I’m delighted to announce that the Zen board is now complete, following the appointment of our second Non-Executive Director (NED).  Here’s a quick recap of the board’s short history:

• November 2017 – The Zen board is created and Paul Stobart joins as Chairman.The other board members are Ayshea Robertson (HR Director), Matt Kay (Finance Director), and me (Chief Executive Officer).
• August 2018 – Shaun Parker joins the board as our Finance NED.
• October 2018 – Paul and I swap jobs. Paul becomes CEO and I become Chairman.
• January 2019 – Phil Male joins the board as our Technical NED.

NEDs play a vital role in any board, providing an external perspective to the Executives, who can sometimes tend to see things more from an “inside looking out” perspective.  They provide constructive challenge to our key decisions, bring new ideas to the table, and improve the governance of the company for the benefit of all.  Their input results in better quality decision-making, which drives greater business success.

We are extremely fortunate to have two very capable and experienced NEDs in Shaun and Phil.  Although I have labelled them above as “Finance NED” and “Technical NED”, their wide-ranging business experience means their input is much broader than their specialist areas.

Although our NEDs have only been with us a short time they have both already demonstrated the significant value they can add to help drive Zen’s future success.

Here are some words from Shaun and Phil by way of an introduction…

Shaun Parker

Hi everybody. Richard asked me to write a few words to introduce myself to you. For those of you who don’t know me, I have been on the Board of Zen as a Non Executive Director since August 2018. I thought I would do it as a Q&A:

Who am I?

I’m a 58 year old Yorkshireman, who lives in York. I was born in Huddersfield, grew up in Barnsley, went to school in Sheffield. As an adult, I’ve also lived in Yarm and in Harrogate. So Yorkshire’s in my blood. I have always relished the competition and banter between Yorkshire and Lancashire, so I’m delighted to be part of a Lancastrian company, albeit one with a plastic Geordie CEO!

What about my family?

I have been married to Jane for 35 years. We met as teenagers and I was smitten. She’s the love of my life, my best friend and a wonderful woman. We have two adult children who both live in London.

What do I do in my spare time?

I love spending time with my family. As I write this we are on the train to London to see my son for his birthday. Travelling, eating out and going to the cinema, as well as listening to music feature highly. My favourite pursuit is scuba diving, but only in warm seas! I’m currently re-learning how to play the piano, having previously packed it in at 16!

What’s my other job?

It’s quite normal for a Non Exec to have more than one role. For me, it’s Chief Financial Office of Voyage Care. We care for working age adults with Learning Disabilities, Autism or Acquired Brain Injuries. We have 10,000 employees caring for 3,500 people right across the UK and our head office is in Lichfield. It’s fulfilling and humbling working for a company where the sole objective is supporting and caring for vulnerable people.

What have I done in my career?

My career started in engineering and I am a chartered mechanical engineer. About 10 years in, I switched to accounting and finance and have held senior finance positions for the last 25 years. I have been lucky to work for some great companies and brands in a number of different sectors and with some great people who I have learned so much from. ICI, Mars (Pedigree Petfoods), Diageo (Guinness), CPP Group (Assistance and Insurance) and prior to Voyage, Tunstall Healthcare. I have also had the opportunity to work and live in Germany and the USA, in both cases relocating with my family. Great adventures for all of us and life changing experiences.

Why did I join Zen?

I was with Paul Stobart at CPP and Tunstall, and we worked very well together. So when Paul suggested the possibility of joining the Zen Board I was immediately interested. I met with Richard and was thoroughly impressed, both with what he has achieved and the way he has achieved it. Richard’s fundamental objectives for Zen of Happy Staff, Happy Customers and Happy Suppliers strike a chord with me. I firmly believe that if our people are fully engaged and committed to the company, then that flows through into a superior experience for our customers which will drive commercial success. I can also identify with Zen’s strong premium position in the market and can see the potential for high growth into the future. So when Richard invited me to join the Board it was a no-brainer!

What can I bring to Zen?

I have a great deal of business and commercial experience. My style is very inquisitive and I can also bring constructive challenge which I hope will support the thinking and decisions made by the Board and the Executive to lead to better outcomes. My independence and lack of tech experience help me to ask some questions and bring ideas that industry insiders may not have thought of!

What are my hopes for Zen and the people who work at Zen.

I hope Zen can become a real challenger in the market, remaining true to the company’s heritage and fundamental objectives. And I hope that everyone who works for Zen grows with the company and gets the opportunities which that growth brings. Taking advantage of those opportunities is up to you!

For my part, I am pleased to be on board and I will be delighted if I can contribute in some small way to the future success of this great company. I’m looking forward to meeting more of you in the future.

Phil Male

Phil has been instrumental in the development of Internet, media and telecoms services in the UK for more than 25 years. Originally hailing from Grimsby, he founded an electronic media business in Hull that pioneered the digital production of newspaper pages after graduating from Imperial College, and went on to work for UK national news agency The Press Association where he worked on building their new media services – including (for those of you old enough to remember it) Teletext.

From there he joined Internet pioneer Demon Internet as CTO and, after merging it with Scottish Telecom, at the age of 32 floated the combined business as telecommunications operator THUS on the London Stock Exchange. As COO of THUS he built out a UK wide fibre network and grew the business into a FTSE 100 company. In 2008 he joined the executive at Cable&Wireless running global technology, operations and customer service, but more recently Phil has been working as an advisor, CEO, Chair and Non-Executive Director across a broad portfolio of technology companies both here in the UK and overseas.

Phil has served on the boards of Comic Relief and Janet (who run the UK’s academic networks), and is currently the Chair of Jersey Telecom, on the board of The Data Communications Company (the company delivering the UK’s £16bn Smart Meter programme), and regularly lectures at Cambridge University on topics as diverse as Social Media and Cybersecurity.

Phil lives on his farm in York, but spends most of his time in London, Manchester, and overseas in places as far flung as Stockholm, Billund (Denmark) and Lviv (Ukraine – where he owns some coffee shops – you’ll have to ask him about that when you see him!) He is a keen photographer (although by his own admission not very good…), still writes code, and spends every moment he can riding various types of motorbike. He’s also studying for his yachtmaster exams.