Door Industry Journal - Spring 2015

Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk 26 THE door industry journal spring 2015 industry news ALPRO ARCHITECTURAL HARDWARE APPOINT NEW AREA SALES MANAGER AS SALES CONTINUE TO GROW Alpro Architectural Hardware (A division of IEC Limited), based at Poole Dorset have appointed Vicki Hawkes as their new Southern Area Sales Manager. Vicki will be based in the Worcestershire area and will cover the South of England dealing with Alpro’s considerable OEM base. Vicki was previously Area Sales Manager with Yale and during her 13 years with Yale held a number of different positions within both the internal and external sales teams. She brings with her to Alpro a wealth of knowledge and experience having operated within the UK architectural hardware marketplace. Keith Parry, Alpro’s Sales Director commented “Vicki’s appointment is a great coup for us. Her experience and reputation with customers for customer service, fits exactly with our vision statement aim of wanting to offer unrivalled customer service. These are exciting times for Alpro’s development and we wanted to appoint someone who was already well established in the relevant sectors with great core skills, commitment and motivation. Vicki will be a great asset and addition to our existing sales team.” Commenting further Vicki said “I look forward to working for this successful and progressive company, which appears to really value its employees and customers alike. I relish the challenge of consolidating my knowledge and experience in a new arena”. The complete product range can be viewed at www.alpro.co.uk GAI APPOINTMENTS BOOST BUSINESS SUPPORT FOR THE ARCHITECTURAL IRONMONGERY INDUSTRY The Guild of Architectural Ironmongers (GAI) has recently appointed three new people to its London based head office team to strengthen further the services it provides to its members. Rachel Tipton has been appointed as the GAI’s Training and Development Manager. This new role emphasises the GAI’s commitment to helping architectural ironmongers continually expand and enhance their technical and commercial knowledge. Rachel has worked in the architectural ironmongery industry for more than 28 years. She started her apprenticeship with Josiah Parkes and Sons (Union Locks). She then moved to Thomas Laidlaw and also secured a silver medal for the GAI Diploma. During 18 years at Laidlaw, she worked in many sales and customer service roles gaining a wide range of experience and expertise including technical product knowledge, contract management, selling to specifiers and contractors and assisting architects to write specifications. Douglas Masterson is the GAI’s new Technical Manager, the first time that the Guild has had a permanent, full-time expert who, amongst other responsibilities, will be managing its technical helpline, providing technical updates to members and representing the interests of the Guild membership when sitting on technical and standards committees in the UK and Europe. Douglas has worked in the architectural ironmongery industry for more than 25 years, ten of these as Regional Manager of MB Architectural for McNaughton Blair/Lloyd Worrall Group. Prior to that, he worked for major players in the sector including Allgood plc and Laidlaw. He also obtained a silver medal in attaining his GAI Diploma in 2000 and has sat on the Executive Committee of the GAI since 2008. Lucy Apsey has joined as the Guild’s first marketing manager tasked with enhancing GAI’s position as the only trade body in the UK that represents the interests of the whole architectural ironmongery industry - architectural ironmongers, wholesalers and manufacturers. Lucy has 7 years’ experience in marketing across various industries and countries. She holds both an Honours degree in Marketing and a specialised CIM in digital marketing. www.gai.org.uk GAI Team Douglas Masterson, Rachel Tipton and Lucy Apsey