John Govett: Group Chief Executive: (Ixion Holdings Ltd, Ixion CG Ltd, Ixion Group Contracts Ltd)
- Chairman: Paragon Concord Ltd (& also Paragon Concord Families Ltd)
After qualifying in Business Studies (Marketing) from the London Guildhall University, John joined UNILEVER Plc gaining experience in FMCG and manufacturing.
He then joined Tesco and spent a number of years as their Head of Marketing. He was responsible for the retailers corporate marketing, brand positioning & advertising, local marketing and national promotions and was fast tracked by the TESCO Plc board.
He gained his first board directorship with Warners aged 29, a division of the Mecca entertainment group of companies, as the Marketing & Sales Director.
He then joined Stena Line Ltd in 1990, where his experience of transformational business change, across the UK and Mainland Europe really began. He was P&L accountable as part of the Stena board that turned around the UK & European ferry division and then as Commercial Director was part of the board that formed the joint venture on the world’s largest ferry route in 1998, with P&O.
Following this, John then drove the commercial team’s merger of the three P&O ferry companies into one new business.
John as an "agent of change". He has led and delivered 2 x c £650m Fundamental Business Reviews (each with >7000 staff). One in the private sector with P&O where a root and branch change programme resulted in a over £40m cash savings, 1500 FTE staff reduction and new service offerings for P&O Ferries. Plus one root & branch review in the public sector with Surrey County Council. (the latter transformation review was publicly endorsed in an open letter to the Council by Sir Peter Gershon)
John joined Surrey Couny Council in 2005 and again led their £650m fundamental review of all the total organisation’s services, operations and business processes. He restructured their finances, front line service operations and business processes and reduced the Council's cost base by over £40m cash within his first year and reduced FTE by 704 staff.
As acting Deputy CEO and Managing Director of Surrey County Council he was responsible for the development of its 26,000 staff and efficient use of its £1.2bn cost budget and for the main board of directors for all front line operations (eg Adult Services, Childrens & Schools, Communities, Transport, Highways, Waste, Libraries, the £900m property estate, Finance functions and HR, Systems, Shared Services, Legal & Audit, Procurement teams.)
John while at P&O, initiated England's bigget ever world-wide inbound tourism campaign called "Million Visitor Campaign" in concert with BA, BAA, Hilton, Amex and a host of other partners, securing Treasury funding too.
As a result, John had 6 years as a Non-Executive Director of Visit England and also sat as a Non Executive Director on the Visit Britain Audit & Governance board.
John sat on the JV Board of East of England IDB Ltd and also its Audit Commitee (Business Link & UKTI inward investment & exporting for the East of England on behalf of the Regional Development Agency EEDA). He also sat on the board of London Brokerage Ltd for delivery of skills brokerage to the London Development Agency.
John became Group Chief Executive of Ixion Holdings Ltd Group in September 2009 and led both the fundamental review of Ixion's strategy & services.
He then led the acquisition in April 2010 of Computer Gym Ltd into the Ixion group (rebranded as Ixion CG Ltd). This gave the Ixion Holdings Ltd group of companies an immediate operational delivery arm, with a substantial track record in key funding sectors of Welfare to Work, Reducing re-offending and Apprenticeships and Workforce Development.
Since John arrived, Ixion Holdings have already won c. £30m pa of tender based bid contracts from Government bodies. During 2010 Ixion became a Prime Contractor with DWP and in 2011 became a sub-contractor to 5 of the top Prime Contractors on the DWP Framework, also winning 3 of the Job Centre Plus NEA contracts in S. London, Essex, East Anglia and also Regional Growth Fund monies in the NE and preferred bidder for the NHS in the NW.
John is now also Chairman of Paragon Concord Ltd (& also its subsidiary Paragon Concord Families Ltd). Ixion is part of Paragon Concord Ltd consortium on the DWP Framework in West Midlands & South West England. Since John became Chairman Paragon has won its first contract worth £13m as DWP Prime contractor for Families in Cornwall. John reformulated the whole legal and governance structure of the Paragon entity that allowed for the consortium to win in 2011 with DWP.
Ixion in its own right in 2011 won substantive DWP Single Work Programme sub-contractor delivery contracts in; London (West), London (East), Thames Valley and South East England and specialist skills delivery in the East of England and elsewhere.
Plus, Ixion won major new contracts with the Skills Funding Agency for 2011/12 for Adult Learning and Apprenticeships, the Regional Growth Fund in the NE and with the NHS in the NW.
John has also won for Ixion and has led a number of Change Consultancy programmes for eg Essex County Council.
John has recenty pioneered the company's new web site www.thementorhive.com for volunteer mentors to support Ixions unemployed clients on-line with Business start ups/ Training & skills/ Health & wellbeing etc
John is also currrently fulfilling the role of Managing Director of Ixion CG Ltd as well.
Rachael White - Group Finance & Corporate Services Director
(Ixion Holdings Ltd, Ixion CG Ltd & Ixion Group Contracts Ltd)
Rachael qualified as an Accountant in 1995. Her background in Chartered Accountancy has given her invaluable experience in systems and processes which has assisted her throughout her career. She worked for the Learning and Skills Council Essex as Head of Finance for three years before joining Essex Business Support Limited as the Finance Manager in April 2004.
She led a team responsible for setting up a Training and Enterprise Council which involved setting up the company, recruiting and training private sector board members, recruiting staff and securing premises and equipment.
Rachael was promoted to Head of Corporate Services of the Ixion Group in April 2005 and is responsible for the group corporate service functions including Finance, IT, Quality, Governance, Facilities, HR, Contract Management and the organisations acquisition strategy. It is a role that she thoroughly enjoys and feels she can contribute greatly to the group company development for the future.
Rachael became Finance Director for the Ixion Group of Companies in April 2006 and joined the Board as an Executive Director.
Rachael is also a Board Director and Treasurer for Essex Crimestoppers and works with Chelmsford College, supporting and advising students prepare Business Plans for their Business Diploma Courses.
Margaret Hyde - Non Executive Chairman (Ixion Holdings Ltd)
Margaret is the Chair of the Ixion Holdings Ltd overall Group of companies and also sits on the Anglia Ruskin University board (Ixion's parent company) and is a Non Executive Board Member of Business Link East. Her other activities include director and former chairman of Essex Crimestoppers, a trustee of Essex Community Foundation, a vice-president of Helen Rollason Cancer Care and a former president of Soroptimist International's Chelmsford Club.
Born in West London, she lives in Chelmsford and Cambridge, is married to a Daily Mail journalist and has one daughter.
She has been a Non Executive Board Director of the Ixion Group since 2001 and became its Chair Person in 2005.
Margaret was Managing Editor of BBC Essex between 1995 and 2007 and coordinated the BBC's Charter Renewal activity in the East of England under the key theme of “Building Public Value".
She previously managed BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, was Head of Programmes in Lancashire and in 1979 became the first woman News Editor in English Local Radio at Radio Merseyside. Earlier in her career she presented and produced the station's breakfast show and she has also worked in network radio news and television management in Manchester.
Professor Michael Thorne – Non Executive Director (Ixion Holdings Ltd)
Professor Michael Thorne is the Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive of Anglia Ruskin University.
Mike has a first class honours degree in pure mathematics from the University of London and a PhD in computational group theory from the University of Birmingham.
He held posts in University College London, Cardiff University, the University of Sunderland and Napier University in Edinburgh before becoming Vice Chancellor of the University of East London in 2001.
He is the author of a large number of books and academic papers and writes for newspapers and magazines and has written and presented numerous TV and radio programmes.
Currently Professor Thorne is a Board Member of the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation, the Learning and Skills network, the Broadway Theatre and Newham College of Further Education.
He is also very active as a musician and between 2001 and 2004 conducted Wagner's Ring Cycle in Edinburgh, followed by Tristan and Isolde in 2005.
Professor Alan Sibbald – Non Executive Director (Ixion Holdings Ltd)
Alan Sibbald was appointed deputy vice chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University in early 2008.
Previously he spent 5 years at the University of East London (UEL) where he was working as a deputy vice chancellor with responsibility for research, outreach and infrastructure.
He led a major £110million new building project at the university and was responsible for new research, scholarship and knowledge transfer strategies. He played a key role in developing UEL's partnership network and in recruiting international students.
Before moving to UEL, he was at Napier University for 20 years, where he held a number of posts, latterly dean of the faculty of engineering and computing.
The professor has an international reputation for his own research in civil engineering, and has published widely. He has a strong record in achieving external funding and supervising PhD students.
He was the Deputy Chair of the NHS National Services Scotland Special Health Board and has served on a number of national committees, including the Institution of Civil Engineers UK Council.
Jon Trigg - Non-Executive Director (Ixion Holdings Ltd) & Chairman of Ixion CG Ltd
After studying History at Bristol University Jon joined the Army, serving several tours overseas, before leaving to join Deutsche Bank in the City of London. Whilst at Deutsche he specialised in Global Cash Management for Corporates, before heading large scale transformation programmes converting State-owned banks in Eastern Europe and the Middle East into private sector businesses. Highlights included the conversion of an NGO-bank in Albania into a successful B2B institution, and the modernisation of Egypt’s leading retail bank. Jon then returned to public service in Local Government as an Executive Director responsible for performance management and service transformation.
Jon then moved on to become the Strategy Director of one of the UK’s leading private sector providers of government services, A4e Ltd. Arriving when the Group was turning over some £40m per annum, Jon was a part of the team responsible for leading the strategic growth and diversification of the company, building on its core Welfare to Work and Skills businesses and expanding into wide range of sectors including Health and Social Care, Economic and Social Regeneration, Local Government and Legal and Financial Services. By the time Jon left, A4e was a £200m+ turnover business, operating across the UK and in some eight countries overseas.
He left to take up an appointment as Managing Director of the NW-based company, CEL Public Services Ltd in June 2010 working across the Public Services delivery sector including Skills and Local Government work.
Jon is a long standing member of the Co-Operative Financial Services/Britannia Building Society’s Charitable
Foundation Board, a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts and a Non-Executive Director of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Consular Management Board. Away from work he is a student of military history and has been published several times on that subject.
Andrew Mead - Non Executive Director & Chair of Finance Committee (Ixion Holdings Ltd)
Andy is an entrepreneur who, since leaving school in 1978, has spent his whole career in the print finishing industry. From an early age, Andy recognised the importance of fast, high quality finishing services to the magazine industry. With this in mind, Andy started his own company The Finishing Line in 1987, initially based at the Young Enterprise Centre.
The company has expanded through five changes of premises before settling at their current location in Basildon.
Andy has business interests throughout the South East but he is committed to helping small and medium enterprises in Essex. In the past, he has served as a director of Essex TEC, The Business Development Advisory Service and The Prince's Youth Business Trust Board.
In recognition of his success, Andy was a finalist in the Shell UK sponsored National Live Wire Competition for young business people in 1988 and was subsequently awarded a Significant Progress Award by National Live Wire in 1997.
A keen sportsman with a love of fishing, skiing, keeping fit and golf, although his handicap, much to his chagrin, does not seem to be improving as he does not seem to be able to spend as much time as he would like on the golf course.
Andy is a Non Executive Director of the Ixion Group and is also the Ixion Board's Finance Committee Chair, which means he keeps a watchful eye over how the business is run. He enjoys working closely with the commercial teams focusing on winning new business and contracts.
Juliet Price - Non Executive Director & Chair of Audit & Remuneration Committee (Ixion Holdings Ltd)
Juliet has run her own Human Resource and Health & Safety Consultancy business called Park City Consulting since 1999, providing an outsourced Human Resource and Health & Safety department to businesses that typically employ between 5 and 1,000 people. Red tape and employment legislation these days is a huge issue for businesses.
Juliet is also Vice Chairman of the Essex Branch of the Institute of Directors and part of her role there is to organise events for local directors including events to help them cut through the minefield of red tape that businesses face.
She is a Non Executive Board Director of the Ixion Group of Companies and assists with championing the HR side of the business as well as being the Chair of the Audit and Remuneration Committee.
IXION HOLDINGS MANAGEMENT BOARD
John Govett (Group CEO)
Rachael White (Group FD)
David Jackson - Strategic Development Director (Ixion Holdings)
David was Managing Director at DHP Enterprise Ltd from 1990-2000. DHP Enterprise was the UK's leader in the delivery of business start up programmes to both the long-term unemployed, and the employed ambitious. The business grew from a £1.5 million turnover to a £13 million turnover. Operating originally from four centres and employing 30 people, by 2000 was operating from 34 centres employing 300 people.
During this time he was the founder member and Marketing Director of Bethany Holdings, created as the holding company to support the business expansion and acquired a number of companies to compliment DHP Enterprises business, and to build its delivery portfolio and footprint.
In 2000 David joined A4e Ltd, as Strategic Sales Director. He led the successful bidding round in 2000 to secure 2 business link franchises, (Durham and Humber) the first private sector organisation to achieve this. This added £7millon additional turnover. This was A4e’s single largest win at that time. In 2001 he was part of the team that secured the 25+ New Deal contract worth £34 million, and this effectively more than doubled the size of the business. He was also part of the successful team that won a £9 million Childcare Business Support program, providing business advice training and workshops to over 50,000 childcare operators and nursery staff.
In 2005 he created a £20 million per annum turn over business in the offender skills market (OLASS) and led the successful bidding round to secure a £42 million over three years. The first private sector organisation to operate in this sector.
david led the opening of A4e’s first Northern Ireland business and secured £10 million of skills contracts, recruited an in country lead and opened 9 centres. Successfully negotiated the transfer of In 2007 led the successful biding round to secure a £8.4 million contract to manage and deliver through a consortium of 5 private sector companies, the business start up and support service across the North West. This contract had originally been delivered by the regions Enterprise Agencies and delivered 4400 new business starts in 23 months.
David supported the development of the South African market, met with local government, and with government departments to raise the profile of A4e and to better understand the South African market. Developed an entry strategy for the market and developed relationships with partner organisations, and spoke at key conferences on the UK’s approach to W2W.
David became Strategic Development Director in 2010, to secure new business and open up new markets for the Ixion group. David has re-built the development team and secured a number of major contracts over the last 12 months, and is now building and consolidating that success.
David is also a non executive Director of Sensevents created by Cynergy, a multi-award winning events and communications agency, and is a company with social value and sustainability at its heart. Designed to give you all the benefits of working with a high quality, experienced and successful team, Sensevents is a social enterprise which uniquely brings a new and exciting dimension to event delivery.
John Danvers - European Contracts Director (Ixion Holdings)
John Danvers heads up Ixion’s European Funding and Innovation team. He as over 28 years experience of innovation and new technology development across a wide range of industry sectors. For the last 14 years John has helped companies innovate beyond the reach of their competitors through the development of ground breaking products and services. He also assists them in accessing significant innovation funding, usually £1million upwards, to pay for such developments. During this time he has personally secured over €40million for his clients. John has presented on the subject of innovation across Europe and at venues including the Houses of Parliament, the NEC, Stoneleigh and the Turning Torso in Malmo. He has been published in the Financial Times with an article on E-Health and in several industry journals.
John is a Chartered Engineer, a Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and a Member of FEANI. He holds an honours degree in Electronics, Communications and Control systems.
John He began his career with GEC in the nuclear power sector and then with Alsthom moved into renewable energy generation. His technical career culminated in the airport security sector where his team developed the world’s most sophisticated detection and control systems for aircraft hold baggage screening. Prior to joining Ixion John was a Divisional Director of Pera Innovation and Head of their UK Intelligent Systems Research Institute (ISRI). He lead a team of over 100 engineers, scientists, technologists, project mangers and proposal writers both in the UK and Northern Europe.
John is currently working with companies large and small in both the UK and Europe. He has a particular speciality in helping SME’s overcome the barriers to achieving growth through innovation.
Karen Martin (Skills & Enterprise Director of Ixion Holdings)
Karen has many years’ experience delivering Government funded contracts. Since joining Ixion in 2005, she has successfully led many diverse teams delivering skills, enterprise and business support contracts funded by the Skills Funding Agency, European Social Fund ERDF and Regional Development Agencies.
Promoted in 2011 to Skills & Enterprise Director, Karen is a PRINCE 2 Practitioner and member of the Institute for Leadership & Management where she was voted “highly commended” Achiever of the Year 2008 for her achievements in delivering contracts for Ixion and promoting the Learning & Skills Council’s Train to Gain brokerage service.
Karen also led Ixion’s achievement of an OFSTED grade 2 during its first ever inspection in January 2011, which included a grade 1 in Ixion’s delivery to the engineering and manufacturing sector.
Prior to joining Ixion, Karen spent a number of years working for large global organisations including Marconi and P&O as well as small to medium sized enterprises, where her primary focus was to support business growth via expansion into new markets.
While Marketing / Operations Director for an international insurance company, Karen achieved Financial Services Authority authorisation and took new products to market across the UK and Europe.