Paul Gardner, President

Paul is Sales and Marketing Director for Swansea based commercial insurance broker, Prescott Jones. He has previously held Directorship roles with HSBC and Thomas Carroll Group. He is an experienced strategic marketer and brand manager with over 30 years’ experience.

Paul was elected President for a period of two years from January 2018. His chosen charity for his term of office will be the RNLI.

Alan Brayley, Deputy President

Alan is the founder and Chairman of AB Glass Ltd, the multi award winning manufacturers and Installers, Alan has a number of other business ventures and is a well-known and active member of the local business community. Alan is also a retired  Army reservist with over 20 years’ service. Alan says “starting a business from scratch can be a lonely place at times, it is stressful and all-consuming but the rewards can be mind-blowing”. Alan brings a wealth of personal and business experience to the board of the Swansea Bay Business Club.

Hayley Davies, Immediate Past President

Hayley is the Director and CEO of JCP Solicitors, and one of the first female non-lawyer equity partners at an indigenous Welsh law firm. She joined the firm in 1990 with an MBA from Nottingham Trent University. Hayley was the 2013 winner of Inspire Wales Business Leader and the winner of Swansea Bay Women in Business 2013.

Bruce Roberts, Secretary

Bruce’s past roles include Regional Director of Konica Minolta, associate director of Antur Insurance, Director of IT firm BSS and Chairman of Gwalia Housing Trust. Bruce is a member of MCC and a life member of Gowerton Cricket Club. He is currently the Administrator/Treasurer of the Mumbles Festival of Music& the Arts. He joined Swansea Bay Business Club in 1992.

Alison Vickers, Treasurer

Alison is a partner at regional chartered accountants, tax and financial planners, Bevan & Buckland. She is a fully qualified chartered accountant and provides financial, accounting and tax advice and support to a range of owner-managed businesses throughout South-west Wales. She specialises in the not-for-profit sector and regularly runs training courses for charities.

Amy Seppman, Board Member

Amy is the Marketing Director at JCP Solicitors and in April 2013 was appointed as one of the youngest non-lawyer law firm partners in Wales at the time. A passionate marketeer, Amy provides strategic planning and development for JCP’s growing portfolio of offices throughout south and west Wales. Noted as a rising star in Wales, she has been listed in the Western Mail’s ‘35 under 35 to watch’ and was recently highly commended in the Rising Star Category of the South Wales Evening Post’s Women in Business Awards.

Natasha Fulford, Board Member

Natasha is the Managing Director of multi award-winning PR and communications agency MGB PR. A former broadcast and national newspaper journalist, Natasha started working in PR in 1999 for one of the UK’s largest agencies. Since returning to Swansea in 2003 she has helped position MGB PR as one of Wales’ most respected communications agencies, which has sat on the highly coveted Welsh Government approved supplier framework for almost ten years. She has won numerous industry awards for her PR work and is one of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations’ most awarded PR professionals in Wales.

Andrew Downie, Board Member

Andrew is the founding Director of NetBop Web Development, and boasts 15 years experience in web design and development including several years at one of the UK’s largest website hosting companies. Since launching NetBop, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has listed him one of the UK’s top six most talented young entrepreneurs. In addition to sitting on the board of Swansea Bay Business Club, Andrew is a Director with Swansea Business Improvement District where he chairs a working group for Parking & Transportation for the City.

Michael Morgan, Board Member

Michael is co-founder and Managing Director of Morgan & Morgan, one of West Wales Leading Office Solutions Companies established over 26 years ago. Michael also has overall responsibility as Chairman of the Board at Nemo Group. With many years in the Office and IT Solutions Industry he comes with a wealth of business experience, not only from within his own business but in his other roles which include chairing Nemo Group and as one of the UK Directors for Business Products Group International as well as Governing Body experience in local schools.

Jonathan Richards, Board Member

Jonathan is a Relationship Director with Lloyds Bank covering the Swansea and West Wales market, supporting SME clients with turnovers between £1m – £25m. He has over 18 years experience as a Commercial Manager, where his role involves the management of a diverse portfolio of clients who operate in a number of different industry sectors.

Sioned Jones, Board Member

Sioned is the Branch Manager and face of Swansea Building Society in West Wales. Based at the new Swansea Building Society offices in Carmarthen, her specialism is providing funding for self builds, barn conversions, smallholdings and holiday lets especially to the self-employed. Sioned is an experienced financier with almost 30 years of experience with HSBC predominantly in commercial banking covering South West Wales.

Alison Orrells, Board Member

Alison Orrells is the Managing Director of The Safety Letterbox Company, which has been designing, manufacturing and supplying mail and parcel boxes from their base in Neath since 1986. Recently awarded the ‘Business Woman of the Year’ accolade at the Swansea Bay Women in Business awards 2016-17, Alison is also involved with numerous local positive initiatives within the local business community; including mentoring and small business support and sits on the advisory board of the Centre for Entrepreneurial Education (C4EE).

Gemma Littlejohns, Board Member

Gemma is the Senior Business Partner at Chwarae Teg, the leading professional agency for the economic development of women in Wales. Gemma has supported a large number of businesses in the Swansea Bay region as a HR consultant over the past 8 years whilst working on Chwarae Teg’s Agile Nation project. Gemma is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and joined our Board in January 2018.

Jane Parker, Board Member

Jane is a Branch Manager with Swansea Building Society, based in the Swansea office, which services Swansea, Neath, and Port Talbot. Having started her career in Financial Services with HSBC, Jane took a break from the industry in 2002 where she diversified, gaining her qualifications in Health & Safety. During this period she worked in the food industry before joining Swansea Building Society in 2010 as part of their expansion programme. Jane specialises in complex residential mortgage solutions and works closely with the self-employed sector.