (2022).
She was a Non-Executive Director on the Heart of the South West LEP Board 2016-23 (Devon and Somerset), is a longstanding CBI Council member and is a Leadership fellow for the University of University. She led the Inclusion, Diversity and Equality (IDE) work of the NFU from 2020-2023, and currently chairs the Great South West’s pan-regional partnership programme board for Food Security.
In June of 2008 she was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s birthday honours for services to Gloucestershire’s rural community and for animal welfare efforts during the flooding of July 2007. She was awarded the Associateship of Royal Agricultural Societies (ARAgS) for her distinguished achievement in the agricultural industry in 2015, subsequently awarded a Fellowship (FRAgS) in 2020. She is a Council member for the Devon County Agricultural Society (DCAA) and The Royal Bath and West of England Society.
Mel is passionate about all things farming, food, rural life, and the countryside, privileged to work with a fantastic team and farmers, representing their interests and campaigning on their behalf. She is a keen walker, lover of country pursuits and very proud mum!
Nick Clifton
Distinguished Engineer @
Red Hat / IBM
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you.canGet (new job (!problem));
Nick Clifton is has been a programmer all his working life.
Graduating with a degree in Computer Science from Bristol
University he became employee number 7 at Perihelion - a small
startup in Shepton Mallet. They then sold him and a fellow
programmer to a company called Virtuality which was trying to
break into the VR gaming industry in America. (Perihelion
had made a deal to sell their software, and the programmers
who had written it, to Virtuality).
Two years later, working out in Silicon Valley and having a
blast, Virtuality informed all of its employees that it was
going bankrupt and that there was enough money to pay for a
flight back to the U.K. and that was it. Rather than accept
that though, Nick looked around and found a new job at a
company called Cygnus Solutions. Which was then bought by
a company called Red Hat. Which was then bought by a company
called IBM. So far no other company has tried to buy IBM...
Nick will be happy to talk about the life of a programmer
in the computing industry, especially if you are interested
in Open Source programming, Linux, compilers, or computer
programming languages in general.
Mark Abou-Samra
Consultant in Anaesthesia
After attending The University of Birmingham Medical for 5 years Mark had a varied career that took him around the country where he worked in multiple specialties including surgery, general medicine and Emergency Medicine. IN 2009 he finally chose to specialise in Anaesthesia & Intensive Care. On completion of specialist training in 2018, he was appointed to a consultant position at Musgrove park Hospital Taunton where he focuses on the practice of anaesthesia.
An anaesthetist, also known as an anaesthesiologist, is a medical doctor specialising in the administration of anaesthesia to patients undergoing surgery or other medical procedures. Their job involves several key responsibilities and skills, including:
Mark Abou-Samra
Consultant in Anaesthesia
Overall, the role of an anaesthetist is crucial in ensuring the safety and comfort of patients undergoing medical procedures, requiring a high level of expertise, precision, and the ability to respond effectively to dynamic clinical situations. A career that can take you anywhere in the world.
Kate Michaels
Private Chef
After finishing A-levels at Queen’s , Kate completed her training at Tante Marie Culinary Academy where she gained her Cordon Bleu diploma in Professional Culinary Arts with distinction. Immediately after graduation Kate began working in Michelin starred restaurants: Artichoke, Amersham and Nathan Outlaw’s, Port Isaac, in both New Road and Fish Kitchen. She gained a wealth of valuable and knowledge within these professional kitchens, but she particularly took away the importance of using fresh, local produce. With the highest quality ingredients little plates of magic can be created.
Growing up in the heart of the Somerset countryside, constantly surrounded by great produce influenced Kate’s enthusiasm for cooking. At the age of 16 her love for the industry was accelerated when she competed in Young Chef of the Year and made it through to the National Finals. It was during the competition that she learnt she loved working under pressure setting her on the path into the hospitality industry.
Kate now runs her own company: Kate Michaels Private Chef Ltd. Her focus is on using seasonal, fresh and local produce, which she believes is key to creating the best, most delicious dishes. Kate’s Greek Cypriot heritage has taught her much about flavour and it is why it is always at the forefront of her food. Through the use of classic cooking techniques and unique flavour combinations she aims to leave guests happy and impressed.
James Litton
Business Owner
James studied BA (Hons) Retail Management at Bournemouth University and studied a wide range of topics from accountancy to visual merchandising.
James has been a director of a franchised car dealer group and now runs his own business, buying and selling used cars to the trade and general public.
James can talk to you about careers in retail, management and what it takes to start and run a small business, in addition to combining lifestyle and family requirements around a career.
Vincent Toussaint
Senior Commissioning Engineer
During more than 17 years in the French Navy, I was able to advance my skills and experience, starting as a field agent on the submarine machine to check the correct operation of the various mechanical and electrical equipment used to operate the propulsion turbine and turbo alternator.
I then embarked on a career as a reactor operator, where I was involved in the commissioning of a new fuel core and various major maintenance operations. During this position I piloted the reactor and carried out routine maintenance, which gave me a better understanding of how a pressurized water reactor works and enabled me to apply what I had learned during my training in atomic engineering.
I then moved into vibration analysis to help engineering prepare for major maintenance periods by carrying out predictive maintenance campaigns during my missions. It taught me how to prioritize tasks and stick to a budget, but also how to highlight certain unplanned but necessary maintenance.
I have left the army and am applying to EDF SA for the EPR Flamanville 3 project.
For 4 years I carried out commissioning tests on various fluid systems and increased my experience with civil nuclear power and EPR types. My job is to plan and size the resources and logistics needed to carry out the tests in compliance with the project's milestones.
My boss then allowed me to go back to training to obtain my diploma in nuclear plant engineering. So I went back to school to follow this course, while at the same time taking up a new position in Paris in the EDF engineering offices on the HPC project.
My job was to write the commissioning test documentation for the fluid systems on the HPC project's nuclear island, using feedback from what I had experienced and realized on FA3.
Today I'm a senior commissioning engineer for EDF UK (NNB) and I'm in charge of effluent treatment, from preparing documentation, defining test strategy, training commissioning engineers.I also support my colleagues on various technical issues relating to fluid systems.
Dr David Clare
Chartered Surveyor & Entrepreneur
A rather unorthodox formative life led David to gain a law degree (Oxford) and then a PhD in Psychology (London) before undertaking training to become a Barrister. A directional change prior to taking up an offer of pupillage then sent him to the corporate world of Insurance in London and central Europe. Slightly bored one day David met a Private Investigator and ended up spending 5 years operating a commercial investigations business before selling that and investing in several other enterprises including a jewellers, a legal document firm, an internet based antiques firm and more recently a surveying practice.
David is now a Chartered Surveyor (West Country Surveyors Ltd) specialising in surveying listed buildings and converted municipal buildings, think Victorian asylums, clock towers, Tudor houses and even nuclear bunkers. The most interesting property in the last 6 months has been the 'Invisible House' in Warwickshire, a house faced in mirrors that is literally almost invisible within the trees.
Outside of the world of business David has run a marathon at the geographic North Pole, solo sledged 250km of the arctic circle with 6 huskies and holds a Guinness World record for running the monopoly board.
David is happy to answer any questions you may have, however be warned he likes to ask random 'outside the box' questions to make you think!
Brian Naughton
CTO @ Google Cloud EMEA
Brian Naughton is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Google Cloud in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Brian works with Google’s biggest Telecom, Media and Entertainment customers such as Spotify, WPP, Vodafone, and BT to help them benefit from the latest advancements in Cloud & Artificial Intelligence. By helping big companies add superpowers to their employees, Google Generative AI builds bots
that can write code, answer customer queries and solve complex problems.
Contrary to the opinion that AI is dangerous and a threat to jobs, it is Google’s view that AI opens up new avenues for product development, service delivery, and business models. It fosters innovation, enabling companies to stay competitive in the rapidly evolving digital landscape, and provides a workforce with new tools that they can use to their advantage. It’s Brian’s job to harness its power and help any organisation embrace this technology.
With 30+ years in the technology industry, Brian has worked for Nortel, IBM, and Cable and Wireless. He was the CTO and Chief Strategist for a number of start-up companies which were sold to large multinationals.
Brian will enthusiastically discuss with pupils any area of computer technology innovation, development, and sales; artificial intelligence; how to establish a start-up business; key roles within a tech organisation; career paths within this fast moving industry. He will also answer any questions about Google’s business and strategy.
He was educated at the University of Limerick, and Oxford University.
Eoghan McAlonan
Veterinary Surgeon
Eoghan qualified from University of Glasgow in 2004 and worked as a mixed practice (small and large animal) vet in Derbyshire for six years.
In 2011 he moved to the Taunton area to pursue a career in farm animal practice and is a director of Farmvets Southwest. The practice has three bases servicing a large area of Devon and Somerset with clients spanning from Chard, Glastonbury, Wiveliscombe and Weston-Super-Mare.
He spends his days doing routine dairy cow work and during evenings on call he deals with a variety of calvings, lambings and surgical emergencies.
Eoghan has spent the last three years studying for a certificate in Advanced Veterinary Practice.
Dr Sonika Burger
Cosmetic Dentist
Dr. Sonika Burger is a Cosmetic Dentist with special interest in surgical Dental Implant Procedures and complex restorative treatments. She has 24 years of experience being a Dentist, and she has also owned 2 successful dental practices and has a wealth of knowledge about running her own business, and how to turn it into a multi-disciplinary clinic working with several dental colleagues to offer a comprehensive dental service to the community.
She is proud to be a successful professional, a business owner and a mother – which shows anything is possible if you love what you do and surround yourself with likeminded individuals and also to show there are equal opportunities out there for both men and woman in a career of dentistry.
She will be happy to share some of her experiences and give some insight into the career of being a modern dentist in 2023.
Emma Trott
Jeweller and Gallery Owner
In January 2023 Emma opened Olive Rose, her a Contemporary Jewellery Gallery. The gallery is tucked away in the independent quarter of Somerset's County Town of Taunton and stocks 20+ of the UK's top Jewellers and Makers.
The brand: her daughters middle names, was founded by owner Emma in 2015 and also represents her own unique jewellery which she creates using traditional goldsmithing skills, alongside a Victorian lace making technique called 'Tatting'. Each piece is handmade at her Jeweller's bench in the Gallery window.
"Here at Olive Rose, we sell high quality handmade Jewellery and Craft. We love helping you find the item that is right for you, and work closely with our Jewellers on commissions to create exactly what you're looking for. From simple silver stud earrings to alternative materials such as leather, aluminium or lace, to gold and platinum wedding and engagement rings. We also offer a ring resize, repair and alteration service.”
Jessica Ellis
Chief Financial Officer for a Charity
Jessica started her career as an Auditor and she is a Charted Accountant (ICAEW).
Her first job was in Bristol for an international firm – Mazars LLP where she was an Auditor
With this company she transferred to New York – Mazars USA LLP, to continue audit work with public companies, large organization & non-profits (charities). Some of these larger companies include LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, commonly known as LVMH - a French multinational holding and conglomerate specializing in luxury goods), Suez ( a French-based utility company which operates largely in the water and waste management sectors) and Hachette Book Group (publishing company owned by Hachette Livre, the largest publishing company in France, and the third largest trade and educational publisher in the world) as well as other smaller organisations.
Since 2019 Jessica has been a CFO at U.M. City Society –a multifaceted social services agency, comprised of 6 organizations. She deals with programmes and services covering residential rehabilitation for alcohol and substance addiction, Children’s programs, Summer Camp for kids, retreat center, low-income housing, food insecurity programs and others. This organisation has been around for 185 years (a long time in the USA) and was founded by a group of united methodist women, which to this day still align our mission work.
Jessica sits on the Board of the subsidiaries and is the CFO of the parent organization, dealing the everyday accounting and future financial strategies of the organisation.
Bethan Turner
Marketing, Events and PR
Bethan is a Marketing and Events specialist, keen to share details of her route into this career and how she uses these skills in her role with Taunton Chamber of Commerce - the voice of local business in the area. This exists to support and connect companies, bringing together local businesses and organisations to build new relationships, share best practices, foster new opportunities and provide practical support.
Philip Tytler
Pilot
Next generation of pilots are positioned into a new dawn of aviation. Specialities include: space flight, military, airline, corporate, flying-training, medical evacuation, wildlife/British Antarctic, eye-in-sky/police, drone, and discovery/innovation test flying.
There is currently a huge global shortage, in just one sector, airline, Boeing estimate 650,000 NEW pilots are needed globally in next 20 years.
Typical entry paths are military, corporate sponsored and self-improver.
This worked for me….higher education, BEng (Hons) Aeronautical Engineering, flying training with Royal Air Force, historic aircraft Australia, cadet with British Midland, presently Captain British Airways and Flight Instructor. Next….bush flying and Royal Flying Doctors.
Today I had a quick trawl through the internet on flying scholarships. There is quite a range, including vocational courses in aviation at University, too much to reproduce here. I’ll let you do the research.
Also spoke to other pilots, many fresh out of early careers with EasyJet/Ryanair/Flybe etc, some self-sponsored, some on airline driven integrated courses.
I posed this question:When you were 18, what did you want to know?
Surprisingly, the answer kept coming back as, ‘nothing really, I just wanted to get on with it’.
It’s a great job for many reasons, I am happy to enthuse on this, but I suggest we discuss…..
Anything at all, just ask. If I don’t know, I’ll find the answer, and I will always get back to you. I’ll leave my email here if any questions going forwards.
Good luck.
Philiptytler@hotmail.com
Introducing our new Head of Futures
Clare Lewis
We are excited to welcome Clare to Queen’s. Sally is our new Head of Futures and will play a key role in our Futures Strategy from September 2024.
The Futures Strategy underpins all our pupils’ journeys through Queen’s and enables them to fulfil their potential in whatever they progress to do.
Clare is a qualified careers adviser and teacher and has a background in education across many different year groups. She has planned and delivered careers programmes and has provided support to countless pupils in local schools and colleges. She has organised various trips and careers events involving employers and universities as part of her role.
Clare takes pride and interest in being part of every pupil’s journey and success story and feels that the satisfaction gained from supporting students to reach their full potential is a great motivator.
From September you will be able to arrange one-to-one appointments with Clare and she will become a familiar face around school.
Karl Tucker
Chair at Yeo Valley
Karl is the Non Executive Chair of Yeo Valley Ltd and Yeo Valley Farms Ltd. Karl has been with the
Yeo Valley Family of Businesses since 1996 having joined from the Quarrying Industry and before
that having served in the British Army.
Karl has been a key member of the leadership team that has seen Yeo Valley grow to be the UK’s
largest organic food brand and one of the largest, independent, family owned dairy businesses in the
UK.
As well as his role at Yeo Valley Karl is the Chair of the Heart of the South West LEP, Chair for the
Great South West PRP, a commissioner of the SW Social Mobility Commission and is a Non Exec
Director of a start up business, Remit Zero Ltd
Karl also Chairs ‘South Bristol Youth’, a charity working to raise the aspiration, motivation and
attainment levels of the more disadvantaged young people of Bristol and Somerset.
Iain Cain
Software Engineering in the
Finance Industry
Iain has over 25 years of experience working in a variety of IT roles in the finance industry, working for one of the largest custodian banks in the world with over $40 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration.
Starting out as a Quality Assurance Engineer, Iain’s primary responsibility was to test software applications to ensure they were of the required quality to be used in live production environments by clients. This involved a number of different disciplines using both manual and automated testing methodologies.
Over time, Iain progressed into a leadership role and ran the testing function for his division which included over 100 people working for him around the world in locations including the USA, India, China and Germany. This provided great exposure to different ways of working as well as lots of different cultures.
In recent years, Iain has transitioned into a role focusing on the reliability of Production Applications that provide key services to the bank and their clients. This involves creating wide reaching automation solutions to achieve process efficiencies at scale as well as taking part in multi year efforts to migrate applications into public cloud solutions including AWS and Microsoft Azure.
Iain will be happy to talk to you about any topics around software development, testing and finance application support.
Jeremy Hyams
Founder of Claims Consortium
Group and Synergy Cloud
Jeremy's journey began after redundancy from an estate agency in Central London led him to set up as a sole trader, working for banks and building societies to maintain their repossessed properties. This venture introduced him to his first insurer client, laying the groundwork for what would become, in 1996, Property Consortium which is still a trading company under the Group today.
Under Jeremy’s leadership, Claims Consortium Group has evolved into a market leader, providing comprehensive claims management and repair network services to major insurers across the UK. From humble beginnings with just three staff operating from Jeremy's house, the still privately owned company has seen primarily organic growth year after year, now boasting over 300 employees and several locations.
Jeremy now focusses on the overall strategy of the Group as well as the newer technology and data arms of the Group – Synergy Cloud and WeatherNet.
Synergy Cloud is the first of its kind technology that is purpose built by claims experts to deliver practical solutions for real problems. Originating from a desire in 2011 to improve claims handling across Claims Consortium Group, Synergy Cloud was designed and built in lockdown and launched in 2021 with its first customer the AA. This platform links all parties across the claims management process in real time. It disrupts the existing Insurtech market in that it is subscription based and modular and integration takes weeks not years. Synergy Cloud is now using Gen AI to deliver real efficiencies throughout the process.
Jeremy Hyams
Founder of Claims Consortium Group and Synergy Cloud
In May 2021, Jeremy’s company Synergy Cloud expanded its expertise by acquiring a majority stake in WeatherNet. WeatherNet not only supplies data to over 90% of the UK insurance market but provides evidence on high profile legal cases and works extensively across the TV & Film industry providing forecasts for shoot planning. They have worked on the Harry Potter franchise, James Bond, The Little Mermaid, Matilda, Jurassic World, 1917, Dune, Alice through the Looking Glass and many more!
This move is the most recent step in Jeremy’s focus on leveraging new technologies to continuously innovate and enhance customer service. In addition to industry awards Claims Consortium Group has achieved:
Edward Bunn
Business Unit Director (Commercial)
Ed has spent 20 years working within the construction industry in various roles around the UK and abroad. Currently, he is working for one of the largest construction companies in the world, STRABAG, with over £18 Billion in annual revenue and over 80,000 employees.
Starting out as a Trainee Quantity Surveyor with Wessex Water in Wiveliscombe after leaving Kings College Taunton (with no real plan!), he undertook a part time university course at UWE in Bristol, leaving with a BSc (Hons) in Quantity Surveying and Commercial Management, all paid for by the employer. Over the years, Ed has had various roles in the UK and Europe but remaining primarily within large civil infrastructure projects and large projects for the Ministry of Defence.
More recently, he is now jointly responsible for the UK Construction Build Division and sits on the UK board for STRABAG. Day to day, Ed is responsible for all commercial elements including legal, finance, HR, work winning and the setting the direction of the business.
He also sits on the RNLI technical board where he advises on the strategic direction of the charity.
Ed will be happy to talk about the large variety of roles available in construction industry and the various career paths available for people from all back grounds and skill levels.
Sarah Green
Project Manager
Sarah Green is a Chartered Manager and has worked in training, development and apprenticeships for the past 7years. She has also run her own business and has extensive experience in the construction, engineering and defence industry. Sarah currently works as a Project Manager for DE&S, part of the Ministry of Defence at Abbey Wood Bristol.
Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) deliver world-class equipment and support services to our nations front line commands, including the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force, ensuring our front lines have the right kit at the right time. Projects vary hugely from small item kit procurement, such as boots and body armour to the construction of aircraft carriers like the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers.
Sarah can help you to demystify apprenticeships and the application process, having worked with some of the largest names in industry from BAE Systems to MBDA, Atkins to T&T, you can gain some invaluable insights into the typical recruitment process, what to expect at interview and how to make your cv stand out.
James Squire
GP - Doctor
James studied medicine at UCL (London) University.
This was a five year degree, which led to a bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery qualification. James was one of half of the medical students who opted to complete an additional year at UCL in research and further study to achieve a BSc in physiology. James enjoyed the clinical application of the medical sciences and completed part of medical consultant training before changing to train as a GP. As a qualified GP for 15 years he has worked as a self employed locum GP and as a self employed partner in two practices. He enjoyed the business aspect of general practice and was the clinical lead for several years but due to changing times led his practice to be one of the first to join a hospital foundation trust and become a salaried GP Principal. James has a special interest in dermatology and runs a clinic within his practice. He also works in the emergency department and at an urgent care centre as a GP.
Lara Bowden
Primary Teacher
Lara started her career journey at Queen’s where she first became interested in teaching during her Year 10 work experience in a primary school. Following her Child Care and Education Diploma level 3, which she completed at a local sixth form, she attended university at Plymouth Marjon University. There she studied a Bachelor or Education in Primary Education with a specialism in English where she achieved a 2:1.
She then got a job as a year 4 teacher. After her first year of teaching she decided to travel around Australia and New Zealand for 6 months. When she returned she did supply work until the new school year began. Since then she has taught many different year groups, mainly year 1 and year 4 as well as one year in year 6!
In 2022, she sought a new challenge and went to teach in a special needs school, Selworthy Special School. Here she trained as a futures careers lead and took on other roles within the school.
Now she works here at Queen’s as a Year 1 class teacher.
Shayma Alathari
Molecular Scientist
Shayma is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Exeter. Her journey began as an Undergraduate in Microbiology at the University of Baghadad. She completed a taught Masters in Manchester Medical School in Medical & Molecular Microbiology. Her focus was on understanding diseases, diagnosis, and identifying different strains of superbugs across Europe and the UK. Staying away from science for 13 years to raise her family, she decided to venture back in science completing a Master’s and a PhD in Exeter. There she utilised the latest technologies and Bioinformatics skills to understand disease in the water and fish to assist Low-Middle Income Countries to contain outbreaks in their own waters to maintain food security, while training the locals for an understanding of Molecular biology techniques. The portable devices for DNA sequencing (knowing the exact DNA sequence) she has used, allowed her to understand mutations of viruses in remote areas in Ghana & Thailand. She has also worked on sequencing) viruses to be utilised for Phage therapy for young patients infected with superbugs. Now, she is part of a bigger project trying to understand the microbes in the soils in Brazil, for a better understanding of these communities (microbiomes), their potential role in carbon sequestration and how they restore severely degraded lands while. Shayma’s main aim and future goal is to empower women and encourage more females to pursue a career in science. Her latest achievement has been creating a collaboration between the University of Baghdad and the University of Exeter and is hoping to bridge many more relations with other countries.
Katrina Chesterman
Clinical Psychologist / Academic Director on Doctorate in Clinical Psychology
Katrina is a clinical psychologist with a specialist interest in clinical neuropsychology and is also currently the Academic Director for the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Exeter.
After completing her undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of York, and obtaining clinical experience as a mental health worker, Katrina completed her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Hull, qualifying as a Clinical Psychologist in 2009. She has undertaken further training in child and adult clinical neuropsychology at University College London and the University of Bristol.
Katrina has worked for several different London NHS Trusts within neurodevelomental and paediatric neurorehabilitation services as part of multidisciplinary teams. In these roles, Katrina offered comprehensive neuropsychological assessments and intervention to children with a range of conditions including epilepsy, brain injury, ADHD and autism. Upon moving back to Somerset, Katrina has worked in a community stroke team and inpatient adult neuro rehabilitation service, and in a paediatric neuropsychology service at Bristol Children’s Hospital. More recently Katrina’s clinical role is with Elysium Healthcare primarily involving the development and delivery of neuropsychological assessment pathways within a mental health setting. Katrina’s clinical roles have all included a range of patient facing clinical work, consultation to other professionals, teaching, supervision and service development.
As Academic Director on a clinical psychology training course, she has oversight of the overall academic curriculum, working closely with Clinical Practise and Research Directors to provide strategic management for the course and ensuring the course provides the required standard of training set by Health Care Professionals Council and British Psychological Society.
Tom Chanter
Farming/Anaerobic Digestion
Tom works on a farm that grows barley, rye, oats, grass and maize which is fed either to the cattle or to the Anaerobic Digester (AD) plant. The AD plant powers Greendale Business park as well as the farm shop.
The cattle enterprise has grown significantly in the last 6 years with increasing output by 30% to a throughput of 4,500 cattle per year and with the acquisition of Willowglen Rebewables (the AD Plant) interestingly the requirement for cattle to be farmed at Greendale has increased due to the cattle manure being an essential ingredient to the AD plants diet.
Tom’s original role at Greendale was Farm Manager which he did for six years. Following Willowglen Renewables being made part of the group he has been made a director and still manages the farm aided by an assistant farm manager and team, as well as the AD plant.
After leaving university Tom was grain trading for a couple of years. He did a stint in farm nutrition and consultancy before coming to Greendale to take on the farm.
Scott Thomas
Somerset County Cricket Sports Analyst
Scott is Somerset County Cricket Club’s lead analyst working with the male professional cricketers at the Cooper Associates County Ground. He is currently halfway through my fifth season in this role and has been very fortunate to work alongside some of the best players in the world providing tactical and technical analysis to help these players win and improve across all formats of the sport! He also works as the Men’s analyst for Welsh Fire in the Hundred assisting with player selection in the Draft recently as well as helping the team across to competition in July / August.
With a keen background in cricket growing up in Swansea, he attended Cardiff Met University to study Sports Performance Analysis at undergraduate level and postgraduate level which allowed him to use his playing background alongside his academic achievements to fortunately land a job within the cricket analysis industry.
Please feel free to ask any questions at all about performance analysis across all sports, or any specific cricketing analysis information
Jeremy Lyle
Dentistry
Jeremy has over 20 years experience in the dental industry and is currently the Director, with his wife Rachel, of their family independent dental practice in Somerset which they have owned for 13 years.
He has worked in both the NHS and Private sectors and is currently on the board of the LDC (Local Dental Committee) helping to give local dentists a voice with the wider governing bodies and assistance with training.
Jeremy is a general dentist covering all aspects of cosmetic and restorative work. He works with four other dentist and two hygienists in their busy town centre Private practice.
Michaela Greener
Civil Service
Michaela has worked in a variety of roles across the Civil Service and in various departments including the Department for Work and Pensions, Government Actuary's Department, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, British Trade International (as part of the then Department of Trade and Industry), Ministry of Justice (& previously Employment Tribunals Service) and the Civil Service Commission. Her roles have included promoting exports to the Czech and Slovak Republics, devising and drafting policy and procedures, acting as diversity and equality manager, regulating recruitment across the Civil Service and she is a qualified Human Resources professional with 25+ years' experience.
The Civil Service consists of 24 Ministerial Departments, 20 Non Ministerial Departments and 426 agencies and other public bodies. UK civil servants work across the world in countless specialist roles supporting the government of the day in achieving its objectives. Working as a civil servant you are required to act at all times with integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality. Roles available cover all professional areas and offer experience that cannot be matched in the private sector.
Michaela will give you an overview of the range of opportunities available within the Civil Service, the types of roles, pay scales and various routes of entry.