Meet The Team

Helen is responsible for delivering the overall vision and strategy for insurance within Verastar, driving continued growth at our insurance brand, The Insurance Octopus.

“My aim for The Insurance Octopus is to continue to deliver a truly personalised service to our customers by offering tailored insurance policies.”

“As a business our goal is to take the complexity out of insurance and make it simple and straightforward to our customers, and our team does exactly that. I am passionate about creating a work environment that allows my team to feel happy, fulfilled and motivated in their careers, which in turn contributes significantly to maintaining our exceptional customer service.”

Helen joined The Insurance Octopus in 2009 and has built an extensive career through working with multiple departments and has had an influence over all aspects of the business. Over the last 11 years, Helen has been instrumental in the business’s success and has helped to grow The Insurance Octopus from a start-up, to now an established commercial insurance broker with 35,000 customers and an established panel of UK insurers.

Outside of the office, Helen enjoys family life with her husband and two young children. She loves to spend as much time as possible with family and friends, with great food and travelling to new places.

Pete is responsible for cross-sell activity across all Verastar brands as well as managing the new-business side of the Water product.

“My aim is to help our customers save both time and money by consolidating more essential services onto one bill, and ensuring they receive fantastic customer service.”

Pete joined Verastar in February 2020, having managed in contact centres for 14 years. He has previously worked for corporate organisations including TalkTalk and most recently Barclays. Most of Pete’s career development came whilst working in the outsourcing industry for eight years, where he progressed from Team Leader to the roles of Site Director and Operations Director. During this time Pete managed all aspects of a contact centre.

Pete is very happily married and has two young children who keep him very busy. He is happiest when he has time to exercise and relax with the family.

Dan is responsible for communicating the value of Verastar’s different brands, helping customers understand and make the most of our range of products and services.

“My aim is to acquire, grow and retain customers and partners by promoting our services and products, through focused targeted marketing activities delivered via innovative and relevant platforms.”

Dan joined Verastar early in 2020 and has 20 years’ experience working in FTSE 50 and FTSE 250 organisations across a variety of sectors. He is responsible for all through-the-line marketing activities and has a track record of building highly successful marketing teams and developing individuals.

With a passion for understanding more about our customers and the customer journey, Dan continually evaluates the market to ensure we provide services and information that support our customers’ growth.

Alongside marketing and his wife, Sharon, Dan’s two passions in life are golf and snowboarding. In the winter he can be found on snowy peaks throughout Europe, and in the summer can be found hacking his way around Sale golf course!

Rachel is responsible for the Retentions and Collections department at Verastar.

“My aim is to continue to support our growth strategy by working with colleagues to drive value through great customer interactions and outcomes. We aim to ensure customers stay with us and that we provide them with the right level of support and service to help manage their invoices.”

After a decade working for British Gas in Collections & leading MI teams, Rachel left in 2010 to head up Virgin Media Business’s Collections and Credit Risk team. In 2015 she moved into Fintech where she led the Global Collections function for Worldpay (now FIS). While at Worldpay she completed a master’s degree in Leadership & International Payments, awarded by Middlesex University.

Rachel has two children in their teens, a husband and a dog who keep her extremely busy. She loves going to the gym with her family and, with a rugby player and a rugby coach in the family, they spend a lot of their free time watching rugby and supporting their local club.

Paula is responsible for the Operations Support team, which processes sales, brings customer services live and manages back-office operations for ‘in-life’ customer support.

“My aim is to deliver an easy, effective and engaging customer onboarding and in-life experience, whilst developing the ops tech strategy and platform capability to allow the company to deliver its overall mission.”

Paula started her career in sport and major event broadcasting, before becoming responsible for the delivery of all timing, scoring and results services for the Formula 1 Championships and London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Since 2012, Paula has worked in IBM’s Global Business Services division and led a team of more than 100 people as Director of Service and Operations for a global virtual mobile network operator.

Paula moved back to her native north west of England to take up her role as Operations Support Director at Verastar in 2019.

She likes nothing better than putting on her hiking boots and getting out in the great outdoors for a good walk. When she’s not out enjoying the fresh air, she enjoys getting stuck into a good book.

Lee is responsible for delivering Verastar’s overall vision and strategy, driving continued growth and ensuring that customer and colleague experience is placed at the heart of everything we do.

“My aim for Verastar is to continue the fantastic work of our dedicated colleagues which began back in 1998, developing and improving our products and services as we continue to grow. This is a hugely exciting company and it does things that no other service provider can do. I want to bring that unique offering to new audiences.

With 160,000 business customers on our books, we are well positioned to be a barometer for the needs of small businesses and my aim is to build on the fantastic relationships we have with our customers and become a true champion of the UK’s small businesses.”

Lee joined Verastar in 2020 and has an extensive background in telecoms and technology, having held senior positions with Virgin Media Business, Intercity Technology, UKFast and TalkTalk Business.

Passionate about improving customer experience and implementing digital technology, Lee has a track record of modernising processes, accelerating commerce and delivering significant financial growth. He has a BSc in Political Economy and sits on the Board of Trustees at The University of Salford.

A former semi-pro footballer, Lee originally hails from the North East of England, but now lives with his wife Melissa and their three beautiful children in Stockport, Greater Manchester.

Dave is responsible for all our regional offices.

‘My aim is to create highly motivated fun places to be in all of my offices, where staff have a great work ethic: There is little success where there is little laughter.’

Dave joined Verastar in 2000 as a sales person and was the driving force behind the openings of all of our regional offices.

Dave has 35 years of B2B and B2C sales experience. He prides himself on being an open-minded, not judging people on their academical achievements and loves people with big personalities that he can teach the art of sales.

Outside work, Dave likes to spend time at home with his beautiful wife who he met during his time at Verastar and his son Joseph. Joseph happens to be a keen fundraiser and has raised thousands of pounds for Manchester Children’s Hospital by climbing the county’s highest mountains.

Holly is responsible for development and delivery of company strategy and programme delivery.

“My aim is to ensure that change management and project management principles are effectively implemented throughout the company as we continue to rapidly grow, ensuring we grow in the correct way for long-term success. I am an advocate of continuous improvement and feel this is key in delivering value for our customers and shareholders in the most efficient way. The business has so many great ideas and opportunities, it’s essential that I pull them all together in a concise, efficient programme.”

Holly studied Operations and Technology Management at The University of Manchester and joined Verastar as part of the Graduate Management Programme in 2009. After a year spent in each operational function, she spent the next year improving processes and systems which led to her starting the Project Management Team, which she now heads up.

She enjoys the variety her role offers and has been involved in a wide range of initiatives, from acquisitions to launching new brands to entering newly deregulated markets. She also enjoys the variety that family life offers, from Taylor Swift concerts to trips to Disneyland Paris.

Gillian is responsible for the Legal, Compliance and Customer Resolution teams at Verastar.

“My aim is to ensure that we meet our legal and regulatory obligations to customers, suppliers, employees and our regulators and that we treat customers fairly. Employees who feel they are treated fairly are more likely to treat customers the same way.”

Gillian joined Verastar in 2015 to set up our Legal and Compliance Teams. She started out her legal career in an international law firm, but realised she wanted to work in industry following a secondment to Granada TV. She has worked in many different sectors from telecoms to software escrow, information security and aerospace and spent time working at companies BAE, O2 and NCC Group.

At home, Gillian lives with her husband and two teenage boys. She enjoys long walks and spending time in sunny Mallorca!

Nicola is responsible for the commercial strategy for the business.

“My aim for Verastar is to maintain our position as a market-leading services provider by offering the widest range of services to the UK’s SME market all on one bill. Our business is making services simple for our customers, so they can focus on running theirs.”

Nicola joined Verastar in 2012 and has been integral in transforming Verastar into a multi-service provider through identifying and creating opportunities for new market entrants. She played a key part in the deregulation of England’s water market as part of the Defra Assurance group and the Water Code Panel.

Starting her career in 1995 in the then newly deregulated Energy market she’s developed business strategies and customer propositions to challenge incumbent providers in new markets. Her business focus has ranged from Energy, Telecoms and most recently Water in Scotland and England.

Away from the office she enjoys family life with her husband and two children and is happiest on the beach in Wales with a book in her hand.

Jo is responsible for the people agenda for Verastar which includes HR, Recruitment, Facilities and Training.

“My aim for the business is to build and implement a really engaging colleague agenda that gives people a career rather than just a job. We strive to give people from all backgrounds options and choices for their lives, and to add value wherever we can. Essentially, we want everyone, from all works of life, to be their best.”

Wanting to be part of a dynamic growing company, Jo joined Verastar in August 2016 looking to drive real change which would develop our workforce. Since then, she is proud to have been part of the gender pay gap review, the introduction of pay progression which links rewards to development and the graduate scheme investing in young talent.

Jo graduated with a degree in History and Psychology and a Masters in Human Resource Management. Starting out as a Hotel Receptionist, Jo worked her way up and has held various HR roles in companies across many sectors including financial services, legal, travel and facilities services.

Jo’s home-life with her husband and 4-year old daughter is busy and fulfilling, with organisation being key. She is a keen runner and completes half-marathons on a regular basis.

Paul is responsible for the finance across the Verastar Group

“By continuing to support growth and product expansion, my aim for Verastar is to continue our journey in becoming the provider of choice for essential business services. Our goal is to make the lives of business owners as easy as possible with our multi-service offering, on a unique one-bill solution.”

Paul, a KPMG Chartered Accountant, joined Verastar in 2011, shortly after the Management Buyout. Since then, he has assisted in driving the growth of our product portfolio alongside the company’s revenue and profitability.

A graduate of the University of Leicester, Paul spent 10 years working in a variety of roles in consumer healthcare at SSL International before it was sold for £2.5 billion. Paul then went on to the role of interim CFO before joining the Verastar team.

Paul’s claim to fame is that his dad played for Manchester United (that he happens to support) and was a Busby Babe. He is happily married with three lovely children.

Piotr is responsible for helping the company grow, both in the core business and in new directions.

“My aim for Verastar is to build the ‘go to’ provider for small businesses to get all the support they need so they can focus on their own goals. The way we’ll do this is to create a truly great company in reputation, values, business results and contribution to society.”

Piotr saw joining Verastar in 2013 as an exciting opportunity to help grow a business which was unique in its potential to help SMEs. Since joining, Piotr has helped the business develop both in sheer size and number of customers but also in the level of our internal capabilities and customer propositions. As part of this growth, Piotr and the team have been responsible for completing and integrating 12 acquisitions. Team members across Verastar worked together to welcome and integrate these new customers into the Verastar family.

Piotr has a B.Eng (Electrical Engineering) and started his working career as a Chartered Engineer. He has worked in a number of countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and in the US. Piotr was also a co-founder of Amnesty International South Africa and member of its National Executive Committee.

After moving to the UK, Piotr completed an MBA with distinction at London Business School and worked for McKinsey & Company as a consultant specializing in operations, strategy and people management. Later, Piotr was a Managing Director at Alegro Capital, an M&A boutique, and chairman of BlueBella, an award-winning lingerie and nightwear company.

Piotr loves the outdoors, especially mountains and loves a challenge – as shown by his nascent collection of triathlon medals. He continues to have a strong interest in human rights in developing countries, when not spending time with his lovely wife and 2 just as lovely children.

Richard is responsible for all technology, company billing and management information.

“My aim is to constantly push boundaries and timescales using technology to drive Verastar’s competitive edge in the market. We’re unrelenting in our push to improve our systems for both internal users and provide customers a seamless experience. When combined with our clear vision and strategy it allows us to be extremely agile without compromising on strong future proof and sustainable solutions.”

Richard and his team work methodically and clinically, always to a plan, ensuring both business and technology change is approached with the right amount of governance and minimal red tape. With the rate of change in business and technology, Richard believes the key to current and future success is not to compromise on our incredibly strong technical, business foundations and values while ensuring our systems and processes have a high degree of inbuilt flexibility.

Richard started out at Samsung, and also spent time at Heinz and SSL international (owner of Durex and Scholl). He spent many of the previous 20 years on high value business and technology change around the globe with all the stamps to prove it. His whole career to date has been spent changing platforms to provide growth.

James is responsible for how we onboard, support and retain our customers so they come back and take more services with us.

“My aim for the business is to provide the essential services that small business need so they can thrive, with increasing deregulation we are perfectly positioned to do this.”

Having joined Verastar this summer, James previously spent 12 years at Shop Direct in a number of roles supporting their transformation from high street store and catalogue retailer to etailer of the year three years on the bounce. Prior to that James worked in Capital One and Nationwide in a variety of operational roles.

James loves to fix and transform things so they flourish so he’s landed in the right role at Verastar! James believes that long term success and profit for organisations comes through having really engaged colleagues who go on to deliver the kind of experience that keeps customers coming back again and again.

Alex is responsible for the entire Sales function across kinex, Clear Business & Woav brands.

“We have a very talented and experienced senior sales management team who are constantly evolving their approach to both sales and sales management in order to deliver good customer experiences and great results. We endeavour for all our sales people to ‘live our values’ by; taking pride in what they do, being professional, always respecting the customers & ultimately feeling valued in their roles.”

Alex joined Verastar in 2008 to build a new broker sales arm for the business, in 2011 he also took responsibility for all internal telesales teams, then in 2016 moved into his current role overseeing all group sales.

Prior to joining Verastar Alex spent over 10 years in the Telecom Media & Technology (TMT) sector. He built his early career in both SME and corporate sales & sales management, then in 2001 started a hosted messaging business, Mediaburst, which he successfully grew and then sold in 2006.

MEET THE TEAM

LEE HULL

PAUL DOHERTY

NICOLA SMITH

PIOTR NOWOSAD

GILLIAN HILL

DAVE HIBBERT

HOLLY MACK

RACHEL BEARDSMORE

RICHARD RUDKIN

JO DOGHERTY

DANIEL WALMSLEY

PETE FINCH

HELEN BUSH