This month Andrew Southall, an ex-Main Board Director, strategic planner and member of SWAIN has joined AugMentor, the South-West’s premier business mentoring service.  His previous experience includes Head of Business Development at the South West Regional Development Agency; Operations Director for an Environmental and Water Engineering Group and national work on leakage in water distribution networks.

AugMentor now has over 200 years of business experience vested in the eight Partners in the South West, which they make available to client companies to help mentor them in solving the business challenges that they face.  AugMentor specialise in working with business owners to make them more profitable and successful, by assisting them to determine and achieve their strategic objectives.   Andrew is also looking for investment opportunities where his specialist skills can be used to grow SMEs; he is looking forward to joining others in the AugMentor team:

James Short – a specialist in strategic planning, leadership and change management implementation.  James is a recently retired Army Major General with 34 years of executive experience in operational and management appointments for both the British Army and NATO.  He is an accomplished presenter and lecturer.

Mike Teasdale – wide-ranging practical business expertise in launching new ventures, business start-ups and franchising.  His operational experience and supply chain management knowledge make him ideally suited as a business mentor. He has proven ability to initiate, lead and drive sustainable business improvements, having set-up and run a 34 outlet franchise in the UK.

Peter Heath – ex-President of Europe for an international telecomms services company. His 35 years experience in Information Technology sales are allied to specialist knowledge of international and travel markets. He is an outstanding negotiator and business development manager, with excellent customer and market development skills.

Andy Booth – previously Head of Finance for a major food retailer and a genuine specialist in Retail Finance.  His specialism is in Operational Finance Management, where he has a proven track record in aligning company finances to future goals.

Claire Marshall - an ex-corporate Finance Director and tax specialist. Claire is aqualified accountant with financial management experience in a variety of sectors and focuses on helping SMEs get control of their finances.  Claire is a tax specialist with board level involvement in both South Africa and the UK.

John Kirwan – an ex Board director from Business Banking with Lloyds TSB commercial banking, he specialises in business support and development. He has wide experience in reducing costs, achieving better service quality and improved team-work through excellent leadership. With his MBA expertise, John is well qualified to solve issues and raise business performance in practical and inventive ways.

Mark Garnier - Mark has over 25 years experience in the demanding world of investment banking and alternative asset management. He brings his expertise in investment banking to his role in developing new business and grafting new divisions onto existing organisations.  Mark has a wealth of experience in setting up and running new businesses, problem solving and target setting that includes fundraising and taking advantage of opportunities offered by the City of London.  He is now MP for Wyre Forrest.

The key purpose of AugMentor is to enable busy CEOs/MDs to reap the benefits of planning strategically. AugMentor helps to establish CLARITY of direction for the key team members, FOCUS businesses on their longer term goals and through a Strategic Implementation Plan for GROWTH, and control future progress through generating new ideas for increased profitability.  AugMentor really does add value to the bottom line.