About Woods Group

Ian has spearheaded the growth at Woods for over 15 years. He is an active contributor to sector initiatives and working groups and continues to oversee the development and future-proofing of our offering.

Andrew has worked with the charity sector since 2003. From a print and fulfilment background Andrew joined Woods in 2006 to head up our sales and marketing functions. Today Andrew has responsibility for all commercial activities at Woods Valdata including sales, marketing and client services.

Martin has been involved in market leading service delivery for the charity sector for over 20 years. He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of outsourced charity support services. At Woods Valldata Martin has responsibility for our IT, production and response handling functions.

Barry heads up our finance, HR and Compliance functions. Barry joined Woods in 2011 from a background in corporate finance.

John offers more than 30 years’ experience of starting, running and building businesses in the UK, Europe and Australia. He has worked for a large number of investors in numerous sectors, primarily as an independent director. In the role of Chairman, John has also orchestrated the transformation of many businesses, and their successful sale into corporate or private ownership. John first worked with Nick in 1995 at R&B Foods Group on the amalgamation of a food manufacturing business they’d recently acquired from Forte Group Plc.

For over 25 years Nick has owned and developed businesses across a range of categories and business sectors. Working closely with professional colleagues, he has a proven track record of delivering outstanding returns for shareholders, including business owners, investors and employees. Amongst many successes, he has been the lead instigator in 17 mergers and acquisitions, and successfully sold Sharps Brewery for £20m, just seven years after buying it as a small microbrewery with only eight employees. Nick brings the combination of executive skills, as a Degree Graduate in Business Studies, together with the entrepreneurial ‘can do’ approach honed from hands on business success.

Angela is responsible for driving forward the Client Service function within the business. The Client Service team work in close partnership with the Commerical team and are responsible for managing client engagement in relation to the business-as-usual elements of client contracts (Service Desk, Account Management, Data Production, Studio and Business Analysis). With 20 years of account management experience, Angela is passionate and committed to providing clients with a service that is proactive and responsive. Angela prides herself on being client-focused in all areas of her work, with an ability to suggest and deliver solutions. Angela has extensive experience in relation to onboarding new clients and the successful delivery of change requests in this fast-paced environment. This experience, coupled with her appreciation of the dynamics within the sector means that she is able to deliver a service that is effective and truly adds value to Woods Valldata’s service offering.

Louise reports to Martin and manages our team of Supporter Services Agents providing direct customer service support to both clients and supporters via multiple channels. Louise has been working in the customer service arena for 20 plus years. She started in a help desk environment, progressing to managing small, medium and large first line teams. Louise moved into project and change management, dealing with complex projects with multiple stakeholders. Through these roles, Louise has gained an in-depth understanding of customer support, management of people and projects and also how to implement and manage change.

Nina joined Woods back in July 2011 and was promoted to Finance Manager and HR Officer September 2015, Nina has moved from her finance role to head the Human Resources and Facilities department, taking a lead role in HR Strategy, staff welfare and recruitment. Nina takes full responsibility for the company’s Payroll, Pensions and HR policies and procedures. Nina will also be responsible for the day to day facilities management of our new headquarters.      

Paula is an experienced professional with over 12 years experience in senior compliance roles. Previous roles include delivery of consultancy and training services to organisations from a variety of sectors in respect of Information Security Management, Business Continuity Management, Data Protection Act and PCI DSS. Prior to this Paula was the Head of Information Security and Business Continuity for a software solutions provider and was responsible for compliance matters in their UK, India, Australia, and UAE offices. At Woods, Paula takes responsibility for all our many compliance activities and reports directly to Barry Dix, Chief Financial Officer.

Mike has been involved within the print industry since leaving school where he completed his two year city & guilds apprenticeship in Print & Print finishing. Mike has been working at Woods since 2011 and looks after all our print & Production based functions. This includes all print, personalisation and enclosing. Mike is also responsible for the purchase of all printed matter for our enclosing & fulfilment departments.

Laura has over 9 years’ experience working with our major clients on their raffle and lottery strategy. Laura’s knowledge of prize-led fundraising enables her to deliver innovative and strategy led support to her clients.

Jo brings to Woods over 18 years of experience of delivering large scale and high profile projects across a spectrum of gaming and cause fundraising products. She is well known and very well respected within the charity sector for her work ethic, knowledge and professionalism. Undoubtedly one of the most experienced response handling practitioners in the sector today.

Claire is a charity sector specialist with ten years of experience in response handling and gaming services. She has a deep knowledge of fundraising techniques and provides both practical and strategic support to grow fundraising campaigns. Claire has a genuine passion for delivering service excellence and developing successful, long-term partnerships with her clients.

Emma brings 7 years of sector specialism to Woods Valldata having worked across charity fundraising, marketing, PR and communications. More recently concentrating on charity payment processing, response handling and fulfilment services, Emma is focussed on supporting charity clients to maximise income by ensuring excellent service delivery, a partnership-led approach, and proactive account development.

Lorena is our dedicated Senior Client Manager for the Royal British Legion based in London. She has over 5 years’ experience in the account management/client relationship role. Working both within the private and public sectors, she understands the different demands and approaches which need to take place to fulfil customer needs and requirements. Her responsibility is predominately around managing projects and expanding on the client’s portfolio with Woods Valldata. Seeking new opportunities and growing with the Legion is also a key driving factor to enhance the service we already deliver.