Executive Management Team
Board of Directors
In 2011, Barney Quinn, Paul Wright, Alex Davis and Tony Knight successfully concluded a Management Buy Out, backed by Lloyds Development Capital (LDC), part of the Lloyds TSB Group.
The board of directors of comprises the following: Barney Quinn (Chief Executive), Paul Wright (Chief Finance Officer), Alex Davis (Chief Technology Officer) and Tony Knight (Client Services Director); and Daniel Sasaki and Kunal Dasgupta of LDC.
Barney Quinn, Chief Executive
Barney joined WorkPlace in 2007 and has led WorkPlace through the recent recession and was instrumental in the Management Buy Out in 2011. He has been at the forefront in transforming WorkPlace into the leading Cloud based Workforce Management provider. In his role as CEO, Barney defines the strategy and direction of WorkPlace Systems and works closely with the management team to motivate and drive WorkPlace to its goals.
Barney began his career with Burroughs Machines after graduating from Leeds University and from there moved to Sherwood International Plc where he spent 13 years on the main board.
Barney has over 30 years experience in application software market. For 13 years Barney was a Main Board Director of Sherwood International plc, a provider of software and services to the insurance industry. Barney was also a Non Executive Director of SSP Holdings plc in the Insurance software sector which was sold to Hellman & Friedman September 2008. Other Non Executive roles in the past include Raft International and Guardian Computer Services.
Barney today is also Chairman of Becrypt Ltd the encryption software company and has investments in a creative company called Voyage Design and Parago Ltd an asset management software company.
Paul Wright, Chief Finance Officer
Paul is responsible for the financial planning and control of WorkPlace Systems, the role is also responsible for the financial risk management, record keeping and financial administration.
Since qualifying with KPMG in London, Paul has worked as Finance Director of a number of quoted and privately owned companies including 10 years as the Group Finance Director of three technology organizations: Vocalis Group plc, CWB Systems Services plc and Rolfe & Nolan plc. Most recently he was Finance Director of the AIM listed leisure group, Sports Cafe Holdings plc. Paul joined the Board of WorkPlace Systems in September 2008.
Alex Davis, Chief Technology Officer
In this role Alex is responsible for leading the development team in the creation of new product features and the support of customer implementations. Alex joined WorkPlace in early 2009 and has been heavily involved in the setup and day to day running of the cloud WFM service provided to our WorkPlace OnLine customers.
Prior to joining WorkPlace Alex worked in a variety of roles developing and deploying application software over the past 30 years. He spent 14 years with Sherwood International plc, 7 of these in the role of Development Director. He worked on multi-national applications for New York Life International. Most recently he was Programme Director at Equifax.
Tony Knight, Client Services Director
In his role Tony is responsible for project implementation and ongoing customer support of WorkPlace customers in a global capacity. Tony has been responsible for the continual improvement of implementation processes best practice and the quality of service deliverables to clients. A key element of his role is to enhance the portfolio of services delivered by WorkPlace Systems globally. Tony joined WorkPlace Systems in 2006.
Tony has over 30 years experience within the IT industry in which time he has held director level positions within both quoted and privately held companies within the disciplines of sales, marketing, client services and operations. For 6 years, Tony was Managing Director of TeleWare plc, a provider of software and services within the communications market. Tony joined Workplace Systems in July 2006 as Director of Client Services
Ian Mills, Design Director
In this role Ian is responsible for the incubation and development of new products and major additional features to the WorkPlace product portfolio. Ian has been at WorkPlace for over 20 years and in this time has fulfilled a number of roles in the design and implementation of innovative Workforce Management solutions for a wide range of clients in a range of industries. In his current role Ian has been heavily involved in the WorkPlace initiatives in Cloud based workforce management.
Ian joined WorkPlace in 1988 and he holds a first-class honours degree in Computer Science and worked for two years for EDS prior to joining WorkPlace.
Nigel Garrett, Business Development Director
Nigel is responsible for strategic customer acquisition and has been involved in delivering solutions to some of the UKs and Europe's largest companies.
Nigel joined WorkPlace in 1993 and has been responsible since 1998 for the sales and marketing of WorkPlace products in the UK and Internationally. He graduated with a BSc in Mechanical Engineering in 1985 and gained an MBA in 1992.
James Freshwater, VP North America
In his role as Vice President for North America, James has accountability for all aspects of the US business, having established its new base in Chicago, early in 2010. James has been instrumental in the creation of the new WorkPlace rapid implementation approach which was pioneered with a large US retailer and allows customers to very quickly implement and receive the benefits of WorkPlace OnLine our Cloud WFM solution.
James joined WorkPlace Systems as a Junior Implementation Consultant in 2001 following University and a 3-year Management Development Program with one of the UK's leading hospitality retailers; and has since worked his way through almost every functional area of the WorkPlace business. James sits on the Institute of Human Resources (IHR) Workforce Management Advisory Board.
WorkPlace Systems Profile
WorkPlace Systems plc is a world leader in the development and supply of cloud based Workforce Management solutions. WorkPlace Systems services a number of vertical markets across the world and has offices in Europe, North American and Australia.
WorkPlace OnLine a cloud based workforce management solution provides: labour demand forecasting, simple and advanced workforce scheduling, time & attendance, task management and business intelligence facilitating management insight & control.
With an innovative approach to workforce scheduling the solution can be deployed in weeks providing rapid business improvements. WorkPlace OnLine is easy to use, has lower costs and a flexible "pay as you go" model to give companies a quick payback and dramatic return on investment.