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Career and Skills
1973 IBM: System Engineer then Product Marketing Manager for early personal computing products, organising roll-outs and representing the UK at worldwide conferences. Developed skills in writing and public speaking.
1981 Nestar Systems: Headhunted as European Marketing Manager for Palo-Alto start-up Nestar, who had developed a pioneering LAN for the Apple PC. Gained experience in marketing and sales management, commissioning marketing collateral and working with the Press.
1982 Wang Computer: Headhunted by Ken Olisa to join Wang as Marketing Communications Manager. Commissioned Wang UK's first TV commercial and sponsored the Lotus F1 motor racing team. Developed strengths in theming major customer, distributor and sales events.
1985 Consultant: Joined consultants headed by Prof. Merlin Stone and spent 10 years working with clients (BT, Philips Business Systems, Xerox) to develop creative business strategies and marketing communications. Developed and delivered courses on marketing and interpersonal skills in the UK, Europe, Australia, the USA and South Africa.
1996 Pro-Rate: Originated a PC-linked electronic postal scale to provide comparative costs of major UK and US couriers. Developed subscription-based business model, partnered with a company to develop prototype hardware and programmed the application. Obtained funding via Ken Olisa's Interregnum and negotiated exclusive manufacturing and distribution agreement with Pelouze Corp (Chicago, now part of Dymo Corp), the largest manufacturer of postal scales in USA.
1998 ViewsCast: Conceived using Computer Telephony Integration to gather customer satisfaction ratings in call centres and make them available in real-time on the Internet. Developed prototype software, found technical partners, obtained DTI funding and initial investment from friends/colleagues. Recruited a sales and support team, took on Merlin Stone and Brian Donnelly as non-execs and secured VC funding from Strathdon (now Shackleton Ventures). Signed an exclusive partnership agreement with Asia Marketing Intelligence in Hong Kong and implemented a global network of servers. Sold the company to Aegis under their Synovate (now part of Ipsos) brand in 2003 where it still forms part of their offering.
2007 Btoe: Partnered with long-time friend Colin Larkin to develop Best Things On Earth. Self-funded prototype - 1000Greatest - before obtaining angel funding to back the development of the fully-fledged Btoe, a social networking website where users’ interests and passions are the driving force for creating dynamic lists. Roy is no longer directly involved but remains a shareholder.
2012 Eruma plc: Spent 2012-13 as interim Operations Director for Eruma, a publicly-quoted company with divisions in anti-terrorist products and low-energy lighting systems.
2014 Terence Woodgate Lighting Limited: Joined start-up Terence Woodgate Lighting as Operations Director. TWL designs, manufactures and distributes up-market LED decorative lighting that uses natural materials such as marble and wood. Coordinated development of the business plan, which was instrumental in an over-achieving crowdfunding campaign on CrowdCube. Also set up procedures and systems that form the basis of the company’s operations.