PFM AWARDS 2015: Meet the Young Managers of the Year

14 September 2015

The four finalists for the PFM Awards Young Manager of the Year Award have been selected. Below is a pen picture of each finalist.

James Bradley
James began his career in September 2012 after graduating from the University of Birmingham with a Masters in Civil Engineering. He enrolled in the Mitie graduate scheme, a twelve-month experience-based training programme, structured to give an overall appreciation of how a large PLC operates. He gained valuable experience moving between procurement, mergers & acquisitions (M&A), sales and operational roles. On completion of the graduate scheme he became Head of Operations for Mitie’s Equipment Services business, with responsibility for 60 employees and £5m turnover. He had overall responsibility for the multi service stream business unit including; Equipment Services, PAT testing and Asset Management. After excelling in the role he took on a new challenge as Regional Manager in Mitie Technical Facilities Management, responsible for 16 clients and £10m of business. This has now grown to 25 clients and £20m of business. He has responsibility for 350 people, and a client list that includes Warner Bro’s, Allianz, the Department for International Development and High Speed 1.

Jake Donovan
Jake started his journey in FM at the age of 17, when he joined a law firm as a facilities assistant and quickly progressing to lead the FM department in the firm’s largest fee-earning branch. Having gained experience of hard and soft services, Jake sought the next challenge by joining, at 21, one of the UK’s largest FM providers, G4S Facilities Management managing large FM team’s delivery TFM services to predominantly private sector based clients. In June 2015, Jake joined BT Facilities Services as Regional Facilities Services Manager, responsible for delivery of FM services to 500 buildings through his team of 5 Facilities Services Managers, creating and shaping environments which support superior customer service – a role which Jake views as the most crucial to his development and exciting during his career to date. Jake admires the BTFS culture in which he now works; “we’re so technology enabled, people focused and committed to delivering superior customer service. BTFS is such an exciting place to be, the support I have received from colleagues throughout this process really has been second to none, I can’t think of a better place to be at the time of reaching the final stages of this process”.

Cheryl-Anne Sanderson
Cheryl-Anne entered the FM profession in 2010 having previously worked in an administrative role at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). As Facilities Contracts Manager at the MoJ, she was responsible for maintaining the shared service estates portfolio of 16 regional sites across the UK. Within two years she was promoted to support the MoJ’s Head of Procurement, where she supported the implementation of Total Facilities Management throughout the MoJ estate, in a contract worth over £120 million. Having experienced the client-side perspective, Cher was keen to gain supply side knowledge, moving to G4S FM in 2012 as Service Delivery Manager responsible for FM services in a dozen courts in Cardiff, more than 100 employees and the delivery of TFM services to her former employer. In August 2014, less than two years into her role, Cher’s line manager resigned. Cher applied for the position and is now Regional Manager for the whole of Wales for G4S FM on the MoJ TFM account. She manages 46 separate court buildings and has four Service Delivery Manager direct reports, each looking after a cluster of sites, all high profile Magistrates and Crown Courts. In the short time since becoming Regional Manager, the MoJ TFM contract in Wales has seen a 4 per cent increase in customer satisfaction.

Jonny Young
Joining Arthur McKay at the same time as commencing his University studies has meant that Jonny has packed a lot into the first 6 years of his career. Based in Edinburgh, he started as a Graduate Trainee, working in each area of the Arthur McKay business. After a year he was promoted to Facilities Co-ordinator, focusing on larger TFM contracts and projects, including working with Serco on behalf of Deloitte and Touché LLP. The improvements Jonny initiated on this contract utilised the project management skills learnt during his studies, and resulted in improved service and compliance with SLAs, and an annual cost saving for the client of £500k. A further promotion resulted in responsibility for the delivery of integrated facilities services to a portfolio of more than 40 clients in the public and private sectors, managing a team of engineers, and a part-time secondment to London to support business growth in the south of England. “I love the challenge of the facilities manager’s role, and working with many different people. No one day is the same as the last, and I hope that developing my skills and experience will enable my career to continue to progress.”