Meet the team

Entrepreneurial, inquisitive and approachable

An experienced finance leader with a strong sales and marketing background, Simon has held senior management and CEO positions in a number of different business sectors including hi-tech, on-line, media sales, broadcast, financial services, and third sector.  He has worked for France Telecom, Thames TV and was a founding Director of E*TRADE.  Most recently, he has worked for consultants Heaton Camillo, specialising in financial planning and how a business is prepared and presented to potential investors or lenders.  He brings a vast amount of specialist experience in handling company sales, MBO’s and significantly assisting the performance of early stage and scale up businesses.   

He has also been instrumental in the formation of, and now Chairs, the Tendring Enterprise Agency.  The Agency provides mentoring and support to start-up businesses in the Tendring area through a network of mentors who give their time on a voluntary basis.

"Resourceful, focused and wholehearted"

Digby has had an interesting and varied career working in arts, design and education. He has more than fifteen years of experience in training and is passionate about action learning. After growing up in Devon, Digby studied Fine Art at university and went on to hone his skills in Supervisory Management. He also has a Teaching Certificate and MA in Art, Design and Education. After graduating, Digby worked as a tutor and mentor for three years in various settings in the South West.

With his move to East Anglia in 2001 came a change in career; working as a Community Development Officer for a number of interesting projects across the region. After that, Digby focused on designing, co-ordinating and delivering specialised training for the third sector. At SSE, he ensures that our students have an engaging and interesting learning experience.

"Organised, efficient and fun"

Nicola is a highly motivated qualified CIMA Accountant with over 16 years of Accountancy experience in various sectors. Her particular skills include analysing data and communicating the results to all levels of staff.

Having lived the majority of her life in Suffolk, Nicola went away to study at De Montfort University in Leicester and graduated with a BA Hons in Business Studies.

After graduating Nicola spent over a year travelling and working around the world, before settling down and qualifying as a CIMA Management Accountant.

She has worked in the technology sector for high profile American companies including Agilent Technologies Inc where she was their Senior Finance Specialist and Sun Microsystems Inc where she held the position of Senior European Financial Analyst.

In the last 6 years she has worked at Choose Suffolk as their Financial Controller.

"positive, ambitious and (brutally) honest"

Before joining the EE Hub team as Business Incubation & Innovations Manager Chris worked in the audio visual technology industry for a dot-com startup. As a vital part in the company's growth and success Chris has a wide range skills for ideas and talent development. Chris's new challenge at the EE Hub will be designing products and services that enable early stage and scalable enterprises to fly.

"Loyal, Conscientious, Chocoholic"

Chanel's background is in banking, having had over 25 years experience working for two Scottish banks in East Anglia. She finished her career in banking as a Relationship Manager and was also responsible for event management. After a two year spell living in Copenhagen and Brussels, Chanel has concluded a BA Degree in Event Management at UCS. She joins the EE Hub as the Programme Co-ordinator to assist with the smooth running of the Fellowship programme together with recruitment and administration duties.

"Enthusiastic, Passionate and Attentive"

 Currently studying a BA (Hons) in Film Studies at University Campus Suffolk, Jodie works part-time at the Hub after having an Internship in the summer of 2012. She is also a Senior Student Ambassador at the University, and has an executive role at UCS Union as a Schools Officer. She has previously worked in retail and as a Photography Assistant, and is passionate about Film, Photography and Journalism.