Experience

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  Basildon Chemical Co Ltd - A Subsidiary of the KCC Corporation

  • Office - Abingdon, Territory UK

  • UK Sales Manager

    • Mar 2015 - Present
    • Office - Abingdon, Territory UK

    Basildon Chemicals is a UK based specialist manufacturer and formulator of silicone emulsions and compounds, supplying elastomers, emulsifiers, fluids and antifoams based on silicone chemistry. The Company is focused on the consumer markets of personal care, pharmaceutical and food. I manage personal care and food customers throughout the UK; promoting the portfolio from a technical perspective and negotiating pricing.

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  Venomtech Ltd

  • Office - Sandwich, Kent

  • Business Development Manager (Personal Care) Part time

    • Nov 2014 - Present
    • Office - Sandwich, Kent

    Discovering active compounds is not unique to the pharmaceutical industry. I have brought my experience of the personal care industry to Venomtech. I generate new business with chemical companies who develop functional, active ingredients for personal care applications. Developing new active ingredients as it is often difficult to find candidate compounds that will hit the desired target. Venoms are a rich library of compounds, many of which contain characterised activity on many targets including; ion channels, GPCRs (G-protein coupled receptors) and other receptors. These targets are present within the key pathways regulating pain, inflammation, pigmentation, collagen and elastin levels, and others involved with the aging process. The Venom Discovery Array (VDA) is an ideal research tool to identify novel compounds that can hit important targets. Venomtech supplies the Venom Discovery Array (VDA), a library of venom compounds from over one hundred different species, that captures millions of years of evolution. It is a rich source of drug discovery leads. There are over fifteen, venom derived, pharmaceutical drugs currently prescribed to patients. The personal care industry has only scratched the surface of the potential benefits of the compounds in venoms, those derived from snake venom and bee venom have been successful.

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  Aston Chemicals

  • Office - Aylesbury, Territory - South / South East

  • Sales Account Representative

    • Nov 2009 - Jun 2014
    • Office - Aylesbury, Territory - South / South East

    Aston Chemicals Ltd is a specialist sales organisation, selling speciality chemicals to the personal care industry in the UK, Ireland, USA, Central and Eastern Europe.Aston Chemicals was established in 1990 and represents over 20 high quality manufacturers of speciality chemical ingredients from around the world, ensuring the smooth distribution of their products to customers' manufacturing plants. Aston represents supplies of a very wide range of products including:-Anti-PerspirantsBotanical Extracts and ActivesDispersions and EncapsulatesEmolients: Esters, Fats, Oils and WaxesEmulsifiersMicrospheres and Microsphere Complexes MineralsRheology ModifiersSilicones SurfactantsTreated Pigments and Pearlescent PigmentsUV filters and Dispersions My South / South East UK territory included a diverse set of customers that I would regularly meet face-to-face. They included brand owners; Body Shop, Soap & Glory, M&S and Liz Earle, brands that manufacture in-house; GSK, Molton Brown and Church & Dwight, contract manufacturers; Laleham Healthcare, LF Beauty, DDD and Hampshire Cosmetics and Consultants; Formula 1 and Elixir de Beaute.During my time at Aston Chemicals (~4 years) my territory turnover increased by 55% and the profit value increased by 82%.As well as ensuring business is profitable the majority of my role is customer focused, dealing with questions by phone, email or face-to-face. I pride myself on being the customer's key contact with Aston Chemicals. I pre-screen the products I'm presenting to ensure they comply with the relevant animal testing cut-off dates and free-from lists and are also appropriate for the customers' projects from a technical, commercial and regulatory perspective. I am comfortable talking to both R&D and purchasing departments on their own levels because of my technical formulating experience and my commercial experience.I believe that as well as selling, I am helping a customer to find a solution to a problem.

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  Church and Dwight UK Ltd

  • Folkestone, Kent

  • Product Development Chemist

    • Jun 2006 - Nov 2009
    • Folkestone, Kent

    Church and Dwight UK Ltd is the European hub of Church & Dwight Co. Inc. The site in Folkestone, Kent produces product for Europe and there are also close links to the sister company in Paris, ensuring a strong European focus.The UK product portfolio consists of the well known brands: Arm & Hammer dental care, Pearl Drops, femfresh, First Response, Batiste, Nair, Orajel and Sterimar.As a member of the R&D team I developed formulations to meet marketing briefs and also pro-actively, inspired by my own research and conference attendance. I have developed emulsion formulations for ‘Nair’, ‘Barbara Gould’ and ‘Anne French’, surfactant formulations for ‘Fem Fresh’, oral care formulations for ‘Arm & Hammer’ and ‘Pearl Drops’, and anti-perspirants.The finished products covered several different packaging formats including; aerosol (VOC) and tube, and also bottle / tottle in standard, pump, foamer and roll-on formats.I manufactured the formulations to GMP/GLP standards in the laboratory and conducted regular stability testing. Whilst at Church & Dwight I rewrote the stability testing documentation. I would make 100 kg pilot batches of selected formulations and would stability test them to ensure successful scale up. This process was repeated for production level quantities, I would be responsible for overseeing the first batch of a new product. I would then be involved with the subsequent line trial and setting the finished product QC specification. I wrote the INCI list for the finished product, reviewed the artwork and compiled the information pack that was sent for external safety assessment. I had regular contact with raw material suppliers to build business relationships, source new chemicals and to discuss any technical issues. I would also investigate sources of alternative materials, in conjunction with the Church & Dwight purchasing department, evaluating the technical performance once we had agreed they were commercially viable!

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  University of Kent

  • Canterbury, United Kingdom

  • Research Assistant

    • Sep 2003 - Dec 2005
    • Canterbury, United Kingdom

    Brisith Heart Foundation funded research project looking at defects in heart muscle contraction caused by genetic mutations in the cardiac Troponin T gene. Reconstituted muscle proteins were analysed in vitro using a variety of techniques.In July 2005 I presented my work as a poster at the Alternative Muscle Club meeting, in Oxford and was awarded best poster prize.Taught undergraduate labaoratry classes.Organised Biosoc, a fun society for staff and students of the Department of Biosciences at the University of Kent.

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  Smiths News

  • United Kingdom
  • Wholesale
  • 500 - 600 Employee

  • Marketing Executive

    • 2002 - Aug 2003

    Smiths News, or WHSmith News as it was still part of WHSmith plc when I worked there, is a leading UK distributor of newspapers and magazines. Them form a key link between publishers and retailers, ensuring that current print media is available every day of the year.Unsold copies are collected and credited at the same time as new stock is delivered. Due to the volume of sales data collated on buying habits, publishers can be helped to target their readers with greater accuracy resulting in improved sales and uptake of their products. In addition, the sales data enables forecasting of future sales and assists retailers with accurate stock management.I was promoted to the Newspaper office, which was responsible for the day-to-day copy allocation of multiple newspaper titles to all retailers in Leicestershire. One of the titles I managed was the Financial Times (FT); whilst I managed the copy allocation for the FT I won their copy management league for four quarters in a row. Each successful quarter, the prize was for the newspaper office team were taken out for an expensive lunch by the FT sales representative.

  • Operations Assistant

    • 2001 - 2002

    Smiths News, or WHSmith News as it was still part of WHSmith plc when I worked there, is a leading UK distributor of newspapers and magazines. Them form a key link between publishers and retailers, ensuring that current print media is available every day of the year.Unsold copies are collected and credited at the same time as new stock is delivered. Due to the volume of sales data collated on buying habits, publishers can be helped to target their readers with greater accuracy resulting in improved sales and uptake of their products. In addition, the sales data enables forecasting of future sales and assists retailers with accurate stock management.I worked with the customer service team, initially answering customers telephone queries before managing the excess stock left over after a it had been sent to customers. After a short time I also took on the 'Oper' role. This position had twilight working hours and was responsible for collating within SAP and then printing all the billing, returns notes and delivery statements as well as printing all the labels and newspaper pack plans for the night shift.

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  Kenwood Limited

  • Havant

  • Sales Coordinator

    • Sep 1999 - Aug 2000
    • Havant

    I worked with the sales representatives and my allocated account manager, keeping them up-to-date with orders, stock availability and, sales figures and forecasting. I entered orders onto the company database, and then allocated them for warehouse dispatch. I led the development and maintained an Excel spreadsheet that effectively reduced the staff-hours required for updating the monthly forecast.