Meet The Team

Sue EvansSue Evans, Chief Executive

Sue began her career in ceramics with a trainee management position at Royal Doulton. She remained at the company for the next 27 years until 1999 when she saw an opportunity to implement an action plan to improve the ceramic industry’s competitiveness. The role grew and Sue was appointed as the Chief Executive of the Ceramic Industry Forum in 2000.

Sue currently spends the majority of her time leading, co-ordinating and enabling the CIF Team to implement the CIF’s activities and deliver services to the industry. In addition, Sue is also a member of a number of local, regional and national strategy groups.

Sue EvansPam Ritchie, Finance and Office Manager

Pam began her working life in the wage department at Royal Doulton in 1971, then moved onto the accounts department. She worked at various factories within the Doulton group, ending at the hotel-ware site in Hanley, which went on to become Steelite International.
Whilst at Steelite she progressed to financial accountant before moving to Potterycrafts Ltd.
She worked at K H Bailey's, decal printers, before joining CIF in July 2004.

 

Bernie WebbeBernie Webbe, Project Manager

Bernie graduated from Plymouth University with a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Science. Since graduating she has worked on a variety of regeneration programmes in Bedford, Manchester and Stoke-on-Trent. In 2003, Bernie gained a Postgraduate Diploma in Local Economic Regeneration from Staffordshire University. Bernie joined the CIF in March 2003 as Project Manager.

Colin CopelandColin Copeland, Director: Improvement Programmes

After graduating from Staffordshire University with a BEng (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering, Colin joined Michelin Tyre Plc as a Project Engineer and progressed to the post of Workshop Quality and Process Manager for Michelin’s tyre assembly plant in Stoke.
In March 2001 Colin joined the Ceramic Industry Forum as an Improvement Engineer and to date he has successfully delivered seventy-nine continuous improvement programmes to ceramic companies.

Paula WilsonPaula Wilson, Director: Learning Programmes

Paula studied Materials Science and Engineering at Sheffield University and graduated with a BEng (Hons). She then went on to work for British Gas, Aga-Rayburn and Struers Ltd. Paula became a member of the CIF Team in March 2001 as an Improvement Engineer and her continuous improvement training has enabled her to work alongside Japanese Master Engineers, and process engineers from the Automotive, Aerospace and Metals Industries.

Tony WilliamsTony Williams, Improvement Engineer

Tony began his career as a Draughtsman in 1987 with Clydesdale stampings ‘a local drop forge company’ and remained with them for 3 years until taking up a Design engineer’s position with Link 51’s pallet racking division ‘part of Wagon’s Industrial Holdings plc’

In 1993 Tony joined Van Egdom Leisure as their second designer and site engineer, a company set up in the UK to service Center Parcs’ requirements for water slides and leisure products.

In 1995 Tony returned to Wagon as Chief Designer for their locker division as part of a core team to successfully attain ISO 9001 for the company.

1998 sees a new career at Denso Manufacturing UK Ltd ‘a first tier supplier to the world’s automotive industry’ where Tony became senior Production Engineer to a new high volume evaporator line.  A role he developed to include layout specialist and projects manager to some of Denso’s largest projects to date.

Tony joined the CIF in March 2007 as an Improvement Engineer.

Tony WilliamsGraham Kennett, Improvement Engineer

Graham completed a Student Apprenticeship with British Timken in 1984 and graduated from Loughborough University with a B.Tech (Hons) in Production Engineering and Management. He continued at British Timken as a Production Engineer before moving to Otter Controls Ltd in 1987.  Graham progressed through Engineering Management to Production Management gaining over 17 years experience in a high volume environment supplying safety critical devices to automotive and domestic appliance customers worldwide. A strong Japanese customer base fostered the use of many Continuous Improvement tools in the pursuit of improved quality and reduced costs.

In July 2004 Graham moved to Belle Group as a Production Manager before joining the Ceramics Industry forum in June 2007 as a Process Improvement Engineer.

Tony WilliamsDavid Saxton, Improvement Engineer

David joined the CIF as an improvement engineer in July 2007.

He has a BSc and a Meng in Mechanical Engineering and has spent a large part of his career at Firth Rixon Forgings.

He is an accomplished and qualified engineer with a valuable experience of Aerospace and Automotive manufacturing.

Ken BarnesKen Barnes, Design and Marketing Advisor

Ken entered the ceramics industry in 1971 with H&R Johnson where he worked in the design studio. He later left H&R Johnson to work for Carlton Ware and then joined Johnson Matthey Electronics before returning to the ceramics industry in 1987 to work for Aynsley China as their Marketing Manager for a further 12 years. In 2000, Ken joined Business Link Staffordshire as a Business Advisor for ceramics and he was later seconded to the CIF.