WHO WE ARE // MEET THE TEAM
Meet the SBA Team
Rupert Cox
Business Advisor & SBA Board Member
Rupert has a wealth of small business experience. Following an early career farming he has led membership-based business organisations where an empathy and support for members' businesses was of paramount importance.
As well as agriculture, Rupert has worked in the events, tourism, commercial property and marketing sectors giving him a well-rounded view of business and in particular the support that fledgling businesses require.
Aisha Elliott
Project Lead
Aisha has a background in Business Development and Sales Consultancy, primarily in the Construction sector.
She is a recent addition to our team as the Business Development and Marketing Co-Ordinator which is a new and varied role which suits her dynamic and ‘outside the box’ style.
Rachael Hartley
Project Lead & Business Advisor
Rachael is a globally proven, yet curious business leader with a passion for positive leadership, a learner mindset and supports people to achieve their goals. After 25 years global executive experience with a focus on transformation and change, within the professional services and IT sector, she has experienced first-hand that positive leadership and fulfilled employees are key to successful change.
As a business advisor, coach and facilitator she supports individuals and teams find clarity on their direction, achieve success and build resilience so that they can maintain overall balance, wellbeing and flourish both at work and at home
Sue Higgins
Training Manager
Sue has a background in event management and business support. She heads up the newly launched Training Hub and co-ordinates the Business Start Up Programmes. She also runs her own cake making business, and enjoys travelling, cycling and spending time with her family.
Trevor Horne
Business Advisor
Trevor is an international coach, trainer, and writer and facilitates the journey of individuals and business organisations on the journey to their own and business potential.
He has worked with small business start-ups, established businesses looking to grow to the next level and large organisations investing in the training, and development of their people.
Chris Jones
Business Advisor
Chris is a Chartered Surveyor with a wide range of professional experience in the rural sector. Having spent his early career working for Savills and a spell with National Trust more latterly,
Chris has built a strong professional grounding in land management and agricultural consultancy.
Tracey Longhurst
Business Advisor & SBA Board Member
Tracey started her career in the legal profession and then moved over to practice as an HR professional, where she worked in the corporate sphere for 25 years in both pharmaceutical and tech companies developing senior leaders and their teams.
She is passionate about entrepreneurship and strives to continue to mentor those starting out on their journey as business owners.
Nevelle Marchent
Business Advisor
Throughout his career, Nevelle has helped many companies across a wide sector range, from Product Development, Manufacturing, Engineering, Consultancy, IT, Medical sector and Commerce.
Natasha Margetts
Project Administrator
Having worked in hospitality for 17 years, this is Natasha's first administration role. She is thoroughly enjoying giving support to a variety of projects that enable people to realise and achieve their self-employment goals. When not at work, she can often be found spending time with friends and family, walking her dog or enjoying a round of golf.
Patricia Marks
Founder & CEO
Patricia is an experienced and well-versed business support expert, with experience across many sectors and passionate about “people success”. SBA was set up to deliver programmes and training to support anyone to move forward in their career or enterprise journey. As both a Royal Society and Churchill fellow, Patricia keeps up to date with the latest research, trends and opportunities.
Mike McEvoy
Business Advisor
Mike started his career in large Public Limited Companies, working in all areas of Business, following this he became Director in a number of SME Companies followed by completing a ‘Management Buy-Out’.
After successfully selling the Business Mike started his own Company as a Business Advisor/Consultant and has worked in a vast array of business sectors assisting individuals, SME’s and Private Equity Stakeholders.
Clive Ozzard
Business Advisor
Clive has a wealth of experience and knowledge, with a background covering banking, sales, training and consultancy. He provides support to help business leaders across a wide range of sectors achieve their goals. He is a Chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and a qualified performance coach.
Clare Paul
Business Development Advisor
Clare’s background is in retail & hospitality management where she specialised in turning around unprofitable businesses. She then became a small business owner/entrepreneur herself and owned a successful public house, a retail butcher and a high street cafe.
The particular skills that Clare brings to the SBA are her expertise in business analysis and planning. Clare is experienced in digital media marketing, lead generation and small business finance.
Sian Robinson
SBA Board Member
Sian is a business owner and casual lecturer in Business & Management at the University of Exeter. Her studies in Business and Management and Organisation Studies at the University bring her a wealth of theoretical knowledge as well as experience of practical applications.
She is a staunch champion for entrepreneurship and fully encourages individuality and self-belief as key factors for becoming a successful entrepreneur.
Gemma Sparks
Business Advisor
Gemma is a Land Agent and Chartered Surveyor with a wealth of experience in the rural sector. For a number of years, she has helped farmers and land owners with business advice and assistance with seeking grants.
Gemma also has experience in the events, rural tourism and business membership organisations sectors, alongside first hand experience of running a business, making her well placed to provide support to many rural businesses.
Graham White
Business Development Advisor
An experienced leader in the design and print industries with specialist knowledge of import/export international trade, Graham has amassed a long and distinguished list of business directorship roles before becoming a business growth coach on High Growth and Growth Accelerator programmes.
Graham has developed an extensive reputation as a business mentor in both International Development and general strategy
Amanda Whitlock
Project Lead
Amanda is an experienced Wellbeing and Mental Health trainer and consultant.
Accredited by Mental Health First Aid England, she provides both MHFA-Accredited and bespoke training, she also helps business owners and managers looking to provide the correct support for employees and provides online and face to face courses to enable every workplace to provide the right work environment.
Elizabeth Shaw
Business Advisor
Elizabeth Shaw (Liz) background is in accountancy with significant industry experience in all aspects of business accounting. She is particularly interested in helping individuals set up and grow their business and has been able to turn around several struggling businesses using her accounting experience.
She also set up her own business in 2018 and in the past has worked in a variety of different roles in some large organisations.
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